October 27- Blackest Day for Kashmiris
By M Raza Malik
October 27 is the blackest day in the history of Kashmir. This is the Day when Indian army invaded Jammu and Kashmir, sabotaging the Indian Independence Act and Partition Plan of 1947. Over 300,000 Kashmiri Muslims were slaughtered within a period of two months by Indian troops, the forces of Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh, and Hindu extremists in a bid to change the demographic complexion of the territory.
According to the Indian Independence Act and Partition Plan of June 3, 1947, passed by the British Parliament on July 18, the same year, the British Indian Colony had to be divided into two sovereign states. The Hindu-majority areas were to form India and the Muslim-majority areas of Western provinces and east Bengal were to be included in the State of Pakistan.
Hyderabad, Junagarh and Kashmir, three of the independent Princely States at that time, were offered with the choice to be part of either Pakistan or India. India violated the guidelines set for deciding the future of these states, especially the clause of considering the geographical situation and communal demography, by landing its Army there. It forcibly occupied Hyderabad and Junagarh, with Hindu-majority but Muslims as their rulers.
Being a Muslim-majority State, with 87% Muslim population, Kashmir had a natural tendency to accede to Pakistan, but the evil designs of its Hindu ruler and the Indian National Congress paved way to destroy the future of the people of Kashmir. A controversial accession document (Instrument of Accession), drafted in Delhi was presented to the then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh to sign. However, there is no proof that the Maharaja did actually sign it.
Even the neutral observers deny the existence of such a document. A prominent British historian, Alistair Lamb, challenging the Indian invasion in Kashmir, in his book “The Birth of a Tragedy” wrote that the successive events after the partition of British India strongly suggested that the Indian troops had invaded Kashmir prior to the alleged signing of the instrument of accession. He believes that the signed instrument of accession did not exist at all. He argues that due to this reason the Indian government never made the so-called document public either officially or at any international forum.
Most importantly, the so-called Boundary Commission, headed by British Barrister, Cyril Radcliff, that demarcated the partition line between Pakistan and India played a very dubious role in paving the way for Indian illegal occupation of Kashmir by handing over Gurdaspur, a Muslim majority area, to India, making Jammu and Kashmir accessible to it, as there was no other land connection between India and Kashmir.
The people of Kashmir did not accept the illegal Indian occupation and started an armed resistance struggle in 1947. On January 1, 1948, sensing the defeat to its forces, India approached the UN Security Council seeking the help of the world body. However, Indian invasion and occupation of Kashmir was invalidated by the successive UN Security Council resolutions.
The world body passed two resolutions on August 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949, which were accepted both by Pakistan and India. Through these resolutions the UN approved a ceasefire, demarcation of the ceasefire line, demilitarization of the State and a free and impartial plebiscite to be conducted by the United Nations. Although one phase of the UN resolutions was implemented, demilitariza
المزيد
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