India’s deceptive Operation Sadbhavana in occupied Kashmir
By Brig (Retd) Asif Haroon Raja
Apart from the ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh’s deplorable
role in 1947 of signing the instrument of accession of the state to
India against the wishes of people of Kashmir and subsequent invasion
and forceful occupation of two-third Kashmir by Indian forces, Kashmiris
have also been betrayed by their own leaders. Sheikh Abdullah who first
lit the flame of hope of liberty from Dogra Raj in early 1930s by
forming National Conference, he let down his people by becoming a
courtier of India. When he became reluctant to ratify Article 370 of
Indian Constitution to make occupied Kashmir integral part of India, he
was betrayed by Nehru whom he regarded as his close friend and mentor.
He was arrested and he languished in jail from 1953-58. He was again
interned from 1958 to 1964 and again from 1964 till 1974. Once he gave
in he was appointed chief minister of the state in 1977 and died in
1982. His son Farooq Abdullah and now his grandson Omar Abdullah are
loyally serving the interests of India and disregarding the miserable
plight of people of Kashmir who have a long history of subjugation and
deprivation.
Besides Abdullah dynasty, there have been quite a few others like
Bakhshi Ghulam Muhammad who sold their souls for the sake of power and
pelf. These puppets enabledIndia to affect a change in Indian
constitution and make occupied Kashmir part of Indian Union. They
allowed India to consolidate its hold over the state by accepting
continued presence of Indian security forces, agreeing to impose
governor rule frequently as well as draconian laws. They have turned a
blind eye to state terrorism resorted to by Indian forces and absence of
justice. But for the immoral role of these puppeteers cajoled by
Indians but hated by people of Kashmir, India could not have merged
disputed Kashmir within Indian Union by incorporating Article 370
through constitutional amendment. Rigged elections were held under the
barrel of the gun to form state governments of choice and to sideline
genuine leaders. National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party which
take turns to rule the state accept Indian rule in Kashmir.
India claims the whole territory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)
as integral part of Indian Union and is in control of nearly 43% of
former princely state. Areas under its illegal occupation since 1948
are Jammu, Kashmir valley, Ladakh. Pakistan considers Kashmir a disputed
territory since it draws strength from UN resolutions and wishes of the
people ofKashmir. It controls about 37% of Kashmir known as Azad
Kashmir. China controls 20% of area which includes Aksai Chin, adjacent
to Tibet and Shaksam valley in Trans-Karakoram Tract. Latter region had
been ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963 following border agreement.
Encouraged by their success in snuffing out Khalistan Movement in
East Punjab, the Indian security forces wanted to repeat their success
story in occupied Kashmir as well. With that motive in mind, they
unleashed a reign of terror and torture in their futile bid to subdue
the freedom struggle waged by the valiant Muslims of occupied Kashmir
since October 1989.
Pakistan could do little to help the Kashmiris in duress since
India aligned itself with USA in 1991 while Pakistan fell from grace of
USA. Taking advantage of Pak-US frosty relations, India tried hard to
project freedom movement in Kashmir as Pakistan backed terrorism. The US
supported India’s point of view and put Pakistan on the terrorist watch
list. New rules framed on terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 and
Pakistan’s deep involvement in war on terror on its own soil made things
even more difficult for Pakistan to pay due attention to Kashmir.
Having effectively fenced and fortified the LoC through troop
deployment, posts and mines, and spread a network of intelligence
operatives and overstuffed the small valley with 700,000 troops,
together with imposition of black laws and license to kill suspected
militants and sympathizers in fake encounters, it became near impossible
for Kashmiri Mujahideen based in AJK to go across into occupied
Kashmir. Musharraf’s out of box idea and division of APHC by India with
the help of Musharraf weakened the freedom movement.
From 2008 onwards, Pakistan faced multiple crises. It was
confronted with futile war on terror, foreign backed insurgents and
terrorists, resettlement of flood affecters, crumbling economy and
unstable political and social conditions. In the wake of Mumbai attacks,
India’s posture became highly belligerent and it was fully backed by
USA and western world. Pakistan neither had the resources or the stamina
to stretch its neck out and fish in troubled waters. Troop density in
Kashmir is unprecedented. Kashmir has become the most militarized
territory in the world. The ratio of troop to civilian comes to 1:7. No
trouble spot in the world has so many troops and that too in so small a
valley. When the valley got engulfed with unarmed movement by the youth
following Amarnath Shrine Board incident in 2008, and got more explosive
in 2009, 2010 and 2011 owing to participation of small kids with stones
in their hands chanting Azadi slogans, the world took little notice of
indiscriminate use of force by Indian forces against unarmed civilians,
including children, women and elderly people. Large number of teenagers
got killed. India didn’t allow international human rights groups and
humanitarian organizations to visit the open prison. The US and western
media remained mute. The US State Department expressed its usual bias by
issuing occupied Kashmir map recently in which AJK was shown as part of
it.
Indian leaders keep harping that J&K is integral part of India
and keep seeking a solution within Indian constitution. It has always
resorted to cosmetic measures and avoided result oriented talks. Indian
FM Krishna came to Islamabad last year for talks without a mandate and
without any liberty of action. It is often said that dialogue is the
only solution for Kashmir dispute. The big question is that India who
has the key follows a single track policy. It doesn’t consider Kashmir a
disputed territory and insists that Kashmir is an integral part of
India and doesn’t changes its stance under any circumstance and also
doesn’t allow third party mediation or facilitation. Its sole aim is to
keep buying time and hoping that the other two stakeholders would get
exhausted and give up. With such a perverse mindset, resolution of
Kashmir dispute through process of dialogue is not possible.
Instead of solving the dispute, India is taking full advantage of
Pakistan’s precarious internal security situation and tumbling economy
and is not only playing Balochistan card to force Islamabad to lay its
hands off Kashmir but has also embarked upon a comprehensive welfare
oriented program in Kashmir Valley known as Operation Sadbhavana. This
program had been initiated in Ladakh in 2000 and is now being pursued by
15 Corps Commander Lt Gen Hussain from 2008 onwards to win the hearts
and minds of Kashmiris. The youth are being recruited in police and
CRPF. Military commanders are interacting with students and impressing
upon them not to take part in armed or unarmed protest movements and are
offering them incentives. These measures have apparently helped in
defusing unarmed movement which had become explosive. Even refugees
based in AJK are being induced with a package of rupees ten lacs to
return to their homes and many have returned. They are also being helped
in getting settled in Europe or USA. Purpose is to weaken the base camp
in AJK. Notwithstanding India’s pacification measures, Indian
military’s brutality against those seeking freedom or absorption into
Pakistan is continuing as heretofore. Entire families of freedom
fighters including the returnees from AJK are being systematically
eliminated. In addition, Hindus from Ladakh and India are being settled
in the valley to gradually change the demography.
Courtesy: Opinion Maker
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