KASHMIR: BOUNDARIES

 Before Negotiating....

India should not fall into the grip of frivolous negotiations every time as and when Pakistan gets depleted of its fire power or cannot sustain a war for their own reasons.  Whenever such a situation arises, their trusted provider and ally US will step into their rescue.  Quite visibly, it would be a turn of events for the Whitehouse to settle their score with China and Soviet Union, now Russia. China has their huge investments including Nuclear reactors and power generation. Pakistan is their nuclear laboratory and India will not desist to freeze their repeated threatening of “Dirty Nuclear Bombs”.  US Presidents have downgraded their political cult to the extent to request the Soviets  to ensure that the Western Frontier remains unaffected in the 1971 War. How Yahya Khan mediated with Mao and Chou en Lai in the secret mission of Henry Kissinger.

For an average Indian citizen, this is the last opportunity for India to take back Illegally Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Deposing that trust and faith in Narendra Modi the entire people of the Country stands with him. It would be his own decision to suffer a few losses and save the country from the menace of  the  Revanchist  Ambitions of Pakistan.

The US is realizing that their potential ally in South East Asia and the Transit corridor to China will be  reduced to less than half,  inviting  a huge setback to their trade and commercial  and Strategic positioning in the region. They would be bent on to do anything and even  may reach an understanding  with Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping  and will enter into a political diplomacy  with New Delhi,

Whatever the situation may be, Narendra Modi  should stand firm and live up to the expectations of his countrymen.  The advisories and adversaries to the conflict or the escalation to a War, should look at the background of the whole issue. It is a decision on the stability and the economic growth of India.

India cannot afford to cling on to security conflicts and be a silent spectator of  an arms race in the region.  India has to emerge as a power to contain the region from the arms race and should ensure that the neighborhood does not become a dump yard of obsolete weaponry that would become an irritant and challenge later on. Towards this  South block and 7, LKM has to set the records straight, removing the debris of  Colonial improprieties and political oversight of  over six decades.

The British had to insulate Sino Russian transit from the eyes of the Transitory Government of India, basking in the nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi. Resignation of the Congress Government of NWFP was the first success for Great Britain and their ally US for countering the advances of Soviets in the Eastern corridor. Mountbatten could do the task keeping Nehru within his ring, not even letting Sardar Patel or anyone to get ample time to realize the situation.  Administrative intervention of the British Government in the Reforms of Kashmir during Maharaja Pratap Singh, if looked meticulously, impairments  in the political history of India on account of  Anglo- Sino- Russian conflict would have been  visible to the political leaders of India. Again, this is an indicator that the British knew how to keep Indian leaders busy with their own internal conflicts. At the same time, the Muslim League was nurtured and given a free hand to keep the Western and Eastern Frontiers within their fold. India was to be meant only as  the mainland with Hindu Provinces disrupted with the green patches of Muslim dominated Circle Areas added to their religious State. The Poona Pact was in letter and spirit meant to disintegrate the Upper Caste Hindus from the Scheduled castes and tribes together with Muslim majority. The only threat to the British design was Subhash Chandra Bose who was with Stalin around the time. Clement Atlee had to whisper in the ears of  Mountbatten to keep Gilgit –Baltistan out of the Kashmir Maharaja and to reconsider the revocation of the lease. Mountbatten wisely took the matters out of New Delhi and shifted Kashmir Affairs to Lahore and Karachi. He had the right explanation that all communication lines were routed through Peshawar.

In the year 1928, the Chinese Chin-Shu-Jen administration of Sinkiang province started developing some serious apprehensions regarding its conventional enemy the British. The Chinese suspected that the British would capitalize on the Muslim discontent in Kashgar for their  ulterior motives  thereby dismantling the  authority of Peking. Expecting an invasion from the British side, in the year 1929, the Chinese government dispatched a contingent of 700 soldiers to the main Karakoram watershed up to the Yarkand and Karakash rivers. A permanent post was set up at Shahidulla, the same place just across the Karakoram pass where Maharaja Ranbir Singh had also stationed a garrison in the year 1864.  

In Hunza too the British felt their position being challenged. The Chief official of the Kashgar town Tao-yin Ma Shao Wu told the representatives of the Mir of Hunza that if Hunza men accepted themselves to be Chinese citizens, only then they would be allowed to cultivate their lands in Raskam. Shao Wu claimed that the Mir had no rights over the lands for any activity including cultivation or revenue.

These developments taking place in the Sinkiang province of China adjacent to the Northern Frontier made the British Government watchful regarding its security concerns. First, there was much evidence to suggest that there were disturbing contacts between Moscow and the Sinkiang Governor  Sheng Shit Ts’ai. Joseph  Stalin had  granted financial assistance to the Sinkiang Government in 1935. Soviets gained rights for oil and mineral exploration in Sinkiang, with the assurance for military support as and when Sinkiang Government needs. Sinkiang, as it became a protectorate of the Soviet Union, the British expected that the next  step would be the taking over of Turkistan.

By the middle of 1935, London realized that  Moscow  was in full control of Sinkiang. The British Empire of India feared the Soviet infiltration to spread communist ideals and literature that would threaten the position of Northern Ladakh. The British were facing issues with the control of Gilgit Baltistan with the take over of the reins of Kashmir by Hari Singh in 1926. Hari Singh had served Maharaja Pratap Singh as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was of the view to make a change in the policy approach on Gilgit –Baltistan. The Young Maharaja asserted his position in the region and was moving ahead with his plans to merge the region with his Province of Jammu and Kashmir. He  raised objections to British Supremacy and ordered  the hoisting of the state flag along with the Union flag. He declared Gilgit Region as his territory. He went ahead further to abolish Gilgit as a British Agency .

This paid well for their future nuclear programme. Already the mainstream political leaders of India were aware of the encounter of the Russian military during the expedition of Captain Younghusband.  The political leadership in India could not question the British Indian Government as they stopped Maharaja Ranbir Singh  of Kashmir from his expeditions to China.  Ranbir Singh saw the future conflicts that his kingdom will face with the British Policy allowing China to take over Karakonam Ranges forming a frontier between India and Russia. The new policy was not in tally with the 1759 demarcation of India China border with the Qianlong contingent after their conquest of Turkestan.

 

 The Kashmir ruler was confronted with the security concerns after the Russians  seized    over a large part of Kashmir along with  the  Pamir ranges of the Chinese border and Tijik Region of Afghanistan. Russian advances were put to hold in 1891, with the use of force by the British. This military action decided the borders of India with Afghanistan – Russia and China.  Chitral, Nagar and Hunza became a part of British India. In 1938, Soviets closed Khunera Mountain Pass.  Ladakh Region became disconnected from Sinkiang and thus the trade route through Karakoram pass also became cut off.

Negotiations with Pakistan on POK  should be based on the  boundaries of  the Gilgit Agency  as in the   ‘ Military report of 1909  on the  Gilgit Agency  and the Independent territories of  Tangir and Darel:- 

“On the north is the Hindu Kush, separating Ishkuman and Yasin from Wakhan, and on the north east in continuation of the Hindu Kush are-the Mustagh mountains, which divide Hunza and Nagir from the Chinese New Dominions. On the east lies the Skardu District of Kashmir. On the west is the Shandur Range which divides the Gilgit Agency from the Chitral Districts of Dir and Swat. The southern boundaries are the Burzil Pass on the east, separating the Astor Tahsil of Gilgit from Kashmir, and the ‘ Babusar Pass, by which communication with the Punjab is maintained arid the Kaghan Valley, while in the Indus Valley the boundary is coterminous with that of Northern Kohistan, Kandia and Dir.”

The exact boundary line may be thus traced :

“Starting from the Palesar Pass on the west, it runs in a northwesterly direction from the Dadrel Pass to the Shandur Pass, following the range of that name to its junction with the Hindu Kush, east of the source of the Yarkhun River. From here it follows the crest of the Hindu Kush to a point about five miles south-west of the Kilik Pass ; from this point it turns north-west past the Wakhjir Pass and then, circling round the western vend of the Taghdumbash Pamir, follows the northern watershed of the latter till it reaches the Peak Povalo' Shveikovski, the meeting point of Afghanistan with the three empires of India, Russia and China. Leaving Peak Povalo Shveikovski the line descends in a south-easterly direction to the bed of the Karachukar stream, crossing which near Mintaka Aksai it continues in the same direction till it gains the crest of the Mustagh Range at a point about seven miles east of the Karachenai Pass. It then follows this crest-line east and south-east to a point some six miles south-west of the Oprang Pass ; here the watershed is left abruptly and the line runs due east-for about five miles and then south-east till it strikes the Mustagh, or Oprang, River at Kuram Jilga ; it then follows the course of this river to a point some five miles above the junc tion of the stream from the Shingshal Pass when ascending the nearest high spur to the west it regains the crest of the Mustagh Range about 25 miles south-south-east of the Shing shal Pass. From the point where the line first touches the crest of the Hindu Kush, east of the source of the Yarkhun River, to Povalo Shveikovski‘the boundary of the Gilgit Agency thus coincides with the Indo-Afghan frontier, while from Peak Povalo Shveikovski onwards it is identical with the Indo-Chinese frontier up to the point where it regains the crest of the Mus tagh Range south-south-east of the Shingshal Pass. Here it leaves the Indo-Chinese frontier and turns south and west along the border of Baltistan to Hispar, south to Barungdoi on the Indus, following the course of that river to Bunji, south to the Burzil and Kamri Passes, and north old the Kamri Dara to its junction with the Rupal River. Thence it runs west to the Babusar and Zure Passes, north to the Pushkari Pass, west to Jalkot in Kohistan, north along the watershed to the Lahtar River, west by the undefined northern boundary of the Kandia Valley, and finally links up m'd the Paloga Pass with the Palesar Pass.”

The Parliament of  United Kingdom had adopted a motion that asserts the Position of Kashmir King, "Gilgit-Baltistan is a legal and constitutional part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India, which is illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947, and where people are denied their fundamental rights including the right of freedom of expression". Despite all the legal and territorial rights of India over the region, Pakistan went ahead with the illegal construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, This move was also decried by the UK Parliament. New Delhi kept cold feet towards the actions of Pakistan. With the Act of 1970 Promulgated by Yahya Khan, the Karachi Agreement of 1948 has become a dead document.

 The demand of the Government of the POK to return the Gilgit Baltistan Areas was ignored by the Pakistan Government. The verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan  was also turned down by the military regime.  The Assembly of POK passed a resolution in 1972 to return the Northern areas comprising Gilgit Baltistan. To overcome this, a Presidential order was issued by mid-1972,that  abolished the hereditary laws of Jagirdari in the Region and created  Administrative Districts under Deputy Commissioners. This totally changed the situation and State Subject law promulgated by the Maharaja of Kashmir was removed.

The right of the indigenous People over the land was removed and the natural resources became nationalized. This led to large scale migrations from elsewhere.  India, after the 1971 War had seemingly lost showing any interest in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, This gave enough fuel from ZA Bhutto to enact Northern Areas Legal Framework Order bringing the region under Penal Code of Pakistan.  Further Bhutto abolished the Northern Areas Advisory Council and constituted the Northern Area Council without any legislative and executive Powers. The confidence of Pakistan over asserting the control of POK was growing high.    Gen. Zial ul Haq went a step ahead categorizing the Region under martial law Zone E, and brought it under the control of Pakistan as a natural  part of Pakistan. Zia lifted the colour of the disputed zone. He was a strong advocate of Deobandi School and implemented Sipah e Sabha Pakistan in the region. 

 However, India showed no sign of support to the demand to treat POK as a part of Jammu and Kashmir placed by   Azad Muslim Conference, Azad Kashmir’s Peoples party, All J&K Muslim Conference and  J K Mahaze Rai Shumari. Instead of listening to their demand, Pakistan went ahead with the formation of the Northern Areas Legislative Council in 1998.

How the Present Government  and the Ministry of External Affairs would formulate the organisation structure of Gilgit-Baltistan -NWP region is to be seen. Pakistan would be losing some of their key mining and prospective Areas , it would be a tough line of approach for India.

JUGULAR VEIN THEORY - A CENTURY LATER

 JUGULAR VEIN THEORY OF  MOHAMMED  ALI JINNAH 

 

It was unfortunate   to see that  even senior Journalists  took the  statement of “Jugular Vein” by Gen. Asim Munir,  the Pakistan Army Chief as if it is his new creation! 

 

 Barely 20 days before the Pahalgam terror attack, the Army Chief of Pakistan reiterated the “Jugular Vein” theory of Mohammed Ali Jinnah.  The General said “"Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle." 

 

Why did he reiterate the words of Muhammed Ali Jinnah after nearly a century?

 

It was visibly around 1925- ‘26 or so, Jinnah developed a key interest in the Vale of Kashmir.  His first visit to Kashmir is not well recorded, only from some elders came to get an approximate year around 1925 or 26 as they put the time around his second marriage. He had come with his new wife. During the second visit to Kashmir in 1936, he recounted his earlier visit a decade before.   It was during his second visit that Jinnah had developed the Jugular Vein theory.

 

The Government of India has to keep in mind that the Jugular Vein Theory was not about the rivers alone. It carried the flow of commercial produces of Kashmir to Karachi Port that was a major economic vein of the Pakistan in the dreams of Jinnah.

 

Jinnah had countered India in every possible way and used everything available at his hand.  Saraiki- Laihandi traditions came in this way. Indian linguists and historians may differ on the origin of Saraiki and its relationship with Sindhi language. Jinnah was not concerned with all these logical debates.   Jinnah made it a point to defeat and denounce Indian values and traditions, which did not get into the nerves of Indian Political leadership, including Nehru who penned the discovery of India, Jinnah with a critical plan to create holes in the Indian pride on cultural history, he managed to pool  much of Indian heritage to Pakistan. Along with his Pakistan, the Muslim religion took away Saraiki which is the mother of the  mother of Sanskrit language. Saraiki language flourished in the banks of Sapta Sindhu.  It was during the transitory period of Saraiki transforming into Apabrahmsa, the Persian and Afghan invasions created random destruction.

 Jinnah followed the suit and was determined to destroy Kashmiri languages and enforce Urdu.

 

From the accounts given by the doctor who treated Jinnah during his last days, had given an account of what he had said about Kashmir.  Jinnah had said  that “Kashmir is the Jugular vein of Pakistan” and “no nation will tolerate its jugular vein under the sword of its enemy.” Pakistan General had reiterated the words of Jinnah to create a new wave of sensationalism and military offensive in Kashmir.

 

The second visit of Jinnah gave him enough arsenals to fight for hos ulterior motives. This time his visit to the Valley coincided with the birth day of Prophet Muhammed. Choudhary Ghulam Ali and Sheikh Abdullah, the leaders of Muslim Conference welcomed Jinnah. Both the leaders were very much vocal about the role of Jinnah in Hindu Muslim Unity. On the contrary, Jinnah spoke sharply against the Hindu Nationalist leaders. It is  at this juncture that Jinnah told the leaders to stand for the Justice to Muslims and reminded them that Kashmir is a Muslim Majority state. This was the beginning of a major shift in the approaches of the Muslim Conference.

 

At the Dal gate meeting, Jinnah addressed the students as a true Muslim and made his stand clear on the partition of India. Jinnah could create a conflict and distrust on the Congress leaders among Young Muslim students gathered there.   He painted Congress nationalism as Hindu domination. This instigated the students who had come from Aligarh Muslim University to start a Secret Reading Room in Kashmir. The subjects dealt in the reading room were kept out of the reach and eyes of the general public and the Government of Kashmir. Moulavi Bashir Ahmed and Mohammad Rajab controlled the activities of the secret reading room and were instrumental in bringing newspapers and other publications from Lahore. Both of them were mainly responsible for instigating these Youth against Maharaja Hari Singh and the Dogra Dynasty. Their ideals were brought out through the journal Inquilab Mazloom Kashmir.  The secret reading room and its conduct could not be kept out of the eyes of the Jammu and Kashmir Government. The Coordinator of the reading room Ghulam Mohammed  was removed from the Government Service.  This made him form the Young Muslim Association and to become its founding President of the Association and Sheikh Abdullah as the secretary. All these drew the attention of Mirwaiz Moulavi Yousuf Shah.  Miwaiz Yousuf Shah, had taken active  part in the Khilafat Movement, steered the agitation against the Dogra Dynasty. Yousuf Shah was known to the people of Jammu as the son of Mirwaiz Ghulam Shah who was a very popular religious leader and was  addressed as “Sir Sayed of Kashmir”  Muslim liberation movement of Kashmir was initiated and propagated by Sir Sayed.  It was  for quite obvious reasons that Sir Sayed had sent his son Yousuf Shah for learning at the Deoband   Islamic School of Dar ul Uloom. Shah afterwards took his graduation from the Punjab University of Lahore.  On his return from Lahore, he found no time in campaigning for Islamic Unity in the Kashmir valley. He went to each and every house and spent a lot of time convincing everyone in the family.  His efforts paid well and was soon elected as the General Secretary of  Anjuman Nasarat ul Islam, an  association in Srinagar founded by his father, Ghulam Shah family suffered a serious setback in 1924 and  Yousuf Shah was made the Mirwaiz e Kashmir.

 

Mirwaiz was the most respected personality in the valley and he took no time in introducing Sheikh Abdullah as a leader of the Kashmiri Muslims at a public function. The influence of Mirwaiz inspired Quasi Guhar Rehman, a prominent figure from Jammu to launch the Young Muslim Association there.

 

The situations in the Valley and Jammu became tense after the dead body of Pundit Giri Durga Devi was found in a drainage of the  Karan Nagar area followed by the reports on the slaughter of the Cows. This was followed by the case of Constable Lobha Ram for desecrating the Holy Quran. This was picked up by Sheikh Abdulla to launch a campaign against Maharaja Hari Singh.  Sheikh, then working as  Teacher in the valley, was transferred to Srinagar. Though Sheikh could get the orders withdrawn, he was again Transferred, He resigned from his Job. 

 

Sheikh Abdullah organized a public meeting in Srinagar to announce his resignation. Among the gathering, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, the editor Zamindar published from Lahore was also present. The ferocious style and voice of Sheikh caught the attention of Maulana and he gave the title  “Sher I Kashmir” to Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah. The Quran Movement was carried to Jammu and  Punjab  Province mainly by the Jamaat e Ahmadiyya Hind . The movement was noted for the active participation of Choudhary Bashir Ahmed. Zainul Abidin also joined him.

 

The sudden appearance of an unknown person name Quadir Khan in the  public meeting of 21 June 1931 was a turning point. The elders of Kashmir  had the date and the incident  alive in their minds.. Quadir Khan was  not a public figure in Kashmir. He  is believed to have accompanied some foreign travelers as their cook. Inspired by the ferocious speech of Sheikh Abdulla, he ran to the stage, seized the mike and violently spoke against the Maharaja. He was immediately nabbed by the police and was put in the Srinagar Central Jail.  His Trial in the central jail dragged large crowds and demanded entry to witness the proceedings. The commotion led to police firing and 22 persons lost lives. Choudhary Ghulam Abbas and Sheikh Abdulla were also arrested.

 

It was around this time, Sheikh Abdullah desired to expand his influence to Punjab and other provinces. He had met Rajarshi  Purushotham Das Tandon, before his meeting with Nehru at Lahore Railway Station in 1933.  Sheikh was more concerned with his position in Jammu and wanted to retain his approach to the Hindus of Jammu and Pundits of the valley. In 1939.  Sheikh, under the influence of Nehru, renamed Muslim Conference as the National Conference. This was not acceptable to Choudhary Ghulam Abbas, and he along with his supporters formed the Muslim Conference.  This affected the political hold of Sheikh Abdullah in the Valley. To regain his position he invited Jinnah to the  valley in 1944. Choudhary Ghulam Abbas did everything Possible to see that his party, the Muslim Conference, gets the support of the Maharaja of Kashmir.

 

During the 1944 visit of Jinnah, the Muslim Students Union of Kashmir had  arranged a grand reception to Jinnah. The public could very well understand that Sheikh Abdullah and Jinnah had  certain differences. 

 

 

Mirawiz and Choudhary Ghuam Abbas started reviving  Muslim Conference, which became a platform for the All India Muslim League to enforce the plans of Jinnah  on Kashmir. Jinnah and Mirwaiz had a good relationship  which started with the hosting of Jinnah at his residence in the valley. It was during this meeting that both of them discussed Azad Kashmir and after reviving Muslim Conference Mirwaiz made it an agenda of his party.   Mirwaiz was invited for the annual meeting of the Muslim League at Karachi.

 

Sheikh Muhammed Abdullah was  very much conscious about the futuristic impacts  of the Karachi mission of  Mirwaiz and Choudhary Ghulam Abbas.  To  take a cutting edge of the Muslim Conference  and Muslim League tie up, Sheikh launched the “Quit Kashmir” movement  against the Maharaja Hari Singh.  The  address of  Sheikh Abdullah at the launch of the Campaign shook the valley. His speech was so powerful that it created fissures in the foundations of Muslim Conference. To counter this, Choudhary Ghulam Abbas organized a public meeting in the Muslim Park. The meeting could not take place as  Choudhary Ghulam Abbas and his supporters were arrested.   

 

It took no time for the then Prime Minister of Kashmir, RC Kak to advise the King to enforce martial law. He took all measures to detain  and to impose a three year  jail term for Sheikh.  Disaster struck Kashmir following this event.  Kak  received information that Jawaharlal Nehru was  coming to Kashmir. In order to stop Nehru from entering Srinagar. Prohibitory orders were clamped in the valley by  the Prime Minister.  Nehru turned  against Hari Singh. This was the beginning of the  troubles for Kashmir.

 

After this incident, the Congress leaders mounted pressure on RC Kak to release Sheikh Abdullah. Maharaja refused to yield and he firmly believed that both Sheikh Abdullah and Mirwaiz would sell Kashmir to Pakistan.  The next to add difficulties for Kashmir was the meeting of Kak and Sardar Patel. Kak was loud to tell Sardar Patel that Delhi has no Jurisdiction over the affairs of Kashmir. Any serious move by the interim Government will create hindrances in the accession. VP Menon is said to have raised certain questions to  Sardar Patel on the intentions of RC Kak, and the trust deficit created.  Kak did not stop his adventures with this. He went to meet Jinnah. Jinnah took a brilliant step unlike the cold treatment assertiveness of Delhi, Kak was given all welcome gestures that could be accorded to the head of the state. The idea of ‘ Stand Still Agreement’ was webbed between the two in this meeting. It took npo time for the Maharaja to see the sinister designs of his inheritance slipping away  and the  dirty game of RC Kak with Jinnah and Mountbatten.  RC Kak was removed and gen. Janak Singh was appointed as the new Prime Minister of Kashmir. The move of the Maharaja irked Jinnah and an economic blockade was imposed on the princely state. The seriousness of the situation demanded a more efficient Prime Minister, Har Singh requested the services of the Chief Justice of the Punjab High Court , Justice MC Mahajan to take over as the Prime Minister of his State. Jinnah did not give up. He approached  a friend of MC Mahajan,  the former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court,  to send his nephew to  Srinagar. It is said that a Pakistani Major and a few men were moving around in Srinagar with a set of papers that included a treaty with Pakistan.  The delegation included very prominent names like Malik Taj ud Din, Khawja Abdul Rahim, Dr Mohammad Din Taseer and  Mian Iftikhar ud Din. MC Mahajan I had seemingly ignored them. Some say that the major had a whip in one hand and the papers in the other hand, as Jinnah had instructed him to get the papers signed by force or peace.  The visiting team managed to meet general Janak Singh. A sthis mission failed the plot to abduct the maharaja was designed. Maharaja was made aware of the plan to kidnap him from the Dak Bungalow at Bhimber. The site was chosen as it was very close to the border and the Maharaja could have been very easily taken to Lahore or Rawalpindi. Jinnah had deployed a strong contingent of the army to kill the Hindu Population  of Mirpur and Bhimber. Katwa was about to fall into the hands of the Pakistan Army and they had already taken control over Akhnoor and the exodus of the Hindus followed.

 

21^st  of October 1947 was the decisive day of Kashmir. Maharaja insisted to  stayin Bhimber. MC Mahajan had to take a tough stand to desist the ruler from taking such a deadly decision. Finally, the Maharaja asked his driver to take him directly to Jammu.  Pakistan Army without knowing the change of the schedule attacked Bhimber. The Dak Bungalow where Hari Singh was to stay,  came under fire and was reduced to ashes.  All the Hindu villages were burnt down and those who could not run away to safety were tortured , killed and their bodies were mutilated. Next day on 22^nd October, Muzaffarpur was taken over by the Pakistan Army. This was followed by defection of all Muslims in the Royal forces of J&K moving to Pakistani side. All that Brigadier Rajinder Singh could mobilize  was less than 200 men , that included some civilians to stage some resistance at Dhund. But the Brigadier had to pull back. Uri fell  with no resistance. Brig. Rajinder Singh and his small group somehow reached  Baramulla. The bridge  to Srinagar was cut off. For nearly 11 hours Rampat and Mohra was kept under counter offensive. Brig. Rajinder Singh was shot, caught and killed. After this everyone in his groups became their own commanders and continued the fight. Col. Narain Singh was killed and the Muslim soldiers with him moved to Pakistan side.

 

 

The stories on Kashmir are countless. Every elder who lived till 90s had a lot of stories, some of their own imaginations, some mixed with realities… It needs much effort to put these pieces together to understand the psyche of the new generation. However, the pain and anguish on the face of my Sikh friend from Baramulla cannot be forgotten. The narrative of the escape of his young parents in the 1947 and the unwritten accounts of rape and brutal killings are of no concerns to anyone in the Indian main land.  While he and some other friends  from  the valley were pursuing his studies under Meerut University in 1979-83, every weekend used to be the narrative of the horrors that can never be forgiven and forgotten. 

 

 

It is the right time to recollect what a group of Youth had gathered around and said during the Indo-Pakistan Peoples  Forum meet at Karachi. Knowing that I am an Indian, the group started to address their situation. They asked only one thing  in Chaste Hindi. “When You go back tell New Delhi to do one favour. Finish off this Pakistan Army. We need only an army for ceremonial purposes. Pakistan is safe with a strong Indian Army. The Indian army will protect us better than the Pak Army.  In the name of Kashmir, the Pakistan Army is doing all the atrocities against the public. Every development, public funds are  snatched and taken by them. They lead a luxurious life and the public is made to suffer. “

 

They were so angry at their own army, and was unmindful of the presence of Pakistan Rangers around and continued “There is a separate course for Pakistani Army on the Enmity to Indian Army, how to abuse and how to torture them after getting caught. They are even taught and trained on how to  deface and mutilate the dead bodies of an Indian Soldier”.

 

A question came from another corner. “Have you heard of anything like that about the Indian Army? If so, over 90,000 soldiers who were captured in Bengal by the Indian Army would not have walked down across the border. They would have been crawling to death by the time they could reach here, maybe not even one third. “

 

Their anger was more than what was expected.  “ The Pakistan army is taught a distorted history… The young generation is not having enough facilities to go to modern Schools. They are to  have only madrasa Education. History of Pakistan is one liner. Gandhiji Cheated their father of the nation and he  took Pakistan from India”

 

Till Kashmir issue is militarily finished by India and a clear non militarized Zone along the Pakistan border is created, that country cannot progress and will keep on creating disturbances in India.

 

 

OCTOBER WAR

a

INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY

LEADERSHIP - Planned Economic Growth

INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF YOGA

YoGa and Transformation- Leaning