Kashmir

on the World Today

THE dismissal last August of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, for six years Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, touched off a new series of dramatic incidents in India and Pakistan and in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir itself. Abdullah’s dismissal from office was followed the next morning by his arrest and the arrest of one of his colleagues in the cabinet. The arrests led to popular demonstrations, and there were violent clashes between the demonstrators and the state police, resulting in casualties on both sides.

Once again extremists in Pakistan demanded religious war and a crossing of the cease-fire line. A timely SOS from Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mohammed Ali to India’s Prime Minister Nehru brought about a conference between them within a week of Abdullah’s arrest. As a result, India and Pakistan are closer to a solution of the prickly Kashmir issue today than at any other time since 1947.

Since the British withdrew from India, the government of Jammu and Kashmir has undergone many radical changes. On August 15, 1947, when India became independent, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh, an Indian prince, lineal descendant of Maharaja Gulab Singh who, for services rendered by him to the British during the conquest of the territory of the Punjab, obtained Kashmir more than a hundred years ago on payment of $250,000 in cash.

Kashmir with an area of 82,000 square miles now has a population of 4 million. Of these, nearly 3 million are Moslems, less than a million Hindus, while the sparsely populated territory of Ladakh is predominantly inhabited by Buddhists.

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, a. six-foot Kashmiri, started life as a schoolmaster. In 1938 he organized the National Conference, which developed into a very powerful political organization and enlisted widespread support from members of all the communities inhabiting the state of Jammu and Kashmir. His closest associate and most powerful collaborator in the movement was Ghulam Mohammed Bakshi. In 1946 the National Conference delivered a straight ultimatum to Maharaja Hari Singh, and demanded not only complete self-government for Jammu and Kashmir but also abolition of dynastic rule. Abdullah and Bakshi and several others were arrested and sent to prison. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was then on the eve of accepting office as Prime Minister of the first provisional government of India, crossed into Kashmir to undertake the defense of the detained leaders and was also arrested. But after a brief detention he was forcibly convoyed to Indian territory and released.

The invasion of Kashmir

Under the Government of India Act of 1947 creating India and Pakistan as separate Dominions, the 400-odd princely states also became independent units with option to accede to India or to Pakistan according to their territorial contiguity. Prince Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, a territory contiguous with India and Pakistan as well as with Russia, China, and Afghanistan, elected to remain independent, but offered to enter into bilateral agreements with the two Dominions, maintaining the status quo in regard to such matters as communications.

While these negotiations were proceeding the territory of Kashmir was attacked by a large body of Moslem tribesmen inhabiting the frontier of Pakistan. The small Kashmir army was completely overpowered; the raiders overran a considerable part of the territory with lightning speed and were actually within a short distance of Srinagar, the capital of the state, a few days after the attack had begun.

In order to mobilize public support. Prince Hari Singh released Sheikh Abdullah and his associates and appointed Abdullah as Prime Minister and Bakshi as Deputy Prime Minister of a provisional popular government. With their concurrence an urgent appeal was made to India to help in the defense of the state and overthrow of the tribal marauders. An Instrument of Accession was formally signed by the ruler on behalf of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, whereby the state became an integral part of the Indian territory.

This gave India the legal right to send armies and supplies. But India assured the people of Kashmir that after restoration of normal conditions in Kashmir, India would agree to the holding of a free and fair plebiscite to allow the people to decide whether they wished to continue the accession to India or to terminate it.

Indian armies were sent out for the defense of Kashmir while Pakistan forces joined in the attack. Soon a stage was reached in the hostilities when India asked for intervention by the United Nations to prevent “an international conflict between India and Pakistan on a wider scale.” After many discussions and debates the United Nations appointed a fivepower commission, consisting of representatives of Czechoslovakia, Argentina, the United States, Belgium, and Colombia, to utilize its good offices to bring about a settlement of the dispute.

As a result of the efforts of this commission a general cease-fire was agreed to by the two countries, truce terms were drawn up, and it was further agreed that after the truce terms had been fulfilled, a plebiscite would be held to determine future relations of the state of Jammu and Kashmir with India and Pakistan. Admiral Nimitz was chosen as plebiscite administrator by the UN.

During the last six years the ceasefire line has been maintained under the direct supervision of UN observers on both sides. The fulfillment of the truce terms, however, has resulted in a deadlock, thereby indefinitely postponing the holding of the plebiscite. Successive attempts by three United Nations intermediaries to break the stalemate have failed.

The Prince abdicates

Early in 1950 India adopted a constitution applicable to all the territories of the republic. Under special provision of the Indian constitution, the people of Kashmir were accorded complete autonomy in framing laws and determining their own form of government except in regard to three subjects on which the state had acceded to India — namely, foreign affairs, defense, and communications.

The first important political change brought about by the Abdullah cabinet was to compel the abdication of Prince Hari Singh, the ruler who had earlier sent Abdullah to prison, Karan Singh, his son, succeeded Hari Singh. In order to secure the sanction of the people and to bring Kashmir democratically in line with the rest of India, the provisional cabinet, with the support of the National Conference, decided to convene a Constituent Assembly, which would function as the official Parliament of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in 1951 and gave the National Conference an overwhelming majority.

The National Conference voted Abdullah as leader and he reconstituted his cabinet from among his earlier colleagues and became Prime Minister. The first act of the Constituent Assembly was to vole the abolition of hereditary rulership and to have an elected head of the state. This was an important item in Abdullah’s party program. Prince Karan Singh abdicated from all his rights as hereditary ruler and was unanimously elected the head of the state. Thus ended a hundred-year-old dynasty founded by Gulab Singh in the 1840s.

Abdullah runs into trouble

Earlier the Abdullah cabinet had expropriated the property of all landowners holding more than 30 acres and farmed them out to landless tillers. The Constituent Assembly endorsed this decision, which affected a large number of Hindu landowners, but decided in favor of granting adequate compensation to the owners.

Prime Minister Abdullah had ordered expropriation without compensation. While as head of the majority party he concurred with the decision of the Constituent Assembly, the idea of compensation was not to his liking. In the meantime, a large section of Hindus taking advantage of differences of opinion among members of the cabinet and of the Assembly started a powerful agitation in favor of complete accession to India under the leadership of a local party organization, Praja Prishad.

The agitation received the active support of extremist Hindu sections in India. Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the leader of the Opposition in the Indian Parliament, and several of his colleagues crossed over to Kashmir on a self-appointed fact-finding mission. They were arrested by Abdullah and indefinitely detained. Unfortunately, Dr. Mookerjee died of pleurisy and a heart attack during detention, leading to anti-Abdullah demonstrations in Jammu and in several parts of India.

Incensed by these incidents, Abdullah began to talk more and more in terms of “Switzerland-like” independence for Kashmir. His repeated declarations, the mounting discontent among the people, and increasing differences in the cabinet all created apprehension in India, and for several months a state of tension bordering on conflict existed between Sheikh Abdullah and his party colleagues on the one hand, and between him and the Government of India on the other.

Bakshi takes over

This was the state of affairs when Abdullah was dismissed, and Prince Karan Singh, titular chief of state, called upon Ghulam Mohammed Bakshi, the Deputy Prime Minister, to form a cabinet. The new cabinet was sworn in at an early morning ceremony held at the palace, and the first act of the cabinet was to order the arrest of Sheikh Abdullah and a few of his colleagues.

According to the Prince, this action had become necessary “in order to end a state of continuous tension, conflict and disharmony existing in the cabinet, resulting in a great deal of weakening of the administration, the spread of nepotism and corruption and acute economic distress among the people.” Prince Karan Singh also claimed that Sheikh Abdullah had ceased 1o enjoy the confidence of his colleagues in the cabinet and his party.

Prime Minister Nehru of India, while declaring that the action taken by the new government of Jammu and Kashmir was entirely an internal matter, in which India’s “advice was neither sought nor given,” alleged that Sheikh Abdullah had been “wrongly advised” by “certain parties” in respect to the relationship between the governments of India and Kashmir.

Since assuming office the new Kashmir cabinet has worked hard for three objectives: to clean up the administration, to secure popular good will and support, and to gain the confidence of the Constituent Assembly. The Kashmir administration resolved a food crisis by removing a fifty-yearold tax on indigenously procured supplies, bringing down the retail price of rice by 40 per cent and of wheat by 25 per cent. Measures have been introduced for the purpose of scaling down rural debt by nearly 50 per cent, thus promising considerable relief to the peasantry.

The Bakshi government recently announced the abolition of all fees in the 1349 schools and 10 colleges of the state, making education free for 110,000 boys and girls. In concurrence with the Government of India, an announcement was made that $36 million would be spent towards economic development of Kashmir.

A party convention was summoned by Prime Minister Bakshi soon after he took office, in which an overwhelming majority expressed full confidence in his leadership and the program outlined by him. In October the Constituent Assembly was summoned, and its first action was to express unanimous confidence in the new cabinet. Bakshi was also formally elected leader of the National Conference party.

Riots in Pakistan

The arrest of Abdullah, however, created reactions of a different kind in Pakistan and the Pakistan-held territory of Kashmir. Whatever may have been the subsequent reactions of the people of Jammu and Kashmir on the Indian side, the dismissal and arrest of Sheikh Abdullah, who had been a leader of the National Conference lor several years and had created widespread support for himself, came as a shock to the common people.

The reasons for the action taken by Prince Karan Singh were not understood, and the arrest led to several violent demonstrations in Srinagar, the capital of the state, and other towns. In some places business was suspended, and on two occasions the police had to open fire and 42 people were killed and several injured.

According to reports appearing in the Pakistan press the Moslems of the valley were in revolt against the Bakshi administration and had demanded the release of Sheikh Abdullah. The Pakistan press published what it claimed to be “authentic” stories of a daily mounting list of casunities, causing a wave of indignation among the Moslems of Pakistan against the Bakshi government and India.

Ali and Nehru get together

In this atmosphere of rising tension Mohammed Ali, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, acted with rare statesmanship and cabled Nehru expressing a desire to fly to New Delhi within a week’s time to discuss the issues arising out of the situation in Kashmir. Earlier, during their visit to England as guests of the British Government for the Coronation, Mohammed Ali and Nehru had had several exploratory talks regarding pending disputes between India and Pakistan, including the Kashmir problem, but deferred discussion to a later date.

Nehru responded to Ali’s request with equal cordiality and the two Prime Ministers met in New Delhi on August 16, 1953. After six days of deliberation they reached agreement on several points and issued a joint communiqué on August 21, 1953. The notable achievements were:

1. India and Pakistan, for the first time, agreed to a tentative date for the induction of a plebiscite administrator by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

2. The two Prime Ministers further agreed to hold direct negotiations for settling all preliminary issues arising out of the truce terms, which had hitherto defied solution, and to prepare the ground for the formal induction of the plebiscite administrator by the provisional date, April 30, 1954.

3. They also agreed to use their good offices and exert all efforts to create a favorable atmosphere in the two parts of Kashmir, and India and Pakistan, for the holding of a fair and free plebiscite.

Summarizing the achievements at a press conference held in Delhi before his departure for Karachi, Mohammed Ali said that “a solution of the Kashmir problem was now in sight” and that he was returning with ”his minimum aspirations fulfilled.” Nehru on his part expressed satisfaction at the results of the conference with Ali, and hoped for an early settlement of the Kashmir dispute and for improved relations between Pakistan and India.