Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) has been in the news for some time now. Amit Shah has spoken about it. Recently, Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Defence Minister of India, has once again spoken about the issue of the POJK, indirectly hinting at the unification of the POJK with the Indian Union. Shri Rajnath Singh also highlighted that for Pakistan, POJK was just a foreign territory to promote terrorism and anti-India propaganda. Slowly and steadily, the political leadership in India has been conveying that complete Jammu & Kashmir, as was the case at the time of partition of India, should be integrated, preferably as a natural process.
Undivided Jammu & Kashmir was a huge princely state measuring about 2,18 779 sq km. It had a Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, at independence. The state is comprised of five regions. The province of Jammu had a Hindu majority. The valley of Kashmir, which lay north of Jammu, had a clear Muslim majority. To the east of Kashmir valley was Ladakh, inhabited by the Buddhists. Further west of Ladakh were two thinly populated states of Gilgit and Baltistan, from the Shia and Ismaili branches of Islam. The northern portion of the state was all high mountains and largely inaccessible. There were hardly any roads, and these areas were cut off from the main valley of Kashmir.
Jammu & Kashmir’s history of accession to the Indian dominion is well known. More than 500 princely states had merged with India at independence, but Maharaja Hari Singh wanted independent nation status for his state of Jammu & Kashmir. Post-independence on August 15 1947, the situation in Jammu & Kashmir deteriorated, leading to economic crisis and law & order problems. Pakistan could not accept the fact that a Muslim-majority state had not ceded to them. There were intelligence inputs of Pakistan preparing to send infiltrators in large numbers into Kashmir. Taking advantage of the situation, the Pakistan Army, then led by a large number of British officers, decided to annex Kashmir militarily.
Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, who was an ethnic Kashmiri, wanted the accession of Kashmir to the Indian Union with the support of Sheikh Abdullah, the tallest leader in the state. There was confusion in the environment, and taking advantage of the uncertain situation in the state, Pakistan Army regulars and tribals, aided and abetted by Pakistani establishment, invaded Kashmir from the north on October 22 1947 and quickly moved southwards towards Srinagar, the capital city. The tribals, basically Pathans from the North West Frontier Provinces, numbered anything between 10,000 to 13,000 men and were armed with weapons and ammunition provided by the Pakistan Army.
After carrying out loot, rape and plunder en route, the tribals reached Baramulla, which is just 60 km from the state capital, on October 24 1947.
They indulged in mass loot and rape of the locals and lost sight of reaching Srinagar at the earliest. Under this grave security situation, Maharaja Hari Singh sought military assistance from India on October 24 1947 and finally signed the ‘Instrument of Accession’ on October 26 1947. In the wee hours of October 27 1947, Indian troops flew from Delhi and landed in Srinagar and quickly secured the city, particularly the airport. Indian troops fought stellar battles with the invaders, saving the city in time.
After ensuring the security of Srinagar, the Indian troops began to clear other parts of the valley captured by the tribals. By November 11 1947, the towns of Baramulla and Uri were recaptured and liberated. The Indian troops had the advantage of momentum with them, but with the onset of winter, the military operations were temporarily suspended. The military leadership was keen to continue pushing ahead, but Minister Nehru wanted to improve Kashmir’s internal affairs under Sheikh Abdullah’s leadership. One paid much attention to the inaccessible portion of Kashmir, i.e. Gilgit and Baltistan. War continued well into 1948, and the ceasefire occurred on January 1, 1949.
With the signing of the Instrument of Accession, the finality of the merger of complete Jammu & Kashmir with the Indian union was legally achieved, as was the case with other princely states. In the last week of November 1947, Prime Minister Nehru suggested a plebiscite for the whole state to decide which dominion it would join or prefer to remain independent. This moral high ground was uncalled for in hindsight, as this issue still haunts India today. Pakistan smartly took control of the Gilgit and Baltistan during this period of impasse. So, it was too late when India went to the United Nations in January 1948 to stake a claim for the Pak-occupied northern parts. With the ceasefire after the 1947-1948 operations, India lost a considerable chunk of territory in the West as well. Pakistan prefers to call the entire POJK under their administrative control as the Azad Kashmir.
POJK has an area of 13,297 sq km and has a population of around 46 lacs, more than 95 per cent being Muslims. It shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the south and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the West. On the east is the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. Most of the population is Gujjars, and traditionally, these people share family & ethnic linkages with people in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. The POJK’s economy largely depends on agriculture, and infrastructure development has been slow under Pakistan’s rule.
No wonder people from POJK have been protesting against the Pakistan government for the stepmotherly treatment. On the contrary, Jammu & Kashmir has seen major development, and even the Kashmir valley has been connected by rail. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, while dedicating the Sonamarg Tunnel on January 12, has pledged to make Jammu & Kashmir the most well-connected state in the country. It is my belief that the popular sentiment on both sides of Kashmir desires unification, though the sentiment may be muted as of now.
We have the example of the reunification of Germany in the year 1990. After the defeat of Germany in World War II in 1945, the West, led by America-occupied Germany, came to be known as the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and the Soviet-occupied Germany came to be called German Democratic Republic (East Germany). East Germany became a Communist country under the Soviet bloc and did not prosper much. West Germany flourished as an economic powerhouse with Western support and a democratic government. East Germany constructed the 155 km long famous Berlin Wall in the 1960s, basically to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West. Ultimately, the Berlin Wall was demolished with the people’s will from June 1990 onwards, leading to the reunification of Germany on October 3 1990. Thus, the reunification of Kashmir is similarly feasible with popular mutual support from both sides, Pakistan and India.
The existence of Pakistan, particularly of Pakistan Army Generals, is dependent on anti-India rhetoric and their policy of keeping the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir unstable with incidents of terror. The game of the Pakistani leadership has gone on too long, and today, even the people of Pakistan rue the sorry state of economic affairs in their country. There are many admirers of PM Modi and his style of leadership. Thus, the public opinion in Pakistan is not very concerned about the POJK and may even be happy regarding India.
Pakistan is in further turmoil with the policy of supporting cross-border terrorism consuming its body politic, as opined by the EAM S. Jaishankar recently. It is facing flak from the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Pakistan had to use airpower against Afghanistan recently. Internally, Balochistan continues to be a major headache for Pakistan, with regular clashes between Baloch and Pakistani forces. With President Trump back in power in the US, the pressure on Pakistan would be immense as America’s economic and military aid wouldn’t come easily. Pakistan is also cosying up to the new regime in Bangladesh to open another front against India. China, too, is likely under pressure from the Trump 2.0 administration and may not be able to support Pakistan much.
India’s considered and principled position through a Parliament resolution adopted unanimously on February 22 1994, states that the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India. While the political will has been officially stated, the issue of reunification has not caught the imagination of the Indian public at large. Of course, such major mergers require preparation for decades, and some trigger moments set the chain for historic integration. India is on the path to crush the scourge of terrorism from Jammu & Kashmir and to make Pakistan irrelevant to the cause of the undivided Kashmiri people. India has the resolve, capability and tenacity to re-unite Kashmir at the appropriate time with the collective will of the people.
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