SPECIAL ISSUE: KASHMIR – The Scarred Beauty

Ya firdaus barruhe zamanast, haminasto-haminasto-haminast

(If there is heaven on earth, then it is here, it is here, it is here)

Emperor Shah Jahan during his visit to Kashmir

Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar, c. 1895 CE

Kashmir – probably the most beautiful, yet the most disturbed region in the Indian and the Pakistani subcontinent. For centuries together the valley of Kashmir has been described as one of the most stunning places in not only India, but the world. Sadly, this beautiful valley has been a subject to constant violence and turmoil. A past so complicated, that we often forget why this part of the country is in the state it is in now. What went wrong? Where exactly did the conflict emerge? And more importantly, what was Jammu and Kashmir like, before the partition took place? While we cannot pin the blame on one specific event that changed Kashmir’s history, in this article, I will attempt to make Kashmir’s past clearer to you. 

We often forget that Jammu and Kashmir had a past, a history to it, much before the Indo-Pak partition of 1947 took place. The first well-known ruler to have exercised his reign over Kashmir was Ashoka between 304–232 BCE, when he made Kashmir a part of the Mauryan Empire. It was during this time that Buddhism was first introduced in Kashmir, and many stupas and shrines of Shiva were built. After the Mauryan Empire, came many more dynasties, unheard of. Centuries later, in the 11 century, Mahmud of Ghazni made two attempts to conquer Kashmir, but failed both the times because of his inability to conquer the fortress of Lohkot.

Mahmud of Ghazni – An artist’s depiction

A lot of people have not heard of the 11^th century Kashmiri king Samgramaraja, who was the founder of the Lohara Dynasty. When the Mahmud attacked Kashmir, Samgramaraja had stationed a strong army at the Lohkot fort, to check the enemy advancement. So, the Sultan could not move beyond this fort. He laid siege of the Lohkot fort, but failed to capture it. The Kashmiri king’s army continued to defend the fort and offered a stiff resistance. This went on for one whole month, and by that time heavy snowfall descended upon the region. It cut off the Sultan’s communication with his ground base, and ultimately, he was forced to retreat.

After Ghazni’s failed invasion, came the Shah Miri Dynasty established by Shah Mir. It was during this period, that Islam became a dominant religion in Kashmir, which was once a premier center of Sanskrit literary creativity. Although majority of the rulers of this dynasty were tolerant of other religions, the sixth sultan – Sultan Sikandar imposed taxes on non–Muslims, forced conversions to Islam, and earned the title ‘Butshikan’ (meaning the ‘Sikander of Iconoclast’ or an ‘image breaker’) for destroying idols.

Emperor Jahangir on a boat with attendants in Kashmir

By the time the Shah Miri Dynasty collapsed, Mughal rule in India had already begun, with Babur ascending the throne of Delhi in 1526. However, the state of Kashmir did not witness direct Mughal rule till the reign of Akbar, who in 1586 added Kashmir to the vast Mughal Empire, by deceit. The Mughal army had already been defeated by the Kashmiris twice, when on 6^th October 1586, Akbar’s army attacked and captured Kashmir. The incumbent ruler of Kashmir King Yusuf Shah Chak, had agreed to meet Akbar in Delhi. Although he was strongly advised against this by his ministers and his wife, he landed in Delhi and was arrested and jailed in Bihar, by Akbar, where he died a few days later. Akbar then attacked Kashmir and finally managed to conquer it. During the reign of the Mughals, many mosques, gardens and palaces were constructed. After Aurungzeb’s death in 1707, the Mughal influence in Kashmir and the rest of the Indian subcontinent declined significantly, paving way for the rise of the Sikhs in Kashmir, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh – who established the Sikh rule in Kashmir

The rule of the Sikhs in Kashmir, was initially welcomed by its citizens, since they had suffered terribly under the Afghans. However, they would soon come to the realisation that life under the new Sikh rule was not much different. The new rulers enacted a number of anti-Muslim laws such as – handing out death sentences for cow slaughter, closing down the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, and banning the azaan, the public Muslim call to prayer. After the death of the King of Jammu – Ranjit Deo, the Sikhs added Jammu to their Kashmiri province. Ranjit Deo’s grandnephew – Gulab Singh, established the last ever monarchial dynasty that would rule over Kashmir – the Dogra’s.

Gulab Singh, founder of the Dogra Dynasty – the last ever monarchial dynasty to rule over Kashmir

It was during this period that the Treaty of Amritsar (1846), was executed by the British East India Company and Raja Gulab Singh. It freed Gulab Singh from any obligations towards the Sikhs and made him the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Now the areas of Jammu and Kashmir were given the collective name – ‘The Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu’. During the popular revolt of 1857, which challenged British rule in India, the Dogras refused to provide shelter to any of the mutineers, allowed the British women and children to seek asylum in Kashmir and sent Kashmiri troops to fight on behalf of the British. In return the British ensured them that the Dogra rule in Kashmir would continue.

Left: Maharaja Hari Singh – the last Dogra ruler of Kashmir;

Right: Ram Chandra Kak – the Prime Minister of Kashmir

Fast forward to 1925, when the last and probably the most well-known king of Kashmir came to power – Maharaja Hari Singh. Now this was a time when a Hindu king, was ruling over a 77% Muslim population. The Muslims under the Dogra rule were subjected to severe oppression in the form of high taxes, unpaid forced labor and discriminatory laws. This unpopularity of the Dogra regime in Kashmir paved way for the formation of the ‘All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference’, which later changed its name to the ‘Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC)’. This party was established by a young Kashmiri citizen Sheikh Abdullah in 1932 to give shape to the growing opposition against the Maharaja. Due to Abdullah’s growing popularity amongst the Kashmiri citizens, the Maharaja had him imprisoned several times. In 1946, when the Sheikh was arrested once again, Nehru,who by now had become good friends with Abdullah, rushed to his defense. However, he was stopped by the Maharaja’s forces at the border itself, and was unceremoniously escorted back to British India.

India’s 1st Prime Minister – Jawaharlal Nehru with Sheikh Abdullah

By now, news came that British India was to be partitioned into two new dominions – India and Pakistan, and the Maharaja was faced with yet another dilemma – which dominion to join? But, Hari Singh’s Prime Minister Ramchandra Kak, encouraged him to think of an Independent Kashmir. Additionally, he loathed the Congress, so accession to India was not an option, and if he chose to join Pakistan, then the fate of his Hindu dynasty would be sealed. So, the only option that Hari Singh had left, was securing the independence of Kashmir. On the 15^th of August, 1947, India had achieved independence and Kashmir had still not acceded to either nation. On 29th Sep, 1947, when Sheikh Abdullah was finally released from prison, he made a speech one week later, where he said –

“A popular government in Kashmir will not be the government of any community. It will be a joint government of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims. That is what I am fighting for.”

Sheikh Abdullah addressing a crowd

The Pathans who attacked Kashmir in October, 1947

On 22^nd October, 1947, several thousand-armed men invaded the state from the north. These raiders, who were Pathans from what was now a province of Pakistan, had allegedly attacked Kashmir because of the atrocities that had been committed against fellow Muslims in Poonch and Jammu. During the course of their invasion, they committed several awful acts including looting, killing and raping people along the way. While India believed that the tribals had been pushed across the border by Pakistan, the Pakistani government denied any involvement in the invasion. Ironically, just 2 weeks prior to the invasion, the deputy Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir had said in Delhi, that –

“We intend to keep on friendly relations with both India and Pakistan. Despite constant rumours, we have no intention of joining either India or Pakistan… The only thing that will change our mind, is if one side or the other decides to use force against us… The Maharaja has told me that his ambition is to make Kashmir the Switzerland of the East – a State that is completely neutral.”

Deputy Prime Minister of J&K

The Instrument of Accession 1947

Picture 1 – First Page; Picture 2 – Second Page; Picture 3 – a zoomed in version of the Maharajah’s signature (zoom in to read the details)

While the aim of the tribal invasion was to scare the Maharaja into acceding to Pakistan, he did the exact opposite – he turned to India for help. The Indian government agreed on one condition – that the ruler must accede to India. On the 26^th of October, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh hurriedly signed the Instrument of Accession, and the very next day Indian troops landed in Srinagar. While India accepted the accession, it regarded it provisional, until such time that the will of the people can be ascertained. What came after this, was probably one of the most important decisions made in the Kashmir conflict.

On 1^st January, 1948, Jawaharlal Nehru decided to take the Kashmiri issue to the UN Security Council. Pakistan was able to present a much better case than India, because it was represented by the superbly gifted orator – Sir Zafrullah Khan. He accused India of perpetrating ‘genocide’ in East Punjab, which forced 6 million Muslims to flee Pakistan. He then went on to say that the Kashmir problem was recast as part of the unfinished business of the Partition. It is here, that India suffered a major symbolic defeat when the Security Council altered the agenda item from the ‘Jammu and Kashmir Question’ to the ‘India-Pakistan Question’.

The UN Security Council’s resolution on Kashmir specifying 3 steps to be executed in sequential order; Zoom in to read the steps in detail

But the Security Council’s resolution, tilted slightly in favour of India. It ordered for three specific steps to take place, and that too in a sequential order. Step 1 – Pakistan must withdraw all its troops; Step 2 – India must also withdraw its troops, but is allowed to keep a residual number of troops to defend its territory; and lastly Step 3 – a plebiscite for the Kashmiri people will be held. In the last few days of 1948, a ceasefire was agreed upon by both the nations and the First Indo-Pak War of 1947, came to an end. The problem arose when Pakistan refused to withdraw its troops, and since the resolution stated that all the steps were to take place in sequential order, step 3 was never executed, that is the plebiscite was never held. It was due to this that relations between the two countries soured even more, and resulted in three more wars taking place in 1965, 1971 and 1999, all of which resulted in victory for India.

Kashmir, a place that has been described by every one of its visitors as ‘heaven on earth’, has been in a state of conflict for over 70 years now. Over the past hundreds of years, it has been ruled over by dynasties belonging to different religions – the Buddhists, the Muslims, the Sikhs and the Hindus. It has been plundered, looted, and been subjected to various forms of oppression in its thousand-year-old history. Almost 72 years after the UN passed its resolution, Kashmir still continues to remain a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. I’ll leave you with a quote by Richard Symonds who was a British social worker and author, in 1950:

“So vital seems its possession for economic and political security to Pakistan that her whole foreign and defense policy has largely revolved around the Kashmir dispute… Far more than the Punjab massacres, which though horrible, were short lived, it is the Kashmir dispute which has poisoned every aspect of Indo-Pak relations.”

Richard Symonds, a British social worker and author, on the Kashmir dispute, in 1950

Some things to ponder over…

What would have happened had British India not been partitioned into two dominions in 1947? Would Kashmir continue to remain in the state of havoc, which it is in now? Or would the state finally be a witness to communal or rather Hindu-Muslim harmony? Whatever be the answer, one thing is for sure – Kashmir’s violent and turbulent past has consistently, over the centuries, been centered around the difference in the religious ideologies.

Sources:

History of Kashmir – Wikipedia

India After Gandhi – Ramachandra Guha

How Samgramaraja of Kashmir Repulsed Attacks of Mahmud of Ghazni

Kashmir loses sovereignty to Akbar – Greater Kashmir

Tracing Kashmir’s History : Bone of Contention Between India and Pakistan – YouTube