{"id":2923,"date":"2017-01-09T10:27:31","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T04:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=2923"},"modified":"2017-01-09T17:06:36","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T11:36:36","slug":"resolution-of-kashmir-dispute-lies-in-its-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/resolution-of-kashmir-dispute-lies-in-its-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Resolution Of Kashmir Dispute Lies In Its History"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

Punchline <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Narrative-History Symbiosis\u00a0 <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Z. <\/u><\/strong>G. Muhammad <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"zgm\"<\/a>Thanks to the social media, for it\u2019s providing a platform for the people to express themselves- to those also who otherwise would not respond and react to newspaper writings and books.\u00a0 Some old-time friends do not like some contemporary blog writers and columnists including me for analyzing the current political situation in our land in its historical context. \u00a0Some of them having a \u2018status quoist\u2019 mindset want writers, analysts, and political commentators to strip off the \u2018master narrative\u2019 of the land of its historical content. These folks have a right to their ideas. Nonetheless, they are on a wrong premise in stating that articulating the master narrative in its historical context is not \u2018looking forward\u2019 for the resolution of the \u201cKashmir Dispute\u201d or the \u201cKashmir problem.\u201d\"Nahru-Edwina-and-Mountabatten\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From whatever prism you look at the \u2018main narrative\u2019 of the Kashmir problem\/ issue\/ dispute it cannot be delinked from the immediate history of the land. Looking at it, through the prism of \u00a0Dr. Karan Singh\u2019s \u201caccession, not merger\u201d theory. Or \u2018 Abdullah clan\u2019s, Article 370- Bridge Between \u00a0India and Kashmir \u201d theory or the GOI \u201cresolution under Shimla Agreement\u201d \u00a0theory, all these \u2018dominant discourses\u2019 also link the Kashmir Dispute to its immediate history. Even, \u00a0\u00a0\u2018out of box solution,\u2019 a trite phrase often taken as an escapist route by some \u2018status quoist\u2019 friends cannot be thought of in isolation of the history of the dispute. In fact, strengthen of the master narrative lies in its history. So, for finding a solution, even a so called \u2018out of box\u2019 one needs understanding the genesis of the dispute.<\/p>\n

Historian, Tom C Holt has rightly argued, \u201cHistory is\u00a0 fundamentally\u00a0 and inescapably narrative in its basic structure.\u201d The theories articulated by erstwhile Maharaja\u2019 s son, Abdullah scions, and other \u2018status quoists\u2019\u00a0 are pegged to the birth of India and Pakistan as independent dominions and post- October 1947 developments. Most importantly these discourses revolve around the\u00a0 \u201cinstrument of accession,\u201d its acceptance by Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General of the Dominion of India. Moreover, for the Government of India going to UN, Security Council with this document for subtly seeking approval of the comity of the nations for the document signed by Maharaja Hari Singh, it has gained centrality in the Kashmir narrative.<\/p>\n

Interestingly\u00a0 the Instrument of Accession also cannot be delinked from 1846, \u201cThe Treaty of Amritsar.\u201d\u00a0 The British had sold Kashmir to ancestors of the last Maharaja under this Treaty. On the litmus test of the history, the last Maharaja of the state ceases to hold any authority to sign any document deciding future of people of the state. The so-called \u201cTreaty of Amritsar\u201d signed at the back of the people hundreds of miles away from by two aliens had no moral and legal sanction. The people immediately revolted against it and never recognized this document. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Out of contempt, \u00a0from ab initio, the so-called treaty was denounced by people as \u201cAmritsar Sale Deed.\u201d In 1934, when Prem Nath Bazaz, informed M.K. Gandhi about eighty percent population having revolted against Hari Singh. Gandhi tersely replied \u201cwe are sowing as we have reaped. Seeing that Kashmir is predominantly Muslaman one day it is bound to become Muslaman State. A Hindu prince can, therefore, rule by not ruling, i.e., by allowing the Muslamans to do so.\u201d \u00a0Time and again, the contempt against the rule foisted by the British on Kashmir found its manifestations through agitations resonating with slogans \u201cDown with\u00a0 Amritsar Treaty, Quit from our Kashmir.\u201d In 1946, at the crucial moment, when India and Pakistan were born as independent countries the people full throat challenged the legitimacy of the Maharaja to decide about future of the State. \u00a0\"Jinnah<\/a><\/p>\n

The Maharaja, whose legitimacy had been challenged by the overwhelming majority including people in Poonch up in arms against his rule had no moral or legal authority to sign any document that decides their future. No international court of justice or international institution safeguarding right of people to determine their future could have accepted this document as valid or sacrosanct. New Delhi, \u00a0knowing these hard realities, in accepting \u00a0the conditional accession stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn states where the issue of accession has been the subject of dispute, the question of accession, \u00a0be decided in accordance wishes of the people of the state\u2026..the question of accession should be settled by reference to the people\u2019.<\/p>\n

In stating this, it tacitly agreed that the fugitive Maharaja had no moral right to sign such a document. \u00a0That is why Lord Mountbatten in the annexure to the Instrument of Accession wrote to Maharaja to invite Sheikh Abdullah, to form an Interim Government. \u00a0It was also the stated position of the GOI before the international community.\u00a0 On 1 November 1947 in a meeting between Governor-Generals of India, Lord Mountbatten reiterating this position suggested holding of a plebiscite in the state under the aegis of the UN. \u00a0\u00a0Nehru further reiterated it on November 2, address to people of India. Dr. Karan Singh \u201caccession, not merger\u201d theory is based on these historical realities.<\/p>\n

In 1948, when New Delhi approached the UN, it had built its case on principle; \u00a0That it stood committed allowing people of the state to decide their future. The Security Council passed one after another resolution guaranteeing the right to self-determination to people of the State and provided a mechanism for holding the plebiscite. India and Pakistan accepted these resolutions. Thus made these binding on them. Till, the execution of the UN resolution, New Delhi created a temporary mechanism governing the stat through the Article 37o, which was supplemented by Article 35 A. The proceedings of the Constituent Assembly testify it, stating that Article 370, has to be there till Kashmir continues to be in the Unites Nations. So Abdullah scions, \u201cArticle 370- bridge\u201d theory has no meaning if delinked from its genesis. In the same vein the Shimla Agreement in keeping with para 3, clause 2, continue to be tethered to the UN Resolutions on Kashmir.<\/p>\n

So, it sounds na\u00efve, when some friends start talking about the resolution of the Kashmir problem outside the history of the dispute. Or outside the realm of democracy, not realizing that even the \u2018status quoist\u2019 \u00a0discourse roots in the history of the problem.<\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir on 9-01-2017 written on 7-01-2017<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punchline
\nNarrative-History Symbiosis\u00a0
\nZ. G. Muhammad
\n 
\nThanks to the social media, for it\u2019s providing a platform for the people to express themselves- to those also who otherwise would not respond and react to newspaper writings and books.\u00a0 Some old-time friends do not like some contemporary blog writers and columnists including me for analyzing the current political situation in our land in its historical context. \u00a0Some of them having a \u2018status quoist\u2019 mindset want writers, analysts, and political commentators to strip off the \u2018master narrative\u2019 of the land of its historical content. These folks have a right to their ideas. Nonetheless, they are on a wrong premise in stating that articulating the master narrative in its historical context is not \u2018looking forward\u2019 for the resolution of the \u201cKashmir Dispute\u201d or the \u201cKashmir problem.\u201d
\nFrom whatever prism you look at the \u2018main narrative\u2019 of the Kashmir problem\/ issue\/ dispute it cannot be delinked …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,28,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take","category-featured","category-kashmir-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2925,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions\/2925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}