Srinagar: Kashmir unionists protest Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement
blaming India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru while citing “two major blunders” — declaring a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir and taking the issue to the United Nations.
The opposition political parties in Jammu and Kashmir including Congress on Thursday repulsed back to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks against the Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, claiming that Kashmir has suffered due to his blunders.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and former J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that Amit Shah and his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should not reach a stage where the first Prime minister is cursed.
“BJP has never been a part of independence; they haven't even contributed in this regard. They don’t even understand how the country emerged as a democratic secular nation and how things were handled in the absence of their presence," he said.
"It is because of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that Kashmir is a part of India," he underlined, adding that Congress has never given serious consideration to the statements made by the BJP, as they believe the BJP misleads people by distorting facts.
National Conference (NC) President and Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah while speaking to media persons in New Delhi, said Rajouri and Poonch wouldn’t have been part of India today if Jawahar Lal Nehru focused on Muzaffarabad, adding that the forces were diverted to secure Rajouri and Poonch.
“Jawaharlal Nehru’s decision has secured Rajouri and Poonch at that time as the situation was quite different then. There was no other solution than going to the United Nations as everybody at the time was in favour of it,” he said.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Najam-us-Saqib, stated that it is completely wrong and unfortunate to blame someone for Kashmir conflict. “Blaming Pt Jawahar lal Nehru is completely dishonest; he was a tall leader, who laid a foundation of a secular democratic India,” he said.
He added that given the situation at that time, J&K needed a different kind of approach as it was a Muslim-majority state and ruled by a Hindu ruler. “Nehru played a pivotal role in convincing the local leaders to join with the Union of India,” he said, adding that the people of J&K had been subjugated from everywhere, but Nehru came and tried to free the inhabitants here from the clutches of subjugation.”
Reportedly, in the Indian Parliament, Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the J&K Reservation Amendment Bill and J&K Reorganisation Amendment Bill in the lower house on Wednesday, blamed India’s first prime minister for the Kashmir conflict, stating Nehru’s two big “blunders”
The tumultuous history of Jammu and Kashmir traces back to the twilight years of British rule in India. As India moved towards independence in 1947, the princely state of Kashmir, under the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh, found itself in the midst of a complex and volatile situation. The region was already grappling with internal tensions, including a rebellion against Maharaja Hari Singh's autocratic rule.
Amidst this unrest, as India gained independence and was partitioned into India and Pakistan in August 1947, the princely states were given the choice to accede to either India or Pakistan based on their demographics and the rulers' preferences. Maharaja Hari Singh, facing a predominantly Muslim population in Jammu and Kashmir, opted to accede to India when tribal militias took control of parts of Kashmir and Maharaja sought military assistance from India amid the Jammu massacre.
The intervention of Indian troops marked the beginning of the first Indo-Pakistani war. The conflict resulted in a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1948 that was eventually named the Line of Control and the state divided between India, Pakistan and China.
China entered the conflict in the early 1960s, asserting territorial claims in the Aksai Chin region, further complicating the Kashmir conflict. The India-China War of 1962 solidified China's control over Aksai Chin, an area initially part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes ‘Azad Kashmir’ and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, had committed to holding a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to determine its political future, in accordance with UN resolutions. However, the plebiscite was never conducted. The Shimla Agreement of 1972, following the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, sought to normalize relations between India and Pakistan. It delineated the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, recognizing the de facto control held by India and Pakistan.
The issue of Kashmir remained a contentious point, with intermittent clashes between the three nations. On August 5, 2019, the government of India, led by BJP’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, abrogated Article 370, revoking the special autonomy granted to Jammu and Kashmir. The state was bifurcated into two ‘union territories,’ Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh