MUZZAFARABAD, Pakistan-administered
Kashmir - From 1947 to 1965, the Kashmiri liberation
movement had only one goal - accession with Pakistan.
However, after the 1965 India-Pakistan war, when that
goal became tantalizingly close but evaporated when the
Pakistani military command decided on a ceasefire, the
idea of an independent Kashmir took hold.
However, the situation changed again in 1989
when the Jamaat-i-Islami-run school and college network
gave birth to the Hizbul Mujahideen [1] in
Indian-administered Kashmir. Its supreme commander, Syed
Salahuddin, who is also the leader of all 13 underground
guerrilla movements under the umbrella of the United
Jihad Council, is committed to the "Kashmir is Pakistan"
concept, and he is skeptical about the dialogue process,
which he sees as a veiled move to derail the armed
struggle.
Over half a century ago [2] when the
Kashmir dispute first arose, no one could have thought
in their wildest imagination that normally docile
Kashmiris would become guerrillas and take on over
700,000 Indian forces.
Yet the people of the
land of Sufis, shrines and khankhas (hermits)
have proved durable fighters. And in the spiritual Syed
family, Syed Mohammad Yousuf Shah was born and became
commander of the Mujahideen, going under the name of
Syed Salahuddin, although his spiritual family
connections are so strong that he is widely known as
"Pir Saheb" (spiritual teacher) among all jihadis.
Now in his mid 50s, Salahuddin and his group,
the Hizbul Mujahideen, are recognized by India as the
sole indigenous movement fighting against Indian forces
in the Kashmir Valley. In the past decade, Salahuddin, a
master in political science and a poet in the English
language, has not only grown into a veteran guerrilla
commander, but also an astute politician. His exploits
have earned him international publicity.
Standing once again at a crossroad, like the
post-1965 ceasefire position, and after September 11,
when the future of armed struggle was bleak worldwide
(especially as Pakistan did a u-turn and sided with the
US in its "war on terror", which meant scaling back
support for Kashmiri militancy) Salahuddin was under
pressure to "meet halfway somewhere".
But
speaking from the Hizbul Mujahideen's headquarters in
Muzaffarabad, Salahuddin is firm. "Yes, it is true that
in the post 9/11 situation everything changed. A tank
firing shells on Palestinians is not a terrorist, but a
boy throwing stones at a tank is a terrorist. We know
the international situation in not favorable for armed
struggle and the US rightly wanted to shut down a 'war
theater' in Kashmir. But we want more than the US wants.
"India took advantage of the situation and tried
to declare the Kashmiri armed struggle a terrorist
movement, but it failed, only because the international
community knows that it is an indigenous struggle for
the right of self-determination of Kashmiris. We
Kashmiris were not familiar with the words of pistols
and revolvers when Indian occupation was imposed on us.
For several decades we peacefully carried out our
struggle for our right of self-determination under UN
resolutions.
"You know
there were peaceful political demonstrations and rallies
all over Kashmir in favor of the right of
self-determination in which the attendance was as great
as 1.5 million ... but what happened? The political
movemen
t was quelled with brute
force. Kashmiris were forced to live under Indian
occupation, that was what led to a situation in which
Kashmiris took up arms ... yet we are more willing then
anybody else to end the present situation because we are
the ones who suffer. Our people are killed every day,
they are forced to leave their homes. India is not
losing anything. We are the ones who are losing.
Therefore we want to resolve the present situation, but
it should be the right of self-determination for
Kashmiris under UN resolutions which will end the
present conflict." Salahuddin reflects wryly that
Pakistan is attempting to resolve the Kashmiri dispute,
which proved to the international community that
Islamabad did not have any mental blocks in starting the
dialogue process, but at the same time Salahuddin termed
it "wishful thinking" if Pakistan does this alone.
"India is stubborn and Pakistan is showing
flexibility. India does not take Pakistani gestures as
goodwill gestures, and sees them as Pakistan's weakness
and compulsion. If anyone doubts this, refer to [Indian
Prime Minister] Manmohan Singh's statement in which he
refused all formulas on Kashmir. At the maximum Indians
are interested only in speaking about the Line of
Control [3]. To me talking on and on about this is
nothing.
"Now [Pakistani] President [General
Pervez] Musharraf on the other hand is sincerely trying
to take some breakthrough steps, like the unilateral
ceasefire along the Line of Control, restoration of
flights [between Pakistan and India] but in return what
is the Indian response? In violation of all
international laws they are fencing the Line of Control.
Indian atrocities continue in Kashmir."
Salahuddin generally restricts his arguments to
Kashmir, yet he spoke on the US role in the region and
feels that it would only be in favor of India.
"Though the US admits that Pakistan is its
frontline ally and it could not have defeated the
Taliban [in Afghanistan] without Pakistan's help, there
are ground realities which suggest that India is the
real US strategic partner in the region and for many
reasons the US does not want to disintegrate India. It
is a countervailing force against China, and the US sees
in India its base against China.
"In this
situation, the Kashmiri armed struggle is the only
leverage which would force India into fruitful dialogue.
We support dialogue and look forward to the continuation
of shuttle diplomacy between India and Pakistan, but its
destination should be the right of self-determination of
Kashmiris, not a compromise to end the armed struggle
without any results," says Salahuddin.
The
Indian approach has all along been for the Mujahideen to
give up the armed struggle. "But this is not possible,"
says Salahuddin. "Our 50 years in dealing with the
Indian government suggest that there is no other way
except armed struggle which will force India to talk
business.
"Similarly, Kashmir is Pakistan's
lifeline, all its water sources come from there. It has
strategic value as well. The construction of the Bagliar
Dam would turn the green fields of [Pakistani] Punjab
into a desert. Pakistan should review its strategy with
India and talk on ground realities.
"At present,
India aims to deviate Pakistan from its principle stance
on Kashmir ... and it seems that Pakistan has gradually
retreated from its principle stand, that is, the
Kashmiris' right of self-determination under UN
resolutions. In this situation the Mujahideen only has
one stand - we will not accept any other option.
"However, having said that, it is quite
understandable and possible that the two countries will
proceed on equal terms and reach an agreement that is
acceptable to Kashmiris. But the present situation does
not give any positive indication that India will change
its stubborn position, while Pakistan is showing
flexibility. Such unilateral compromise is not
acceptable. We would welcome it if the leadership of the
two countries talked and agreed on a formula and the
Kashmiri leadership approved such a formula.
"Despite all the Indian conspiracies, the
liberation movement has proved itself. India has tried
to portray us as a fundamentalist movement, but the
world community can see that India has had a history of
communal violence on the basis of religion since 1947
[27,000 incidents], except in Kashmir, where not a
single such incident has happened.
"The few
isolated incidents that have happened were carried out
by Indian agencies to blame the liberation movement. We
execute only Indian touts - most were Muslims - when we
have the necessary evidence. Even if the Kashmiri
Pandits left Kashmir after the uprising, it was
organized by the then governor Jag Mohan to portray the
Kashmir dispute as communal. We have proved that our
struggle is against Indian occupation, and nothing more
than that.
"There is dialogue going on between
India and Pakistan. Whatever course this dialogue takes,
in 14 years the Kashmiri struggle has raised a new
generation of Kashmiris under intense Indian tyranny.
This new generation is the theme of the current struggle
and will be able to decide the course if any
unacceptable solution is imposed on them," says
Salahuddin.
Notes [1] India
places a year-long ban on the Hizbul Mujahideen, which
it renews annually. However, it has never declared it a
terrorist organization. This was the pretext under which
the US State Department put the Hizbul Mujahadeen on a
"terrorist watch list", and the organization argued that
even India - against whom they are fighting - had not
declared them a terrorist organization. Pro-Indian
Kashmiri leaders such as Mufti Saeed and Farooq Abdullah
have admitted that the Hizbul Mujahideen is an
indigenous movement and that they are Kashmiris.
[2] The territory of Kashmir was bitterly
contested even before India and Pakistan won their
independence from Britain in August 1947. Under the
partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act
of 1947, Kashmir was free to accede to India or
Pakistan. The Maharaja, Hari Singh, wanted to stay
independent, but eventually decided to accede to India,
signing over key powers to the Indian government - in
return for military aid and a promised referendum.
Since then, the territory has been the
flashpoint for two of the three India-Pakistan wars: the
first in 1947-8, the second in 1965. In 1999, India
fought a brief but bitter conflict with Pakistani-backed
forces who had infiltrated Indian-controlled territory
in the Kargil area.
In addition to the rival
claims of Delhi and Islamabad to the territory, there
has been a growing and often violent separatist movement
against Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989.
Islamabad says that Kashmir should have become
part of Pakistan in 1947, because Muslims are in the
majority in the region. Pakistan also argues that
Kashmiris should be allowed to vote in a referendum on
their future, following numerous United Nations
resolutions on the issue.
Delhi, however, does
not want international debate on the issue, arguing that
the Simla Agreement of 1972 provided for a resolution
through bilateral talks. India points to the Instrument
of Accession signed in October 1947 by the Maharaja,
Hari Singh.
Both India and Pakistan reject the
option of Kashmir becoming an independent state.
[3] The LoC is a demarcation line established in
January 1949 as a ceasefire line, following the end of
the first Kashmir war. In July 1972, after a second
conflict, the LoC was re-established under the terms of
the Simla Agreement, with minor variations on the
earlier boundary. The LoC passes through a mountainous
region about 5,000 metres high. North of the LoC, the
rival forces have been entrenched on the Siachen glacier
(more than 6,000 metres high) since 1984 - the highest
battlefield in the world. The LoC divides Kashmir on an
almost two-to-one basis: Indian-administered Kashmir to
the east and south (population about 9 million), which
falls into the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and
Kashmir; and Pakistani-administered Kashmir to the north
and west (population about 3 million), which is labelled
by Pakistan as "Azad" (Free) Kashmir. China also
controls a small portion of Kashmir.
Syed
Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing.)
PART 3: The fight for
self-determination
Mujahideen, going under the name of
Syed Salahuddin, although his spiritual family
connections are so strong that he is widely known as
"Pir Saheb" (spiritual teacher) among all jihadis.
t was quelled with brute
force. Kashmiris were forced to live under Indian
occupation, that was what led to a situation in which
Kashmiris took up arms ... yet we are more willing then
anybody else to end the present situation because we are
the ones who suffer. Our people are killed every day,
they are forced to leave their homes. India is not
losing anything. We are the ones who are losing.
Therefore we want to resolve the present situation, but
it should be the right of self-determination for
Kashmiris under UN resolutions which will end the
present conflict." 
