Why Kashmir is a part of India?

I read that Arundhati Roy said that Kashmir was never a part of India. I have not seen her speech and hence I do not know how she supported her statement. Prosecuting her for sedition is one thing. But was she right?

Before 1947 when the Congress Party was fighting for independence, the Party's stand was a secular undivided India. On the other hand Muslim League under Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted Muslim majority areas to separate from India to form Pakistan. Ultimately Congress yielded Pakistan, but decided that  the rest of India, which had Hindu majority, will be called India or Bharat only and will stick to secularism.

Pakistan was formed on 14th August, 1947. On the 10th of August Jinnah speaking in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in Karachi declared that there will be no discrimination against non-Muslims and they will have equal rights along with Muslims. This was not acceptable to most of the Muslims in Pakistan. They said that they fought for an Islamic State. Jinnah cleverly replied that he meant an Islamic State only and Islam stood for democracy and equality of all.

In any case, within a few days after 14^th August, 1947, Muslims started trespassing into Hindu houses and killing, raping and driving out the inmates. Hindus from all over Pakistan came over to India as refugees. On 14^th August, 1947 the Hindu population of the then West Pakistan was 38%. Now I don’t think that they are even 1%. Some Muslims crossed over from India to Pakistan also. Some went voluntarily and some were driven out by Hindus as retaliation to what happened in Pakistan. After the Nehru-Liaquat Pact in April, 1950, many Muslims returned to India though no Hindu returned to Pakistan.

According to the treaty signed with the British, all areas directly ruled by the British were to go to India or Pakistan. As regards territories under the Maharajas or Nawabs, then called States, the ruler will have the option to join either India or Pakistan. However after independence some States declared themselves independent. The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir also declared the State independent. But soon Pakistan sent its army to invade Kashmir. The Maharaja immediately requested India for protection. But India said that the Indian army can be deployed to protect only Indian territary. The Maharaja immediately signed a draft accession to India. India then sent its army and started beating back the Pakistanis. At the same time India [not Pakistan] went to the UN Security Council. The UNSC ordered a ceasefire and the Indian and Pakistani armies are on either side of the ceasefire line ever since.

The Instrument of Accession in its final form was executed in March, 1948. The Constitution of India came into force on 26^th January, 1950. Hence in the Constitution a temporary provision of Article 370 was made, under which the Instrument of Accession will have precedence over the provisions of the Constitution of India. It is stated in the Constitution that it was temporary. But it still continues.

The claim of Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir is that the majority of the population there are Muslims. India’s claim is based on the Instrument of Accession signed with the then Maharaja.

On the face of it, it  may appear that India’s claims are not based on democratic principle of rule by the majority. But as Aristotle said “Democracy is the tyranny of majority class interests”. That is what is going on in Pakistan. It is the same with the Kashmir separatists also. All the separatists are Muslims though all Muslims are not separatists. Though India conceded Pakistan, it never accepted the principle of religion as a basis for formation of a nation.  Arundhati Roy is not the first non-Muslim Indian or woman to speak for Pakistan. Long ago there was one Mridula Sarabhai, similar to Arundhati Roy now.

The following are my reasons why Kashmir should remain with India only.

1.      What is basis for an independent Kashmir or a Parkistani.Kashmir?  It is the Muslim majority. The so called freedom fighters say that they are fighting a jihad. So one can imagine what will happen to the Hindus if jihadis have their way in Kashmir. The azaadi they want is the azaadi to destroy Hindus.

2.      India is a secular democracy and our politicians are aggressively secular. In fact they are so aggressive that sometimes they become pro-Muslim even.

3.      There are many more Muslims in India than in Kashmir or even in Pakistan.

4.      After the separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh, there is no basis for claim of Pakistan to Kashmir.

5.      After the experience of 1947 no Muslim majority country can be allowed

As I said our politicians aggressively preach secularism in the country. Why do they not tell Pakistan to become secular?   The only Indian, who had the courage to tell Pakistanis in Pakistan on their face that they should become secular, was L. K. Advani. But he got brickbats for quoting the August 10, 1947 speech of Jinnah in support of secular Pakistan..  Should he have quoted Mahatma Gandhi to Pakistanis instead? Why do our secular politicians do not take up the cause of Kashmiri Pundits driven away from Kashmir? Do they think that they will become communal, if they do so?

Secularism is not for domestic consumption only. It is a universal principle along with human rights. An Islamic Republic or any Republic based on religion is not a Republic. Republic means Respond to the Public. Islamic Republics respond only to Muslims. Organizations like the Organization of Muslim Countries should be treated as International pariahs. But instead Indira Gandhi sent a representative from India.

What are the credentials of Arundhati Roy? She got the Booker Prize by fluke. Has she written any book before or after that? She is doing these things only to catch public attention as she has nothing else to do.  Actually she should be ignored.

If any Indian feels that Kashmir should be independent or should go to Pakistan I would like to hear from him/her.

MPS Ramani.