KASHMIR-A MOVEMENT BETRAYED!

KASHMIR-A MOVEMENT BETRAYED!

The Abottabad and PNS Mehran incidents have claimed an unusual victim—the Pakistan army! It was indeed rather surprising to see this hither-to-fore ‘holier than thou’ force facing scathing attacks not only from the media but also from the public. And no one seems to be in a mood to either forgive or relent- every conceivable weapon is being hurled at the Pakistan army--critical articles, sarcastic blogs and comments as well as jokes galore. A sample—notice board outside Pakistan army establishments —“please do not blow horn—Pakistan army is sleeping.” In short, the Pakistan army never had it so bad since 1971.

While on the Facebook, I found an intriguing post which had yet another accusation against the beleaguered Pakistan army – accusing it for ‘sabotaging’ the ‘azadi’ movement in Kashmir! This accusation I found rather novel and so I decided to investigate. On the face of it, there seemed to be no substance in this allegation. The Pakistan army has consistently maintained that the Kashmir problem is an ‘unfinished agenda’ of partition and has opposed every move of its political leaders which could end in any compromise. In 1948, they did send raiders across to free the Kashmiris from the Indian yolk and in 1965 the Pakistan army did try its best to ‘liberate’ Kashmir through use of force. Even in 1971, despite its ignominious defeat, the Pakistan army made no concessions on the Kashmir issue. In the 80’s it took upon itself the onerous responsibility to train, arm and send mujahideen into Kashmir. In order to not only sustain but also to give further impetus to the ‘armed struggle’ in Indian occupied Kashmir, the Pakistan army even invoked the services of its own citizens as well as mujahids from other countries and organizations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba came into existence. So, the report card of the Pakistan army as regards its support for the Kashmir cause appears to be fairly impressive. Yet, hidden beneath these laudable efforts, lurk some disquieting questions which beg for an answer. So at a time when the credibility of Pakistan’s army is suspect in its own country, it must also come out clean on its commitment towards Kashmir.

  That the army has been calling the shots in Pakistan ever since its creation in 1947 is like stating the obvious. Yet, no one ever objected to this as the Pakistan army served the nation well and measured up to the expectations of the people. In 1948, unable to decide upon the future of his kingdom, Maharaja Hari Singh entered into a ‘stand still’ agreement with the Pakistan government. However, the Pakistan army thought it more prudent to ‘liberate’ Kashmir rather than await final decision of this monarch. And speaking purely from the military point of view, it was the right choice since there was always the danger that this vacillating Maharaja could well choose to accede to India. Using tribals to overwhelm the miniscule forces of the Maharaja was an ingenious plan which not only assured success but also ensured that Pakistan could not be singled out for criticism by the international community.

Yet, the question which arises is that why did the Pakistani Generals fail to complement these tribesmen with regular units even after the Indian army had set its feet on Kashmiri soil and entered into the fray? Did they feel that the raiders would be able to defeat a trained army? Surely not! The Pakistani Generals were veterans of World War II and not novices-they would have certainly known that the rag-tag band of tribesmen, despite being led by army men stood no chance against a regular army. So, was it that they were scared of fielding their army against the occupational Indian army due to the fear of a defeat? Here again the answer is-surely not! Till about a year back, both armies had belonged to the same British Indian Army and being similarly trained and equipped were equally matched. So, why did the Pakistan army, in the first place initiate the move to ‘liberate’ Kashmir even though it meant disregarding the ‘stand still’ agreement, and then abruptly back out?

Some attempts at justification for this inexplicable behavior of the Pakistan army have been made in the past. Most explanations don’t give any convincing reasons and seek refuge in the argument that through this a UN resolution on Kashmir was extracted. But the world well knows that the credit for this should rightly go to India’s inept handling of the situation rather than Pakistan army’s sudden volte-face by abandoning the raiders and those poor Kashmiris who had revolted against the Maharaja to their own fate. The rest is history- the controversial accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India gained acceptability- thanks to the firm resolve of the Indian leadership to let its writ run even if it was through the barrel of the gun! So, this was to be the first betrayal of the Kashmiris by the Pakistan army-they had sent ‘raiders’ and not ‘liberators’!

During the late 80’s when the Pakistan army decided to infuse weapons into the struggle in Kashmir, it did its initial home-work well. A large number of boys, some barely in their teens were collected from the valley and put through arms training. While the plan was good, the execution unfortunately was not – though the boys were provided with sophisticated weapons, their training unfortunately was wanting. It appears the Pakistan army was too much in a hurry to commence their ‘jehad’ and our poor boys paid the price – the ill trained boys though full of zeal and valour were no match for the Indian security forces and thousands perished. This was the second betrayal of the Kashmiris by the Pakistan army.

Today, there is a large following of people in the Kashmir valley who espouse the cause of armed rebellion against the ‘illegal occupation’ of Kashmir by India. Many still feel that violence is the only solution to resolve the Kashmir problem and the gun will get us ‘azadi,’ by driving out the Indian army. While it is not intended to debate the pros and cons of this approach, it cannot be denied that after the gun came, Kashmir become a much more dangerous place where nearly every second day, someone or the other gets killed—be it by the security forces or ‘unidentified’ gunmen. It is not likely that the Pakistan army would have been so naïve as to think that by sending the gun into Kashmir, the Indian army would be driven out of the State or that an armed struggle would force New Delhi to let go of Kashmir.

 So, why did the Pakistan army embark on ‘jihad’ in Kashmir? What have the common Kashmiris gained from the gun? Nothing expect a rich harvest of young corpses, wailing mothers, shattered families and orphans! Even as the gun battles enters its third decade, the end is nowhere in sight and one generation has already been wasted out. The gun has changed the very character of the struggle in Kashmir from a peaceful movement for self determination which the world community could not ignore, into an insurgency which has caused considerable loss of goodwill for the cause. The gun has proved to be the bane of Kashmir!  

Coming to Pakistan army’s role in Kashmir - it has become amply  clear that they were never actually serious about it and the large scale loss of life and property due to the introduction of the gun in the valley has never really bothered them. They appear to be happier when someone is killed by the Indian army since it helps the propaganda machinery. It is thus evident that Kashmir was never really a ‘core’ issue. A festering Kashmir and not an independent Kashmir is what suits the Pakistan army for two reasons- first, it serves as a rallying point to muster public opinion in Pakistan which helps the Pakistan army to justify its bourgeoning budget  and second, it helps in marginalizing the  Indian army by ‘bleeding it through a thousand cuts’!