THE ONLY SOLUTION FOR THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR IS COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL OF ALL INDIAN MILITARY AND CIVILIAN PERSONNEL FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY DISPUTED AREAS OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR:HABIB YOUSAFZAI, CHAIRMAN OF THE KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE
ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!
Prior to Islam, mostly all areas were divided on the basis of tribes each with a tribal leader or lord controlling the area which has no basis in Islam. When Islam had not reached the Indian subcontinent, it too was divided into small states. In 1320 however, Renchana, an individual from Ladakh became the ruler of Kashmir. He was originally of the Buddhist faith. As time passed by, he eventually embraced Islam and changed his name to Sultan Sadar-ud-din. When the Islamic faith was well established in the Indian subcontinent in the period of Akbar the great, many small states including Kashmir came under Muslim rule by 1589. Essentially, there was no real state present in these areas before Islam came and established a state, with even Afghanistan being a part of this empire. As such, all credit goes to Muslims who ruled and kept India united over one thousand years.
After the death of Aurangzeb Alamgir (Rehmatullahelhe) the Emperor of Hindustan his heirs could not run the empire. Slowly the empire fell apart and the British were able to conquer the subcontinent. Ultimately, both the Muslim and Hindu faith were not able to live in the same state after this colonization. Eventually, due to the discrimination by the majority Hindu population, partition was pushed forward as the only solution with all Hindu majority states going to India and Muslim states to Pakistan respectively. However, the fate of the princely states such as Manawa, Junagar, Hyderabad, Freedkot, and Kashmir were to be decided by its rulers keeping in mind the majority consensus.
The populations of Junagar, Manawa, and Hyderabad’s wishes were taken into account as they were majority Hindu’s states and were automatically occupied by the Indian state while the rulers of these states did not wish to accede to India. However, the contrary happened in Kashmir where the population wanted to join Pakistan, however, there wishes were not entertained and their Hindu ruler’s decision was accepted. Similarly, the state of Fareedkot was inhabited by majority Sikhs and India forcefully occupied this area as well despite their assertion that they are not Hindus.
Since 1947, Muslim Kashmiris are fighting for independence in order to accede to Pakistan and yet have not been able to. One factor in this is that India has long been corrupting the local population by weakening and delegitimizing their cause by pushing for Kashmiri nationalism (nationalism a term even alien in Islam). As such, this has caused much division within the state. In reality though, Kashmir was never an autonomous “state”. In fact, if we move far back enough to the time where Kashmir held any relation to what can be identified as a state, the concept of the “state” and its sovereignty had not even been adequately developed at that point in time. Only after the establishment of the Moghul Empire was Kashmir apart of a state/empire. So much so that the treaty of Amritsar which concluded on March 16, 1846 who transfer the power to Maharaja Gulab Singh (the Hindu ruler) and his male heirs to govern this territory did not make it an independent country because it was still a colony of the East India Company (British Government). As such, as Kashmiris we have no claim as sovereigns; we only have a claim to join Pakistan and we only want to join Pakistan. Due to the stubbornness of the Indian state and its hegemonic efforts to suppress the voice of the Kashmiri people it has killed over 200,000 people, along with 270,000 Sikhs in Punjab, Khalistan. The only solution for the people in Kashmir which is also known as the Internationally Disputed Areas of Jammu and Kashmir( as designated by the UN) is the complete withdrawal of all military and civilian personnel and in the United Nations administer a plebiscite thereafter so that the local population can decide its fate.
