Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan Pakistanis observed Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5, as they have done since 1989, to show their concern for Kashmiris. In reality this exercise harms Kashmiris by dangling empty platitudes and keeps Pakistanis mired in hate instead of waking up to reality and the future. When the British left India in 1947 they did so abruptly and with criminal negligence, leaving behind chaos, mass killings, a huge exchange of populations and hate. The British, in consultation with Hindu and Muslim leaders, partitioned British India into a largely Hindu India and a mostly Muslim Pakistan. They gave the over 500 states that were governed by maharajahs, rajahs or nawabs (the rulers) the option of independence or joining either country. The rulers were advised to consider the geography, economy and wishes of their people but the rulers' decisions were final. Junagadh was ruled by a Muslim nawab but its population was overwhelmingly Hindu. It was adjacent to India and could only access Pakistan by sea. Its ruler decided to join Pakistan and Pakistan accepted. India protested. Pakistan responded that the Instrument of Accession empowered the rulers to decide and the Junagadh ruler had full authority to join Pakistan. This happened before the Kashmir dispute erupted. Ironically, Junagadh became a part of India when its ruler fled to Pakistan. Kashmir was ruled by a Hindu maharajah but its people were mostly Muslim and its economic ties were with Pakistan. The maharajah delayed his decision. Then Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir. The maharajah sought Indian help but Governor-General Lord Louis Mountbatten said India would help only if he signed the Instrument of Accession making Kashmir legally a part of India. The maharajah did so but Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru pledged that the Kashmiri people would be given the chance to decide their state's future. India complained to the United Nations about the invasion from Pakistan. The UN decided, with both countries agreeing, that there would be a ceasefire in Kashmir followed by the induction of a plebiscite administrator and the withdrawal of all troops who had entered Kashmir from Pakistan and the withdrawal of the bulk of Indian troops leaving only enough to maintain law and order. Prime Ministers Nehru and Muhammad Ali Bogra agreed that a plebiscite administrator would be inducted within six months. But Pakistan insisted on having US Admiral Chester Nimitz as the plebiscite administrator while India asked for any European. By insisting on Nimitz, Pakistan missed the chance to have a plebiscite administrator appointed. A deadlock ensued. Pakistan did not withdraw its forces from Azad Kashmir nor did India reduce its troop strength in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan then requested and received US military aid despite Indian warnings that it would end talks on Kashmir if Pakistan joined military alliances bringing the Cold War to India's borders. The Kashmir deadlock hardened. Although a ceasefire was arranged in Kashmir in 1949, relations between India and Pakistan have since been strained and both countries have tried to foment agitation in the other. They also fought a war in 1965 that produced no change. In the 1971 war Pakistan lost East Pakistan, but that war was not over Kashmir. No other Indian state had a plebiscite to determine its future. There was no plebiscite in India to determine whether the Indian people wanted their country to be partitioned. There was no plebiscite among Indian Muslims to determine whether they wished to separate. It was only Nehru's statement, subsequently endorsed by United Nations resolutions, that the Kashmiris would decide their state's future that made this situation different. If Nehru had not made that promise, the maharajah's decision to accede to India would have settled Kashmir's fate like that of other states. But Kashmiris were promised a plebiscite by India and by the UN on the condition that India and Pakistan agree to a plebiscite administrator and withdraw all troops from Azad Kashmir and reduce forces in Indian Kashmir. Although these conditions have not been met, some Kashmiris have clamored for the right to decide. India uses brutal force against Kashmiris who do so. The deadlock continues, compounding the suffering of Kashmiris and poisoning relations between India and Pakistan. I served as a refugee judge in Canada, deciding on asylum requests by people claiming that they had suffered persecution in their countries. My colleagues and I heard cases from many Kashmiris, from both sides of the ceasefire line, describing their sufferings and begging for asylum. Pakistan and India have the option of continuing this nightmare, which has persisted since 1949. Or to partition Kashmir, as was done with Punjab and Bengal, bury the hatchet and let Indians, Pakistanis and Kashmiris live in peace if not in friendship. India and Pakistan have butted heads for more than 50 years, hurting their own people and Kashmiris. It is time for them to move away from this lunacy and give peace and friendship a chance. They have only to look at Canada and the US to witness the bonanza that good neighborliness produces. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and the Queen's Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals.
