WASHINGTON – De-annexation of Kashmir from India is inevitable as Muslimsliving there have never accepted the Indian occupation and would eventuallyaccomplish their goal of self-determination, says a former senior advisorto the UN Secretary General.
Ambassador Yusuf Buch, in a meeting with the Secretary General of theUS-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, said had therebeen a popular support in Kashmir for joining India, the dispute over theregion would have resolved long ago.
“The situation in Kashmir has nothing to do with passivity or docility inthe Kashmiri character; that myth has been shattered now,” said AmbassadorBuch, according to a statement issued by the KWF in Washington.
He said that Kashmiris hardly showed themselves as resigned to Indianoccupation and never feltitself to be part of India before 1947, and feels even less so after itsforcible seizure by the Indian troops. “The de-annexation process isinevitable in the post-colonial age. The only question is whether it isaccomplished by armed struggle, resulting in a spiral of violence andcounter-violence, or through negotiations, and or other means of peacefulsettlement,” Ambassador Buch remarked, adding that “The choice always lieswith the occupying power”.
Ambassador Buch, who is a living encyclopedia on Kashmir, observed thatKashmiri Pandits regarded Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah as a Muslim chauvinistand Muslims suspected that he had struck some kind of deal with the Dograregime despite its practice of open discrimination against the Muslims.
However, he said that as early as 1934, a streak of opportunism in SheikhAbdullah made it clear that Sheikh Abdullah was losing his politicalposition and his popularity began to wane.Responding to a question, Ambassador Buch said two things affected SheikhAbdullah’s public standing. First, he betrayed strong-arm methods inbullying his opponents and , secondly, he veered more and more towardscooperation with the Maharaja’s autocratic regime.
Ambassador Buch reminded that because of his cooperation Sheikh Abdullahwas granted “royal clemency” and released from jail in return for colludingwith the Maharaja in maneuvering accession to India.He flew immediately to Delhi to confer with the Indian leaders as did theMaharaja’s courtiers.
“Later when doubts began to grow in Delhi whether Sheikh Abdullah’spresumed popularity would swing the vote in India’s favor, India began towriggle out of its pledge to a plebiscite,” he said and added that doubtsabout success turned to certainty of defeat when Abdullah had to be oustedas prime minister and jailed in 1953.
From that time, Indian policy was set dead against any ascertainment of thewishes of the people of Kashmir as the outcome was not in any dispute, Buchmaintained.
Ambassador Buch argued that had there been any support within Kashmir forliving with India, the struggle for freedom by the Muslims Kashmiris wouldhave lasted a year and so and the disputed would have ended a long timeago. – APP