IOK Worlds Biggest Prison

The Kashmir Dispute Between Pakistan And India

” Indian held Kashmir the world biggest open air prison since 27th October 1947 (66yrs) when the Indian military landed there and forcibly occupied the valley.It is manned by the largest force of prison guards,approximately 700,000-800,000 ( 3 times more then the US/NATO force occupying, Afghanistan) Indian military and other security force,brutalizing,rape,kill and tyrannizing the inmates!…”

Human Rights Violations by the Indian army in the Indian Held Kashmir:

Jan. 1989 to May 31, 2013
Total Killings * 93,863
Custodial Killings 7,000
Civilians Arrested 121,361
Structures Arsoned/Destroyed 105,977
Women Widowed 22,767
Children Orphaned 107,450
Women gang-raped / Molested 10,055

In May 2013 alone :
Total Killings *
6
Custodial Killings
1
Tortured/Critically Injured
81
Civilians Arrested
73
Structures Arson/Destroyed
0KMS
Disappeared
1
Women Widowed
0
Children Orphaned
0
Women gang-raped / Molested
2

* Including custody

” A report prepared by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and released on the website of the World Body, mentioned unmarked graves found in occupied Kashmir saying that the Special Rapporteur was informed that a total of 2,700 unmarked graves containing over 2,943 bodies had been discovered with some of these graves containing more than one body.

The same report pointed out that the Special Rapporteur was presented with several cases of enforced disappearances in the occupied territory and the difficulties to seek accountability in those cases. It said that the authorities had estimated that 4,000 people had gone missing, but other sources had put the number to be between 5,000 and 10,000.

Now if in such conditions there would not be resentment from the population,then what else ?

Contrary to the Indians claim,the Kashmir freedom struggle is a continuous indigenous oneand not Pakistan sponsored.It is ongoing since 1947 partition of the British ruled India and subsequent forcible military occupation in the same year on 27th October.A day till today marked as the “Black Day ” by the Kashmiris throughout the globe…

In fact the blame which India lays up on Pakistan for having sponsored the struggle is false and proven to be baseless at many occasions and is spread as a propaganda by India, to hide the truth and to save face to escape from the reality.That each and every man,woman and child struggling over there is 100 % genuine Kashmiri,who do not wish to remain under Indian subjugation nor part of their domain ,come what may happen to them.

They, the Kashmiris want complete freedom from the yoke of the Draconian rule of India at any cost,even if it happens to be at the extent of sacrificing their lives..Unfortunately,with an ostrich mindset,the truth is denied by India,that Kashmir is not an integral part of theirs and never ever shall be so.

Yes! it was certainly heartening to view the relentless efforts which President Obama, had apparently taken upon himself by embarking upon a great mission to trot around the Muslim states, in particular the M.E and the African country’s to remedy the pending issues and disputes and evolve solutions for economic development and uplift programs within those regions and as well improve relations between them and the USA.

It was anticipated by all that since he is attending one of the oldest dispute pending Palestine-Israel in the M.E and others in the African regions, he would also touch up on the other tough and long overdue settlement of the struggle of the Muslims of Indian held Jammu Kashmir dispute would not escape his agenda too.Sadly and disappointingly,it did not materialize the way it was expected,probably owing seemingly to his shift in his administrations foreign policy, for reasons best suiting their interest.

It must be kept in mind that The Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved international conflict in the world today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. So does the international community, except India.

// Kashmir: The origins of the dispute

Current tensions go back decades

In August 1947 when the Indian subcontinent became independent from Britain, all the rulers of the 565 princely states, whose lands comprised two-fifths of India and a population 99 million, had to decide which of the two new dominions to join, India or Pakistan.

The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, whose state was situated between the two new countries, could not decide which country to join.

He was Hindu, his population was predominantly Muslim. He therefore did nothing.

Instead he signed a “standstill” agreement with Pakistan in order that services such as trade, travel and communication would be uninterrupted.

India did not sign a similar agreement.

Law and order

In October 1947, Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province invaded Kashmir.

There had been persistent reports of communal violence against Muslims in the state and, supported by the Pakistani Government, they were eager to precipitate its accession to Pakistan.

Lord Louis Mountbatten

Mountbatten favored Kashmir’s temporary accession to India

Troubled by the increasing deterioration in law and order and by earlier raids, culminating in the invasion of the tribesmen, the ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, requested armed assistance from India.

The then Governor-General, Lord Mountbatten, believed the developing situation would be less explosive if the state were to accede to India, on the understanding that this would only be temporary prior to “a referendum, plebiscite, election”.

According to the terms of the Instrument of Accession, India’s jurisdiction was to extend to external affairs, defence and communications.

Troops airlifted

Exactly when Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession has been hotly debated for over 50 years.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru’s representative met the ruler of Kashmir

Official Indian accounts state that in the early hours of the morning of 26 October, Hari Singh fled from Srinagar, arriving in Jammu later in the day, where he was met by V P Menon, representative of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and signed the Instrument of Accession.

On the morning of 27 October, Indian troops were airlifted into Srinagar.

Recent research, from British sources, has indicated that Hari Singh did not reach Jammu until the evening of 26 October and that, due to poor flying conditions, V P Menon was unable to get to Jammu until the morning of 27 October , by which time Indian troops were already arriving in Srinagar.

In order to support the thesis that the Maharaja acceded before Indian troops landed, Indian sources have now suggested that Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession before he left Srinagar but that it was not made public until later.

This was because Hari Singh had not yet agreed to include the Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdullah, in his future government. To date no authentic original document has been made available.

Pakistan immediately contested the accession, suggesting that it was fraudulent, that the Maharaja acted under duress and that he had no right to sign an agreement with India when the standstill agreement with Pakistan was still in force.

Pakistanis also argued that because Hari Singh fled from the valley of Kashmir , he was not in control of his state and therefore not in a position to take a decision on behalf of his people.

‘Bad faith’

In the context of Pakistan’s claim that there is a dispute over the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the accession issue forms a significant aspect of their argument.

By stating that the Instrument of Accession was signed on 26 October, when it clearly was not, Pakistan believes that India has not shown good faith and consequently that this invalidates the Instrument of Accession.

Indians argue, however, that regardless of the discrepancies over timing, the Maharaja did choose to accede to India and he was not under duress.

On the basis of his accession, India claims ownership of the entire state which includes the approximately one-third of the territory currently administered by Pakistan.

In 1949 Maharaja Hari Singh was obliged by the Government of India to leave the state and hand over the government to Sheikh Abdullah. The Maharaja,died in Bombay in 1962.

In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948. The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948–one of the principal UN resolutions on Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.

KASHMIR ISSUE IN A NUTSHELL

The current agitation in Indian-Held Kashmir is rooted in the struggle of the people for the exercise of the right of self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom were fired upon by Indian Army and police. Thousands of men, women and children have been killed or wounded.

1. New Delhi’s allegation of assistance to the Kashmiri people from the Pakistan side is unfounded. Objective reports in foreign media testify that the Kashmiri agitation is indigenous.

2. Pakistan upholds the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to self-determination in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. These resolutions of 1948 and 1949 provide for the holding of a free and impartial plebiscite for the determination of the future of the state by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

3. The basic points about the UN resolution are that:

* The complaint relating to Kashmir was initiated by India in the Security Council;

* The Council explicitly and by implications, rejected India’s claim that Kashmir is legally Indian territory;

* The resolutions established self-determination as the governing principal for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute. This is the world body’s commitment to the people of Kashmir;

* The resolutions endorsed a binding agreement between India and Pakistan reached through the mediation of UNCIP, that a plebiscite would be held, under agreed and specified conditions.

1. The Security Council has rejected the Indian contention that the people of Kashmir have exercised their right of self-determination by participating in the “election” which India has from time to time organized in the Held Kashmir. The 0.2% turn out during the 1989 “elections” was the most recent clear repudiation of the Indian claim.2. Pakistan continues to adhere to the UN resolutions. These are binding also on India.3. The Simla Agreement of 2 July 1972, to which Pakistan also continues to adhere, did not alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory:

* Para 6 of the Agreement lists “a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir” as one of the outstanding questions awaiting a settlement.

* Para 4 (ii) talks of a “Line of Control” as distinguished from an international border. Furthermore, it explicitly protects “the recognized position of either side.” The recognized position of Pakistan is the one, which is recognized by the United Nations and the World Community in general.

* Article 1(iv) obviously refers to the Kashmir issue when it talks of “the basic issues and causes of conflict which have bedeviled the relations between the two countries for the last 25 years”

Politicians of India and Pakistan need to sit down with commitment and a perfect time period assigned to resolve this issue. All ,sane politicians of the countries involved in this dispute should act wisely!! We have paid extremely heavy price of our mishandling of this core issue. We lost our great amount of wealth in building armies and ammunition stockpiles. We fought wars and but this time it is different scenario for the reason that both the Country’s are now Nuclear states with stock pile of nuclear arsenal.In view of the same war isn’t and cannot be a wise way to sort the matter out only dialogue is the best and the wisest method of resolving it.

While concluding I must add that resolution of the Kashmir dispute is without any doubt a key to a durable peace in South Asia,at least to the extent of these two neighboring country’s,India and Pakistan. It is also a fact that Pakistan remains committed to finding a just settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the people of Indian occupied Kashmir. It should be resolved through sincere dialogue in order to open up vast opportunities for sociology-economic development of the region.

It is the people of this region who should come out and pressurize their respective Government to resolve this bleeding issue once and for all. It is our responsibility otherwise our generations would be thrown in trauma and distress for another long and endless period

Moral of the tale: Kashmiris should be allowed to choose their own destiny. Enough blood has been spilled already. India is the belligerent one here to the point of embarrassment. But all belligerent nations have had to eat the humble pie at some point. Only the Right of Self Determination as per the Kashmiris aspirations alone, to settle Indian Held Kashmir dispute !

Jammu and Kashmir: Population Distribution, 1981 And 2001

The distribution of population in the area of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir is, to a very large degree, contingent on the factors of physical geography discussed in respect to the foregoing general reference map. Figure 3 provides a map of that distribution, by districts, as of 2001, the date of the most recent Indian census. Pakistan’s most recent census was taken in 1998 and we extrapolated district-level data for Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas for that year, using the annual growth rates provided by the census, to derive the figures presented on the map and in the table below. Despite substantial growth over the period 1981-2001, the regional pattern of relatively high, medium, and low densities has altered little. In general, Indian-held Kashmir proper, Jammu, and Pakistani-held Azad Kashmir are areas in which densities range from medium to very high, while Ladakh and the Northern Areas are sparsely settled. Regional areas and their 1981 and 2001 population totals, as well as rates of population increase and 2001 population densities are indicated in the table below. At the district level, 2001 densities ranged from highs of 531 persons per square km. in Srinagar and 508 in Jammu to a low of only 2.6 in Leh.

Region Area(sq. km.)* Population1981 (x 1,000) Population2001 (x 1,000) %Increase(1981-2001) Density in 2001(per sq. km.)

Over the period from the first post-partition census in 1951 to the 1981 enumeration the rate of population growth on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control was significantly higher than on the Indian side. However, if the figures provided in the table above are to be taken at face value, the reverse seems to be true for the period 1981-2001. The reasons for this are unclear. They may reflect any or all of the following: an increase in the rate of net emigration from Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas; a net increase in the rate of immigration into those two regions (especially likely in regard to the Northern Areas since the completion of the Karakorum Highway); or the omission from the enumerated population in the Northern Areas of persons not native to the region (a hypothesis suggested by the remarkably low proportion of that population reported as speakers of non-local languages in the fragmentary languages available to us). In any event, the enumerated Northern Areas population in 1998 was substantially less than what we had formerly forecast based on demographic data provided in 1987 by the Agha Khan Rural Support Program.
JAMMU AND KASHMIR:

DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS

Three major faiths are each clearly dominant in different parts of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Islam is virtually the sole religion throughout the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir on the Pakistani side of the 1972 Line of Control, accounting for more than 99.5% of the population in every single district of those two areas. On the Indian side of the LOC, Islam is clearly dominant in Kashmir, is also the leading faith in three of the six districts of Jammu, and accounts for a large majority of the population in the Kargil tahsil of Kargil district. Hinduism, the second most numerous faith, accounts for a majority of the population in the three southernmost districts of Jammu and in that region as a whole. Followers of the Tibetan form of Buddhism are a decided majority in the large, but thinly populated district of Leh and in Zanskar tahsil in the southern part of Kargil district. In Jammu and Kashmir as a whole, Islam is by far the leading faith and, with 74.9% of the total population, it accounted for a somewhat larger share of the total than it did at the time of partition, when, judging from the 1941 census, it accounted for 72.9% of the population.

While a clear majority of the Muslims in Jammu, in Kashmir proper, and in Azad Kashmir are followers of the Sunni form of the faith, large areas in Indian-held Ladakh, most notably in Kargil district, and in the Pakistani-held Northern Areas have majorities who follow various sects that may be grouped under the label Shiah. These include the Ismailis, whose spiritual leader is the Aga Khan, whose Aga Khan Rural Support Programme is a major source of development assistance to the region, on both sides of the LOC. Reliable statistics on sectarian distributions within Islam have never been collected. However, based on such pre-independence data as do exist, Shiahs (of various sub-sects) outnumber Sunnis in Indian-held Kargil, while, on the Pakistani side of the LOC, they lead in all parts of the Northern Areas except Gilgit tahsil of Gilgit district and the western tahsils of Diamir district. In those areas, owing in part to immigration from Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province since the completion of the Karakoram Highway, the two sects are believed to be in rough balance.
Minority faiths in the Indian-held areas of Jammu and Kashmir also include the Sikhs (who number 133,675, or 2.23%), settled mainly in Jammu; Christians (8,481); and Jains (1,576). Minority religions in areas held by Pakistan are of no significance.

source :

1) click here to download map

http://www.kashmirstudygroup.com/awayforward/mapsexplan/religions.html

2)UN Rapporteurs report .

http://www.kmsnews.org/news/2013/05/05/india-asked-to-repeal-draconian-afspa-form-ihk.html

3) Jammu and Kashmir: Population Distribution, 1981 And 2001 and

JAMMU AND KASHMIR: DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS

http://www.kashmirstudygroup.net/awayforward05/p6_kj_popdist.html

4) BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1762146.stm //

Written By :

Sethi Mushtaq