Basic Facts About Jammu & Kashmir What is 'Jammu &

Find out what Jammu & Kashmir is - and then ask the right questions about this unfortunate state, caught in the crossfire
Jammu & Kashmir is a state in India. It is a large state and was ruled by a Maharaja (Indian King) in the past. Jammu & Kashmir is made up of many regions but is called Jammu & Kashmir because the two most populous regions in the state are called Jammu and Kashmir. There are other distinct regions in the state including Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Skardu. India's neighbour, Pakistan, grabbed many of these regions about 50 years ago. Some parts of the state were forcibly taken over by China. The largest portion of the original state of Jammu & Kashmir remains as a state within India. Kashmir is a beautiful valley in the northernmost part of India. It is part of a state called Jammu & Kashmir. The Kashmir Valley is surrounded by some of the highest mountain ranges in the world. The valley itself is green and thickly populated. The people of this Valley are highly evolved and have therefore dominated the history and culture of the state. India is in the southern part of Asia. It is the world's seventh largest country and second only to China in terms of population. In short, it is a huge country. Like the United States of America, India is made up of a number of states. Each state has its own laws and customs but in important national matters, like national security and foreign affairs, each state must obey the Central government based in New Delhi. In the USA, a governor rules each state. Similarly, in each Indian State, the people of the state elect a ruler who is called the chief minister. Pakistan is a southern Asian country that neighbours India. It was originally a part of India. In 1947, when the British left India, some Muslims wanted a country of their own and got it. This new country was called Pakistan. The leaders of Pakistan felt that they should rule all areas of India where people belonging to the Muslim faith were in a majority. The majority of people in Jammu & Kashmir were Muslims, while others were Hindus and Buddhists. Some Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir wanted to be part of Pakistan while most others did not want that. But the rulers of Pakistan felt that if they could capture Jammu & Kashmir by military force, then the people would have to accept their rule. That is why they attacked the state of Jammu & Kashmir in 1947. At that time, a Maharaja ruled Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistani troops overran most of the state and the Maharaja had to escape to India. He asked India for help and merged his state with India. This was called the accession of the state of Jammu & Kashmir to India. Some Pakistani leaders to this day are unhappy that the whole of Jammu & Kashmir is not part of Pakistan. Jammu & Kashmir in the year 1947 was an independent country for all practical purposes. The Maharaja who ruled the State had signed agreements with both Pakistan and India to remain neutral and not be part of either country. India honoured that agreement but Pakistan did not.

Kashmir'? What is Kashmir?

Where is India?

What is Pakistan?

What exactly happened in

1947?

Pakistani raiders and soldiers attacked the state in 1947 forcing the Maharaja to flee to India. The Maharaja asked India to help his people who were being killed and looted by the Pakistani raiders. He also agreed to make Jammu &; Kashmir part of India. The Indian ruler at that time was Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He accepted Jammu &; Kashmir's accession to India and agreed to rescue his people from the Pakistani attackers. Indian troops were flown into the Kashmir Valley and they managed to drive away most of the Pakistani raiders from the state. But a large area of the state remained under the control of Pakistani soldiers. These areas were difficult to reach because they were surrounded by tall mountain ranges. Also, India wanted to stop the fighting. The fighting ended with Pakistan retaining control of a large area of the state but India keeping a larger part. The fighting ended in the beginning of 1949 because India did not want the war to drag on. India felt that other influential countries like the US and Britain would ask Pakistan to stop fighting and withdraw its soldiers from a State that had legally become part of India. India therefore went to the world body called the United Nations, or UN for short. India said that Pakistan had attacked a neutral State and that State had now become part of India. Therefore, Pakistan should withdraw its soldiers from the State. The United Nations agreed with the Indian demand and asked Pakistan to withdraw its forces from Jammu & Kashmir. It also told India to ask the people of Jammu & Kashmir whether they wanted to be part of India or part of Pakistan. This was because some people in the State wanted to join Pakistan while others wanted to stay with India. The Prime Minister of India agreed to ask the people what they wanted through a process known as a referendum or plebiscite. Pakistan did not agree and refused to vacate the areas of Jammu & Kashmir it had forcibly grabbed. Because of this a plebiscite could not be held. Powerful countries like the US and Britain did not force Pakistan to withdraw its troops from Kashmir. They simply termed the entire State as a Disputed Territory..

How did the fighting end?

Why was Jammu & Kashmir termed This was done essentially because both India and Pakistan claimed the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The big powers, like "Disputed
the US and Britain, did not want to take sides and might have felt that it would be best if the problem of the state could be settled between India and Pakistan. India wants to settle the problems once and for all. But Pakistan will only accept a solution under which it can keep the Kashmir Valley to itself. India cannot allow this. Therefore, the socalled "dispute" continues to this day.

Territory"? But what is the legal position on Jammu &

Legally, Jammu & Kashmir is an integral and inseparable part of India. The British had ruled India as one undivided country made up of many provinces and princely states. When they left, India was partitioned into two separate countries. The new country, as mentioned earlier, was called Pakistan. The British as well as the leaders of both India and Pakistan had agreed to one basic principle - every inch of land must go either to India or to Pakistan. In other

Kashmir?

words, people living in India before the partition of 1947, had only two options: they could either join Pakistan or they could join India. They could not remain independent. Jammu & Kashmir was actually an exception. The Maharaja of the State had wanted time to decide whether he should join Pakistan or join India. But the rulers of Pakistan did not want to give him the opportunity to decide and instead attacked his state, killing hundreds of people and causing extensive damage to property. The Pakistani action forced the Maharaja to join India. It was absolutely legal. According to the agreement on which the partition of India was based, the rulers of princely states, like Jammu & Kashmir, had the absolute right to decide whether they wanted to join Pakistan or India. There was never any question of holding a referendum or a plebiscite. All the same, the then Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, agreed to hold a plebiscite because he was a democrat and wanted to find out what the people of the state of Jammu & Kashmir wanted. vacate the large parts of Jammu & Kashmir that had been occupied by its soldiers. The plebiscite was meant for all the people of the state of Jammu & Kashmir and not just for those who lived in the Kashmir Valley. But the Pakistanis felt that the parts of the state they had captured was theirs and would not part with it. Pakistan defied the agreement reached by the world body called the United Nations and refused to vacate its troops. The powerful countries of the world did nothing to ensure that Pakistan honoured the UN Resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir. India could not therefore hold a plebiscite.

Was the Maharaja's decision to merge his state with India

legal?

Then why was a plebiscite not held? The plebiscite was not held because Pakistan refused to

Why could not India hold a plebiscite in the part of Jammu & Kashmir it

controls?

In 1947, when the Pakistanis attacked Jammu & Kashmir, the most popular leader of that state was a man named Sheikh Abdullah. He was a friend of the Indian Prime Minister, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. Both men believed in secularism, which is a concept that allows people of all religions and creeds to live together. Pakistan, on the other hand, was created on the basis of religion. The leaders of Pakistan wanted a country where only Muslims would rule. Indian leaders, on the other hand, felt that anybody could rule as long as the people elected that person. Sheikh Abdullah preferred the idea of secularism. He therefore wanted Jammu & Kashmir to be part of India rather than part of Pakistan. At the same time, the Hindus who were a majority in the Jammu region, also did not want to join Pakistan. Nor did the Buddhists of Ladakh. Since all these groups wanted to be with India, there was no point in holding a referendum on the Indian side of Jammu & Kashmir. Also, in 1954, the people on the Indian side of Jammu & Kashmir elected a government of their own. This government made it clear that their state was part of India and not part of Pakistan. Officially speaking, they "ratified Jammu & Kashmir's accession to India". This meant that henceforth there could be no question of holding a plebiscite in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. A plebiscite cannot be held today for two reasons. Firstly, Pakistan continues to illegally occupy a large chunk of

Why cannot a plebiscite be held

today?

Jammu & Kashmir and does not allow the people here any freedom of choice. In most parts of the Pakistani occupied part of Jammu & Kashmir, the local people have no democratic rights. They cannot elect a government and they cannot dare to even talk against Pakistan for fear of being killed. For all practical purposes, the territory and the people captured by Pakistan in 1947 have been incorporated into Pakistan. These people have always been ruled by Pakistan and have not been given the opportunity to learn what democracy is all about. Unless, Pakistan agrees to give them a chance to participate in a plebiscite, it will be of no use. Secondly, Jammu & Kashmir became a legal, integral and inseparable part of India many many years ago. Today, no Indian government can allow some people in Jammu & Kashmir to break away from India. The Indian government tolerates some people in Jammu & Kashmir who talk about separation from India but does not like them. In other countries, people who want to break apart a country by creating a separate independent country are called traitors. They are usually punished by hanging. India is a more tolerant country. This is because a section of leaders belonging to the Kashmir Valley want to break away from India. Some of them want to form a separate country while others want to join Pakistan. Making such demands is against the law. The Indian government has been forced to arrest some of these leaders and put them in prison. Most of them have later been released. Some of them, however, decided to become terrorists and started to kill people in the Kashmir Valley and in other parts of the state. To protect the lives of people and to counter these terrorists, the Indian government posted soldiers in the Kashmir Valley. The terrorists then started killing these soldiers as well. The soldiers started fighting back and for all practical purposes, the Kashmir Valley became a battlefield. Indian soldiers have killed many terrorists but some remain to this day and continue to frighten the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmiris are basically a proud people. The younger generation also showed that they are a brave people. When their elders and intellectual leaders told them about the glorious victories of Islam and how India had reneged on its promise for a plebiscite, the Kashmiri youth felt they had to take up the gun against the Indian security forces. This happened because some leaders in the Kashmiri Valley, who were unhappy about the fact that they could not rule, decided that they would force the Indian government to leave the Valley. These leaders knew they could not fight the Indian government by themselves. So they went to Pakistan. There the Pakistani leaders assured them all help because the Pakistanis felt that if India was forced to give up the Kashmir Valley, then they would grab it for themselves. They decided to help the Kashmiri leaders who wanted to separate from India. The Pakistanis trained Kashmiri youth to fight, set off bombs and carry out assassinations. They also gave them money and weapons of all kinds. These Kashmiri youth went back to the Valley and started a reign of terror in 1989. They became known freedom fighters as first and then later as terrorists. Now most Kashmiri youths are disillusioned and have stopped

Why is there so much trouble in Kashmir

nowadays?

How did Kashmiri terrorists dare to take on Indian soldiers?

fighting but are still called terrorists, when actually those fighting are mainly from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These people are also looting Kashmiris and indulging in forced adulterous relations with many Kashmiri women.

What is the situation in the Kashmir Most Kashmiris are disillusioned with all the killing and fighting. They want peace. Elections were held in Kashmir Valley today?

and Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the leader of Jammu & Kashmir's main political party, the National Conference (NC), was elected Chief Minister. He is ruling the state today and has clearly said that Jammu & Kashmir cannot and will not be part of Pakistan. He has pledged full support to the Indian government to fight against the terrorists and the traitors who want to break away from India. There are other Kashmiri leaders, who wish to see the state return to normalcy and the people have a better life. When Kashmiris began to grow disillusioned with the fighting, the Pakistanis realised that an opportunity to grab the Kashmir Valley was slipping out of their hands. They therefore trained people from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places to fight in Kashmir. Most of these new fighters were mercenaries and were paid to fight in Kashmir. These mercenaries were also told that the Muslim faith was in danger and that they were fighting a Jihad or Holy War. These are the people who are creating the most trouble in the Kashmir Valley today. They are also responsible for killing former Kashmiri terrorists who have stopped fighting. These foreign mercenaries have no love for the ordinary Kashmiri and have caused them a lot of harm, killing their men and raping their women. They are also responsible for the abduction of six foreign tourists in 1995. One of the tourists, who was an American, managed to escape while another, a Norwegian, was cruelly beheaded. The other four tourists were also killed in cold blood but their bodies were never found.

Why does violence continue in

Kashmir?

article 356 & 370 The Parliament has the power to legislate laws for rest of the states in the country but Article 370 prevents the Government of India from enforcing any law connected with Jammu and Kashmir without the approval or concurrence of the State Government. Only defence, external affairs and communications fall in the central list. Thus the law prohibiting misuse of religious places could not be extended to Jammu and Kashmir and so Kashmir is the only region in India which can claim to be legally not secular. The Uttar Pradesh Government was dismissed under Article 356 of the constitution over non-prevention of the demolition of the so-called Babari Masjid, but Article 356 was never invoked in Kashmir in spite of well known and very old pre-Islamic temples and shrines being openly destroyed by sections of Kashmiri Muslims.The President has no right to suspend the Constitution in the State and only the National emergency act under Article 352 of the Constitution can be imposed on Jammu and Kashmir to a limited extent and the financial emergency under Article 360 cannot be enforced in Jammu and Kashmir. http://dikgaj.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/jammu-and-kashmir-repeal-the-outdated-and-temporaryarticle-370/

J&K economy loses Rs 4,500 crore in disturbances after Afzal hanging

By MI Jehangir on March 28, 2013

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Tags: Jammu and Kashmir, Shutdown, Separatists, Omar Abdullah, Afzal Guru, Parliament attack, Tihar Jail, Afzal Guru hanging, curfew in Kashmir, Guru, strike in Kashmir, Kashmir shutdown, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdul Hamid Punjabi

Jammu and Kashmirs economy has taken a hit from therash of strike calls given by separatists groups and curfew in the Valley in the aftermath of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru with the industry pegging the loss at an estimated Rs 4,500 crore. Tourism and handicrafts sectorsthe pivots of States economywere the worst hit due to disturbances in normal life due to strike calls and curfew over a period of 26 days since the hanging of Guru on February nine in Delhis Tihar jail. The business community of Kashmir claims that it lost Rs 175 to Rs 200 crore in sales every day, be it due to strike called by separatists or curfew clamped by authorities. The business community alone bears the brunt of the shutdowns in Kashmir. Besides losing an opportunity to earn, we are losing money due to overhead expenses, bank interest and employees wages, President of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Abdul Hamid Punjabi said on Thursday. Punjabi and other officials estimate that the loss to the economy so far could be to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore. On an average, a profit of Rs 10 crore is made each day on sales, they said. The loss to the economy also had a cascading effect with a senior official in the states Finance department saying a shutdown in Kashmir denied the Government an estimated Rs 170 crore per day in revenues from various sources like sales taxes and other levies.

Since the execution of Guru on February 9, authorities imposed curfew as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order. Out of the days lost, separatists have given strike calls for 13 days to demand return of mortal remains of Guru to his family. Punjabi said tourism and handicrafts sectors were the worst hit. Hoteliers and people associated with tourism industry like houseboat owners, taxi operators and travel agents suffer the most. More than two lakh people are directly earning livelihood from this sector alone, he said. AFSPA Jammu: Accusing the Centre of adopting a "different yardstick" for Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday questioned its "pick and choose" policy over Afzal Guru hanging and revoking of AFSPA while decrying the arrest of suspected Hizbul militant Liyaqat Shah. "When I talk about revoking AFSPA, you don't want to take the risk, but you hang Afzal (Guru). Why don't you have the courage to revoke AFSPA...After hanging of Afzal Guru, you cannot bring him back, but after removal of AFSPA, you can reimpose it", Omar said while replying to debate on demand for grants in the Legislative Assembly. Omar said "when we talk about AFSPA, we were told you are pushing the state to danger-- I do not understand when we are ready for experiment in J&K--why there is always pick and choose-- when this government shouted and screamed that by hanging Afzal Guru the situation in J&K state will deteriorate you ignored that-- that was your right". He said AFSPA is not imposed in Naxal violence hit areas. "There are no helicopters shot down in Kashmir, but you have a different yardstick for J&K." On arrest of Liyaqat Shah, Omar said he was coming to the state to surrender under the state's rehabilitation policy for ex-militants. "If a man comes to attack a shopping mall, will he come with his wife and children? Tell me. I am hearing for the first time that a militant came to attack holding the hand of his wife and carrying weapons in other hand, as if going for a picnic."