There are elections held for state assemblies; all political parties contest these. The state of J&K is the only one in India to have its own constitution and flag. Hard-line pro-independence and pro-Pakistan political parties also contest these elections; these, however, have failed to achieve a majority in the state assembly (I wonder why?) The elections in Jammu & Kashmir (why forget Jammu) are subject to certain steps which both India and Pakistan have refused to undertake; both are basically passing the buck.
The Indian part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir is a part of my country and I do not see any need to hold special elections there.
"That I agree that the elections were rigged in Jammu & Kashmir; this is GoIs greatest mistake. I doubt the insurgency could be solely attributed to those elections."
B.K. Nehru, who was Governor of Kashmir from 1981 to 1984, in his memoirs published in 1997.
From 1953 to 1975, Chief Ministers of that State [of J&K] had been nominees of Delhi. Their appointment to that post was legitimised by the holding of farcical and totally rigged elections in which the Congress party led by Delhi's nominee was elected by huge majorities."
I find it strange that you acknowlege that the elections in kashmir have been rigged and then you wonder why "pro-Pakistan political parties also contest these elections; these, however, have failed to achieve a majority in the state assembly (I wonder why?)"................the elections where rigged thats why!
So you expect Pakistan to stoop down to the level of Hezbollah or Hamas?
These battle-hardened fighters dont stand a chance of doing anything remarkable in front of a professional army.
The kashmiri have to work hard to achieve the heights that Hezbollah or Hamas achieved against the isaeli army.........The israeli "professional army" got a bloody nose fighting Hezbollah.
We are very happy with the status quo and would like to maintain it. Pakistan has had problems with it.
Pakistan wants to annex Jammu & Kashmir; please stop denying that. I expect your country to accept the status quo and move on with life. 60 years has done nothing to change the status quo; please learn something from this..
Pakistan wants an election under the UN in kashmir to see what the people want.
The status quo will mean more death and destruction.
Abuses have been done by insurgents and IA alike...
I agree.......how do we end it..?
You want to keep the status quo and i want a UN election............
Article 370: Autonomy or Erosion of Rights?
In 1949, the Indian Constituent Assembly adopted Article 370 of the Constitution, ensuring a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir with Indian jurisdiction in Kashmir limited to the three areas namely defence, foreign affairs and communications. This was confirmed by Abdullah in 1952 Delhi Agreement and the State was allowed to have its own flag.
Much has been made out of this allegedly special status for J&K with the Hindu Right demanding abrogation of Article 370. In reality, Article 370 which was envisioned as a temporary measure till self-determination, has been seriously eroded with the collusion of local puppet Ministers installed in rigged elections, by extending various articles like 356 and 357 to the State, by virtue of which the Centre can assume the government of the State and exercise its legislative powers. Today, Kashmiris are worse off than people in other States in many respects[11]- having been denied self-determination, Article 370 eroded and repressive acts such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act which lead to arbitrary arrests, torture and killing of thousands of innocent civilians.
Such trampling of democratic rights planted the seeds of a second wave of Kashmiri Nationalism ? Jammu and Kashmir National Liberation Front (NLF) was founded by Amanulla Khan and Maqbool Butt in the late sixties, which would later become JKLF and would play a major role in the 1989 insurgency.
1989: Popular Insurgency or Terrorist movement?
With the rising discontent against the Indian Rule ? long promised and denied self-determination, erosion of autonomy, consistently rigged elections and lack of employment opportunities ? the 1987 rigged election was a watershed event in the Kashmiri politics. The Muslim United Front(MUF) candidate Mohammad Yousuf Shah was imprisoned though he was on the lead and he would later become Syed Salahuddin, chief of militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahedin (Hizb). His election aides (known as the HAJY group) - Abdul Hamid Shaikh, Ashfaq Majid Wani, Javed Ahmed Mir and Mohammed Yasin Malik - became disenchanted with the electoral farce and joined the JKLF.
Thousands of young disaffected Kashmiris in the Valley were recruited by the JKLF and a full-fledged Freedom Movement against the Indian Rule began in 1989. The insurgency was not only militant but also popular - Hundreds of thousands of unarmed people marched on the streets of Srinagar between January and May 1990 demanding a plebiscite. This popular insurgency was brutally handled by the hardline Governor Jagmohan by firing indiscriminately at unarmed demonstrators. An officially estimated 10,000 desperate Kashmiri youth crossed over to Pakistan for training and procurement of arms.[12]
What was Pakistan's Role?
Pakistan has long held the resentment that Kashmir, which rightfully belonged to it as a Muslim majority State, was snatched from right under its nose by a clever India. Hence Pakistan has invaded Kashmir/India and gone to war four times over Kashmir in 1947, 1965(Operation Gibraltar), 1971 and 1999(Kargil). Pakistan had hoped that Kashmiris would rise against the Indian Rule in 1965 following Operation Gibraltar, but that did not happen. Thus, when a full-blown indigenous insurgency erupted in 1989, Pakistan was only too happy to take advantage of the golden opportunity and would fuel the insurgency enormously by supplying arms and training Kashmiri and foreign militants[13].
The pro-independence JKLF had a secular agenda and this was not to be tolerated. After all, Pakistan has not been too keen on the independence option and would love to have Kashmir to be part of Pakistan and thus backed the Hizb which favoured accession to Pakistan and played a role in decimating the JKLF by cutting off financing and in some instances provided intelligence to India against JKLF(!) . JKLF eventually declared a ceasefire in 1994 and remains a political group. Militant groups with Islamic agenda would proliferate through the nineties and have eventually hijacked the indigenous Kashmiri movement. Today, roughly the indigenous Kashmiri fighters account for only one-third of the total number of militants[14].
Is the Kashmiri Movement communal?
The Kashmiri Freedom movement is often portrayed as a communal movement where Kashmiri Muslims are pitted against the Hindus, but this is far from true. There is a rich tradition of Kashmiriyat - a composite cultural identity with the glorious traditions of communal amity, tolerance and compassion - in the Valley dating back several centuries.
In fact, when communal holocaust had been raging in Jammu, Kapurthala and elsewhere in India in 1947, Kashmir Valley was quiet and 5% Pandit minority totally safe. In 1990, when Pandits felt insecure given the killings of innocent community members, secular JKLF tried to explain that the killings of prominent Pandits were not communal but merely for political reasons like media bias and sentencing of Maqbool Butt. Kashmiris came out in large numbers and demonstrated in support of their Pandit brethren as they still do every time innocent Hindus are killed, as witnessed in the 2003 massacre at Nadimarg[19]. There have been instances of Muslims helping build temples for Hindus- an example being the village of Ichhigam in Budgam.
What is clear is that Kashmiri civilians are not communal by and large and Kashmiriyat continues to flourish. What is not clear is: who are these communal forces which target minority Hindus periodically? It could be jihadi militants with an Islamic agenda; It could be Indian sponsored renegades to communalize the conflict. Opinion remains divided. Only an independent investigation by an impartial agency can reveal the true identity of these killers. Kashmiris have repeatedly demanded inquiry into these killings by unidentified gunmen and it continues to be ignored.
Is there a solution?
India continues to insist that the accession of Kashmir to India is final and complete; Till recently, Pakistan had insisted on the implementation of UN resolutions- a unitary plebiscite for the whole of J&K; Musharraf broke ranks recently going so far to state that Pakistan is willing to give up its territorial claim on Kashmir provided certain conditions are met, but he faces intense hostility from hardline Islamists in his country. Kashmiris are alienated from both countries given brutal repression by India and violence by pro-Pakistan militants. Is there a solution to this seemingly intractable issue?
One reason why previous efforts to solve the problem have failed is this: India and Pakistan have not included Kashmiris as a legitimate party in tripartite unconditional dialogues. The evolving consensus opinion is that UN resolutions are out-dated, since the dispute has evolved into tripartite. That other regional solutions should be considered given that various regions in Kashmir have evolved independently since 1947 and that the conflict is restricted to the Kashmir Valley whose area is less than 16% of the total area of Indian controlled J&K.
One compromise regional solution which could potentially work was proposed by eminent historian Alastair Lamb in 1998 called Andorran Solution and a similar variant was proposed by the Kashmir Study Group[20]. Following the well established precedent of Andorra on the border between France and Spain, both Azad Kashmir and the Kashmir Valley could be declared as autonomous regions with its internal self-government but with its external defence and foreign affairs controlled jointly by India and Pakistan. Major advantage of this Andorran solution: No territory under Indian control would be transferred to Pakistan and no territory under Pakistani control would be transferred to India. Existing LoC will become the border. India retains Jammu and Ladakh, Pakistan retains
Kashmir: Terrorism Or Freedom Movement? By Akhila Raman
