Kashmir was never an integral part of India? It was under a unique agreement and unique circumstances that Kashmir sided with India but it never merged fully. Where to find Whys and Hows of this view?
OMAR ABDULLAH, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, as of now, says, “Kashmir is an outstanding issue which needs to be resolved. Kashmir was never an integral part of India… It was under a unique agreement and unique circumstances that Kashmir sided with India but it never merged fully. Hence, a unique resolution of the Kashmir issue is required”.
Had Kashmir not been attacked by Pakistani army under disguise of tribal raiders on 26 October 1947 could there have emerged any Kashmir issue or so-called dispute at all? This is also a historically important and unique pointer for persons and politicians like Omar Abdullah. Do they have any sound answer for such questions?
Why did such an attack take place when partition was already finalised? Was there any connivance of some Indian and Pakistani political leaders behind this attack? Why not apply the simple theory of motivation to analyse this continued “from bad to worse” situation in Kashmir? Who were the people or political leaders directly or indirectly benefited by this attack on Kashmir? What was the then religion of the people residing in that part of Kashmir which is now occupied by Pakistan? Another significant question to understand is to see whether Kashmir is really an issue or it is being shown like a very serious issue just to serve the vested interests of leaders at the cost of property and precious lives of common masses. And just imagine, for so many years, common masses are apparently being misguided by their own leaders!
If at all Kashmir is an “outstanding issue” and “not an integral part of India” after about 65 years of the accession agreement with India, then all these questions need to be explored fully to resolve this Kashmir issue. Otherwise, as history shows, it can never be resolved.