Kashmir’s worst kept secrets by Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani

India and Pakistan each are faced with a situation where lid has come off some of their worst kept secrets on Kashmir. Ex Indian army chief General V K Singh has taken the lid off of a secret that army has been paying money to J & K Ministers and the practice has continued from independence. Eight former army chiefs have trashed former Army chief general V K Singh’s statement that the army had been paying off politicians in Jammu and Kashmir to bring in stability and have insisted that the force had never provided such funding.

The joint statement states that, “No funds were ever provided by the army to any politician, political party or NGO in our tenures, and nor would we have allowed that.”General V K Singh has commanded world’s third largest army and to brush his statement in an ordinary manner does not help, the J & K ministers, named NGOs, integrity of politics in Kashmir and the military discipline. It takes away all credibility from the earlier claims that Delhi does not use the covert instruments to subvert elections in Kashmir. It has thrown the electoral process into disrepute, over and above the points at which it was ridiculed as rigged all these years. All of us, who supported the participation in elections as a human right and a necessary means to empower people, have egg on our face.

Army Role

Army has played a genuine role in generating the local economy since October 1947. People in the border areas of Kashmir have depended heavily on the armies stationed in these border areas. Army would buy poultry products, namely, eggs, chicken, Ghee, honey and local dry fruit and would either pay in cash or trade in return with kerosene oil, tea, sugar, soap and other products. There was no air of suspicion around this mini economic zone created by the army in these areas. The system was transparent and enduring.

During the last 23 years army and the secret agencies seem to have stepped out of this genuine economic zone and have subscribed their interest in Sadbhavna operations aimed at providing infrastructure, education and health services. Army’s Sadbhavna schemes have been viewed with suspicion and the statement that army has been engaged in covert operations using its secret funds markedly discredits the institutional integrity of army.

National Conference Minister

Some National Conference’s present and former ministers have issued a joint statement that the ex-army chief’s claim is absurd and far from any truth. These ministers in their joint statement have demanded that, “If the former army chief does not come out with facts, we will deem his accusation and allegations as defaming us with malafide and malicious intent and hence we will be compelled to take legal course of action”.

Be it so, that the “claim is absurd and far from any truth.” But the ministers have not taken any convincing step to reassure the common man and woman in Kashmir and Kashmiris living outside Kashmir, that they have not accepted any payment in lieu of compromising the integrity of the public trust. The kind of joint statement does not have any merit in law and is not sufficient under the circumstances. By the time this column is published it would be a week to their joint statement and it necessitates a course to a legal action to clear their names of this shocking allegation.

If the practice of keeping ministers on pay roll has been in place since independence, then there would be many others in other political parties and in other disciplines of life who would have been acting as a proxy for various army chiefs in Jammu and Kashmir. As a consequence of this allegation, ministers in the previous and present cabinet stand to share the criminal liability for various actions done by the army and secret agencies, outside the scope of their lawful duties. Fake encounters, torture, rape and enforced disappearances would be counted against these ministers as well.

Pakistani Secret

Lid has come off some Pakistani secrets on Kashmir as well. On 27 September 2013 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing the 68th session of UN General Assembly in New York made a forceful case for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said, “The United Nations must continue to remain attentive to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and the full realization of the right to self-determination of its people. The suffering of the people cannot be brushed under the carpet, because of power politics.” Prime Minister of Pakistan further added that, “As in the past, Pakistan calls upon the international community to give an opportunity to the Kashmiris to decide their future peacefully, in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. The issue of Jammu and Kashmir was presented to the Security Council in January 1948, and yet the issue remains unresolved after nearly seven decades.” He was eighth speaker to speak in the morning session.

Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh also addressed as the eighth speaker in the morning session of UN General Assembly on 28 September 2013. He stated, “India is committed sincerely to resolving all issues with Pakistan, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, through bilateral dialogue on the basis of the Simla Agreement. However, for progress to be made, it is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilized for aiding and abetting terrorism directed against India. It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down. There must be a clear understanding of the fact  Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that there can  never, ever, be a compromise with the unity and territorial  integrity of India.”

Lid came off the Pakistan’s worst kept secret on Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister made it clear that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir would be resolved through bilateral dialogue on the basis of the Simla Agreement. It explains that Pakistan has taken a step back on the international character of Kashmir case and has accepted a bilateral arrangement with India. It is only the international mechanism of UN which recognizes the people of Kashmir and accords a principal place to the people of Kashmir as equal people in the UN mechanism on Kashmir.

Under a bilateral agreement the people of Jammu and Kashmir are pushed into a sub-ordination and respective tutelages of the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan. The bilateral mechanism would drive them to act as proxies for India and Pakistan. The bilateral arrangement in fact causes the intervention of army chiefs on either side. The intervention of ex-army chief General V K Singh and ex-army chief General Pervez Musharraf are two recent examples.

A Caveat

Prime Minister of India has added a caveat to Indian desire to resolve the disputes. He stated that, “There must be a clear understanding of the fact Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that there can never, ever, be a compromise with the unity and territorial integrity of India.” India had no hesitation to reiterate at the UN General Assembly that “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.”

Kashmiri View

Pakistan of course has been reduced to this helpless situation because it has failed to honour UNCIP Resolutions in PaK, Gilgit and Baltistan and failed to push for similar role of UNCIP Resolutions in Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad has been playing hot and cold with UNCIP Resolutions and has never remained serious about it. It neglected Kashmir at the UN from November 1965 to August 1996 for approximately 31/32 years and dared to experiment with the Kashmir case. It created wasteful proxies to help its digression on both sides of cease fire line (LoC) and abroad. The lid came off it in Srinagar, Washington, Brussels, London and at other places.

Be it so that India would like to negotiate on Kashmir with Pakistan as its integral part. India and Pakistan may regard Jammu and Kashmir as a dispute on a bilateral basis. Kashmiris are part of an international arrangement under the UN and according to Indian petition to the UN the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a principal role to decide, as follows:

“The question of the future status of Kashmir vis-à-vis her neighbours and the world at large, and a further question, namely, whether she would withdraw from her accession to India, and either accede to Pakistan or remain independent, with a right to claim admission as a Member of the United Nations – all this we (India) have recognized to be a matter for the unfettered decision by the people of Kashmir, after normal life is restored to them.”

The lids have come off some of the worst Indian and Pakistani secrets on Kashmir. It is a blessing in disguise. Are the people and the leaders reliably able to step in?

(Author is London based Secretary General of JKCHR – NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations.  He is on UN register as an expert in Peace Keeping, Humanitarian Operations and Election Monitoring Missions. He could be reached on email dr-nazirgilani@jkchr.com)