Partition and Kashmir, the British Conspiracy!

(Gurrinder Chadha’s film Viceroy’s House released last year reveals Churchill to be the real author of the conspiracy to partition India as well as Kashmir!)

Last year a British Indian Director, Gurinder Chadha released a movie “Viceroy’s House” about the partition of India. The feature film is based on the goings-on at Viceroy’s House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan) in Delhi. The film blames Winston Churchill for the partition of India. Chadha originally hails from Jhelum in Pakistani Punjab. She had to hurriedly migrate with her mother and spent some time in a refugee camp. Gurinder Chada in an interview to a movie journal says, “My film is based on Top-Secret British documents that look at what Britain and America had to gain from the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. As part of my research I read Narindra Singh Sarila’s The Shadow Of The Great Game, which exposes these Top Secret Government files that had been sealed for fifty years. These documents show that the decision to divide India was influenced by the World Map and who would retain power in the region”.

After the end of the World War II, the west was keen to restrict the influence of their war time allay Stalin. Both Britain and America wanted to restrict Russian approach to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. They were keen to create a corridor by partitioning India to restrict the Russian advance. Lord Archibald Wavell at Churchill’s behest drew a secret plan to divide India. The war-time prime minister, who otherwise fiercely opposed the concession of freedom to India, analysed Jawaharlal Nehru as being pro-Soviet Union and therefore likely to give the Communist power access to the warm water port of Karachi and consequently an easy passage to the Middle East. In contrast, he assessed the Muslim leadership demanding Pakistan as being pro-West and therefore likely to be resistant to Moscow.

The partition plan was discussed and prepared in the War Cabinet Meeting held on May 19, 1945. In the movie Wavell gives a file to Cyril Radcliffe containing the secret note circulated after the cabinet meeting. The movie has some shots showing the actual file which is now declassified by the Home Office. Radcliffe had been sent to demarcate the border between the two new countries. He had never visited India before. He was given just few weeks to do the job. When he mentions to Lord Ismay that it is impossible to undertake such an assignment in such a short time, Lord Ismay shows him a map in the file where in the entire border is already marked in red! He tells Radcliffe that he has only to demarcate the border on the ground as already decided by the Cabinet Mission! Incidentally, the partition plan was given the name of Mount Batten Plan and ironically Mount Batten knew nothing about it. He was called to England just to give the impression that it was his plan! It was a plan already prepared by Lord Archibald Wavell at Churchill’s behest and handed over to him for implementation!

Ashish Ray in London Tribune writes, “In the “great game” of carving out spheres of influence between Britain and the Soviet Union, Churchill was attempting to checkmate what he perceived to be the United Kingdom’s post-war, Cold War rival; but at a heavy cost to the people of India. The fact is access to the waters of the Arabian Sea through Pakistan has been denied to Russia to date. But if Churchill’s objective was to thwart communist enlargement and hegemony, he has failed, for China is comfortably ensconced not merely in Karachi, but in Gwadar, which is even closer to the Gulf.”

Rakesh Ankit after studying the de-classified documents wrote a detailed research paper on the subject, “The Cold War and its Impact on the Evolution of the Kashmir Crisis, 1947-48” which appeared in the Journal of the Oxford University History Society in 2009.According to him, “‘Power Politics’ made a large contribution to the evolution of the Kashmir crisis. While the dispute emerged for local, regional and religious reasons its evolution and eventual ‘internationalization’ bears the stamp of concerns which had nothing to do with the individuality of the crisis and the merits of the cases of the two protagonists. In other words, while the events in and around the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from August 1947 to January 1949, a period which saw an entire range of conflict, from local skirmishes to full-fledged invasion to pitched defensive warfare, were manufactured by a set of circumstances, personalities and concerns, which were all essentially local or regional and sub-continental or religious in nature, once the crisis erupted it was manipulated by the British-led Western Block, as far as possible, in the pursuit of its own vital interests stretching from the Middle East to Central Asia to the Far East.

These vital interests can be broadly categorised as defensive, strategic and geo-political (aimed at the former Communist USSR) and ideological or religious (aimed at the Islamic Middle East).” In fact, Rakesh has quoted extract from Bevin’s letter to Marshall which states, “Kashmir was on the Soviet frontier. Russia might well intervene as she had in Greece and China, playing on the tribes and on communal feeling. Whoever controlled the valley of Kashmir controlled the strategic and commercial communications between India, Pakistan and Central Asia.” The main western interest was the access to Central Asia and containment of the Communist Russia.

In fact, it was decided in a meeting in Paris between Bevin and Marshall that the Anglo-American interests would be best served by keeping the Kashmir corridor passing through Gilgit with Pakistan as India could create problems. The ceasefire and the extent of areas under each country too were decided by the western powers as both the armies at that time were controlled by the British Officers. The details of the intrigues, conspiracies or even the actual happenings on the ground have been put down by many authors like Lord Birdwood, Dr. Josef Korbel, Alistair Lamb and recently by Christopher Snedden. In spite of these vast resources about the happenings of 1947, to simply put all the blame on Mohammad Ali Jinnah is not fair!”

Incidentally, the so called Tribal Raid is also alleged to be a British Plan. They did not want the Maharaja to completely accede to India as it would mean loss of the strategic corridor. They wanted the Indian Army to be sent to Kashmir but there was no excuse to do that. David Devadas writes in his book that the Indian Army Chief who was British knew three days in advance that the Tribesmen were coming but he did not inform Nehru. It is also alleged that all the Tribesmen were not from the Pushtoon Tribal Area. There were quite a few mercenaries who were from Agha Khans Tribe in Hunza who indulged in loot and rape rather than complete their mission of capturing Srinagar! These were allegedly arranged by the British. The raid gave the Indian Army an excuse to land in Kashmir. Again the Indian Army did not go all the way to capture Muzaffarabad or even Gilgit which they could easily do but stopped leaving the strategic corridor to Pakistanis as had been envisaged in Bevin-Marshall meeting! 

  Adil Najam, Dean, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University wrote a detailed article on Errors of Royalty in the partition of India, which appeared on August 15, 2017. One would like to conclude with his last para.

“Nowhere does the unfinished business of partition bleed more profusely than in the continuing conflict between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir. Would a little more attention and a few more weeks of effort in 1947 have spared the world a nuclear-tipped time bomb that keeps ticking on both sides? We can never know the answer to this question.

Nor can, or should, I believe, India and Pakistan blame the British and Mountbatten for all their problems. Seventy-one years on, they have only themselves to blame for missing opportunity after opportunity to fix the troubled relationship they inherited.

However, maybe, today, on the anniversary of their birth, both India and Pakistan can take a break from simply bashing each other and recognize that at times history can deal you a bad hand in many different ways – in this case, due to the hasty and monumental errors of a British royalty. But also recognize, it is on you to learn from history and fix it”.

It is ironical that both the countries look towards these conspirators to bail them out of the mess in which initially they put them! The most surprising fact about the movie is its virtual ignorance among the people in India and Pakistan. Has it been deliberately suppressed by both the countries? May be because of so many uncomfortable questions it raises about partition!

The Cup of “Poison”!

(The cup of poison called “Hemlock” which Socrates was forced to drink has always turned out to be the cup of the “Water of Life” for the mainstream politicians of Kashmir!)

The former Chief Minister after losing the seat of power by sudden and unannounced withdrawal of support by BJP to her coalition government declared that the initial alliance with them was like drinking a “Cup of Poison”. The allusion seems to be to the famous historical event of the Greek philosopher Socrates who too was made to drink a cup of poison. It would be interesting to reproduce the history of the event as given in Wikipedia. “The trial of Socrates (399 BC) was held to determine the philosopher’s guilt of two charges: asebeia (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens, and corruption of the youth of the city-state; the accusers cited two impious acts by Socrates: “failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges” and “introducing new deities”. The death sentence of Socrates was the legal consequence of asking politico-philosophic questions of his students, from which resulted the two accusations of moral corruption and of impiety. At trial, the majority of the dikasts (male-citizen jurors chosen by lot) voted to convict him of the two charges; then, consistent with common legal practice, voted to determine his punishment, and agreed to a sentence of death to be executed by Socrates’s drinking a poisonous beverage of hemlock”.

Socrates gave his life for certain principles. He refused to go along with the false Gods of the Greek Pantheon and spread the knowledge among the youth for which he had to pay with his life. On the contrary our Kashmiri politicians have been drinking from the cup which has virtually proved to be the water of life for them right from 1947. Like the proverbial cat they have nine lives and in some cases may be even many more! They have been doing so for hiding the truth! In spite of many upheavals, turn arounds and somersaults they continue to survive with vigour! From the first “Cup of Poison” taken by the Kashmir’s “tallest” leader in 1947 itself, there has been a routine of all the so called mainstream leaders drinking the cup of whatever potion one may say ostensibly for the sake of the public but in reality for their own self and their family’s sake!

In case of the last ruler who claimed to have taken a cup of poison by collaborating with BJP for the sake of people, Kashmiris faced the worst sufferings in the recent past. Scores were killed and wounded, hundreds were hit with pellets and almost a hundred people totally lost their eyesight. Dozens of houses were completely destroyed and village upon village was totally pillaged and vandalized. Kashmir’s biggest mosque remained locked up on umpteen Fridays and people could not offer prayers on scores of Fridays. A few thousand people especially the youth were detained and some were put under continuous detention under Public Safety Act. After her ignominious departure one would have thought that the others would take a cue and come on the straight path. Not at all. They seem to be eager to drink from the “Cup of Poison” even if they have to sell their mothers for a price! Somehow the so called poison in the cups of Kashmir appears to be a potion which turns these leaders into virtual blood sucking leaches. They fall only when they have sucked the blood to their fill! Unfortunately for the poor wretched people, they have been themselves picking up and putting these leaches back on their bodies to suck more blood!

So far these leaders have been leading Kashmiris like sheep from one pasture to other. However, there is a change now. Kashmir has a new generation. The generation which was born and brought up in turmoil. No matter how many cups of hemlock or honey or somras the Kashmiri mainstream politicians drink, they are not going to make any impression on this new generation! The new generation of Kashmiris is beyond their control. They do not follow any leaders. They are leaders in themselves. Their alienation from the mainstream appears totally irreversible. They have spread the infection of “Azadi” throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir. In spite of the use of maximum force, the authorities are unable to control or cow them down. There can be no solution unless a way is found to address this generation. All out operations are not going to solve the problem. These are rather compounding it. Every killing is giving rise to ten new recruits. The only way is to address the basic political problem in an open and unconditional dialogue. The first and foremost requirement is to create a conducive atmosphere for that. The threats of obliterating the very existence through repealing of different legislations are going to add fuel to the already simmering fire. Let us hope all the politicians will forget about drinking various cups and concentrate on somehow bringing peace to the troubled paradise!

The Threat to Kashmiri Existence!

(Unprecedented shutdown against Supreme Court hearing on Article 35-A shows Kashmiris’ concern not only to protect their unique identity but their very existence!)

Before one delves on the threat to the existence and the identity, it would be worthwhile to describe the unique Kashmiri identity. There are many theories about the origin of Kashmiris. It is one of the most mysterious and exciting topics. Some say we are descendants of Aryans who came from Central Asia. However, one can say with certainty that we are not in any way very close to other inhabitants of the sub-continent especially those living in our southern neighbourhood. Physically we are of a fine stock, well built and tall. We have sharp and regular features. Generally people are lively and intelligent. Full of fun and fond of amusement. The beauty of our women has been well known and praised by writers and poets for a long time. We do look like an ancient race with complexions varying from very fair to ruddy and sometimes even blond. In Europe as well as in many other countries we are mistaken for Turks or Iranians or Greeks and in some cases as Spanish or Italians. Some people even call us the “White Indians”! Raj Tarangni describes original inhabitants of the valley as Pisacas and Nagas who used to create trouble for Brahmans. Kashmiri Brahmans popularly called Pandits form a distinct class of their own and can be considered to be the purest specimen of the ancient Aryan settlers in the valley. Rajtarangni also mentions that the valley was once a big lake (Sati Sar) which was drained by Kashyapa after killing the Demon Jalodbhava who was guarding its outlet in Baramulla. Well, the Geological formation of Karewas, layers of sedimentary clay deposits, found everywhere in the valley, does confirm the existence of a lake. There is only one definite and irrefutable scientific evidence about the beginning of human civilisation in Kashmir and that is the Neolithic (New Stone Age) dwelling sites in many parts of the valley out of which Burzahom site is the most studied and well known in the scientific community. The site is famous because it was the first such site discovered in Kashmir. It has dwelling pits, burial pits and some megaliths. The Neolithic (or the New Stone Age) Period of this site dates back to around 3,000 BC. In a way the place represents the site as well as the period where from the first inhabitants of our beautiful valley came. They could be termed the original Kashmiris who started inhabiting this valley like their counter parts in many other areas of the world. 

In ancient chronicles the land of Kashmir is extensively mentioned by Greek, Chinese, and Arab historians as a beautiful valley deep in the Himalayan Mountains. This Himalayan girdle very difficult to cross especially in ancient times has protected Kashmir’s unique identity for centuries. Mahmud of Gazhni and even Alexandre the Great could not cross the barrier! Kashmir has seen many religions through centuries. Saivite Hinduism, Budhism and finally Islam. All these religions had a peaceful and a very smooth change over. In ancient times and till sixteenth century Kashmir was an independent sovereign country. Mughals finally annexed it to their empire in 1586 by treachery after failing twice to subdue and conquer it by force. After that Kashmir went under Afghans, then Sikhs and finally the British sold it to Dogra Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu for rupees seventy five lakhs vide the infamous Treaty of Amritsar. During all these centuries of foreign rule, Kashmiris maintained their unique identity even though the foreign rulers turned them into miserable wretches draining out all civility and self-respect from them. All the foreign rulers like Mughals, Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras have gone into virtual oblivion. However, Kashmiris are still there with their unique identity.

 As revealed in the secret documents recently released by the British Home Office, as a result of the British Conspiracy hatched at the instance of Sir Winston Churchill when he still was the Prime Minister, the British divided the sub-continent and created the Kashmir dispute. This was done to forestall the Russian advance towards the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. A film on the subject is available on Netflix! The film is “Viceroy’s House”! Had this conspiracy not been hatched and put in practice, Kashmir may have emerged as an independent sovereign state in 1947 itself after the departure of the British! It has also been revealed that the so called tribesmen were not in reality Pathan tribesmen but mercenaries engaged by the British themselves from Hunza area. There are so many other revelations in the film made on the subject. As a result of this conspiracy and due to the blunder of their own popular leader, Kashmiris got themselves locked into a Gordian knot out of which they are unable to come out. During all these years there have been umpteen attempts to modify Kashmir’s unique identity linguistically, culturally and economically. However, all these attempts have failed. That has left only alternative of physically displacing them from the area. So far this has not been possible as the Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927 passed the state subject law to protect the identity of his subjects in all the three regions of the state. Maharaja in spite of his being a hereditary ruler loved his subjects and took care of them by safeguarding their future. The present attempt of repealing the Article 35-A of the Indian constitution is aimed at removing the state subject law thereby enabling the masses from the mainland to virtually drown Kashmiris in the flood of people which may come in by the removal of the barrier.

The two days complete shutdown is totally unprecedented in the recent turmoil. Everything was closed and off the road. Even the raidee walas (carts selling eatables etc.) and the auto-rickshaws were off the road. Not a single shikara moved on the Dal Lake. Even in the peak of militancy one had not witnessed such a total shutdown! This has given a clear warning to the new conspirators bent upon dissolving not only Kashmir’s unique identity but the very existence of a Kashmiri.  A Kashmiri may tolerate all the suppression and oppression but when it comes to safeguarding his unique identity and the very existence he can go to any length regardless of the consequences. It would be in the interests of the entire sub-continent if the message given by this unprecedented two day shutdown is heeded and measures are initiated not only to protect Kashmir’s existence and unique identity of its people but to address the basic political problem which has been plaguing not only the sub-continent but the entire South Asia for last 70 years. The sooner the advice is heeded, the better!

Adulterated Food and Fake Medicine

(The worst calamities for Kashmir apart from natural disasters are the adulteration in food products and the sale of fake medicine!)

Kashmiris have now become used to both natural and man-made disasters striking one after the other. In fact, Nature has been rather very kind and it is the fellow human beings whose material greed has turned into the instruments of disaster for the entire society. The journal of the Indian Law Institute carries an article about the survey conducted regarding food adulteration in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The article is in vol. 31 of March-April 1989. (pp 91-105). The survey about food adulteration conducted at that time about sends shudders through one’s body. Imagine how much “progress” and “sophistication” has been achieved by these adulterers! There is a legislation to check food adulteration. It is the duty of the Health Officer of the Municipal Corporation to check food adulteration and take action under the act. The cases are tried in the Municipal Court. One does hear off and on about action taken to check adulteration. In fact, sometimes even major companies get hauled up. Unfortunately, the material greed has become so much widespread that it is impossible to fully check food adulteration. The worst suffers are the people from the lower strata of the society including the large number of slum dwellers. It is shocking how some of the human beings administer virtual poison to their fellow human beings just for material greed.

A few decades back in early fifties one would not hear so much about food adulteration. Yes, one would come to know about water being added to milk to increase its quantity. Even that too was rare. Those days the Municipal Authorities would be emptying pitchers of milk into River Jhelum because the milk in these was diluted with water! The Municipal Health Officer of those days was a nightmare for all these criminals! Not now! People can get away with anything because of corruption having entered the Kashmiri blood stream. There have been instances of detergent and blotting paper being added to milk, powdered bricks, saw dust and many other dangerous and poisonous materials being added to some spices. Even the bakers have been adding some chemical agents to bread and other confectionary to make it crisp and presentable.  Sometime back there were some cases registered against big firms dealing with various food products like milk and spices. However, after sometime the companies involved continued as before! One does not know what happened to those cases?

Adulterated food products are naturally bound to induce sickness among the consumers and they would need to be treated. The height of irony is that the drugs being prescribed for such and other illnesses too are fake! There is a massive racket of fake drugs in the State. There can be nothing more criminal than this! Again the cases of fake drugs have been there for quite some time. In 2013 there was a massive scam of fake drugs being supplied by the Jammu & Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation to various hospitals. Two major supplies of life saving drugs to Kashmir-based government hospitals - antibiotic Maximizen-625 and Curesef - were found unfit and spurious by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Ministry of health and family welfare, and the local drug control department. In another case, chalk and clay were found mixed in these drugs which had been supplied almost for two years. In fact, 500 babies that had died could be because of drug adulteration. The medical superintendent of the Children Hospital had admitted that the babies could have died due to spurious drugs. Some of the well-known brands of medicine including anti-biotics are reportedly faked in Jammu and then supplied in the valley through various outlets. They are not ordinary criminals but real murderers! They deserve to be hanged in public. Unfortunately the procedures to prosecute these criminals are so lengthy that they have every chance of getting scot free. One cannot depend solely on the government for getting rid of the menace. It needs social awareness and a strong peoples’ movement not only to ensure the trial and prosecution of the caught criminals but a total social boycott and complete ostracization of these criminals from the society. All the Civil Society groups should take up these issues and ensure prosecution of the persons caught adulterating food products and manufacturing and selling fake drugs. There is also urgent need for not only political leaders but all the religious leaders to take up the issue of food adulteration and manufacture and the sale of fake drugs. People have not only to be made aware of the widely present menace but also motivated to ensure hauling up and prosecution of the persons found guilty of indulging in these offences.

The Environmental Suicide!

(The way we have been deliberately and knowingly destroying various components of Nature in Kashmir makes it look like an Environmental “Suicide”!) 

Recently there has been news about some dredging scam in the Wular Lake area where the contract given to a firm has been cancelled. The need for dredging of the second largest sweet water lake in Asia is a tragedy in itself! Kashmir has witnessed some of the worst episodes in its long history both in terms of human suffering and material destruction. However, the wanton destruction of its Environment during last few decades has no parallel in its entire 5,000 year old history. The destruction has been deliberate and intentional purely for material greed which has surpassed all limits. One does not know where to begin this tragic story as every facet of nature has suffered from this inhuman onslaught. Let us start from the water bodies as these have come into sharp focus due to the intervention of the State High Court. Dal Lake is virtually at the point of extinction. A massive water body has been reduced to a wide river but without any flow! If the flow had been there, one could have waited to get the original size of the lake back by removing encroachments by various means. Unfortunately the first action of our brilliant modern engineers was to stop the flow of water by filling up the centuries old canals which has transformed the lake into an oversized pond of stagnant water. The inflow of tons of raw sewage and untreated waste from over 2,000 house-boats and dozens of hotels on its banks has converted it into an oversized septic tank.

While taking care of the pollution of water bodies we must not forget the Wular, Manasbal, and the River Jehlum. All are threatened and are facing worst kind of pollution, most of it manmade. During the time of Maharaja the River Jehlum used to be dredged periodically and the silt was taken out of it. Dredging was done downstream to ensure good flow of water. In fact, one dredger was permanently stationed in Baramulla. No such operation has been undertaken for decades now. On the contrary we are dumping the entire muck from the City and other habitations on its banks straight into it without any treatment whatsoever. Vyeth or Vitasta as it was known in ancient Kashmir deserved a better treatment.

After water bodies, let us study the condition of our Mountains. The fate of these is starkly evident right from the first entry into Srinagar. The stone quarries of Pandh Chok show the great love and regard we have for our Mountains. These have been virtually “raped”. There is no other stronger word in English language which can depict the state to which these lovely and beautiful Mountains at the entrance of Srinagar have been brutally subjected to. It is like a lustful savage assaulting a beautiful lady by forcibly lifting her dress right from her feet! Right from this spot to Dara along the Zabarwan Range there are many quarry sites where the same story is being repeated. In addition, a road has been taken up the Mountain at the back of the cantonment and a number of buildings constructed on the ridge. It has completely disfigured this beautiful Mountain which gives a back drop to the city of Srinagar. It is not known whether the Forest and Environment Departments had cleared the construction of this road? The people who have done it should have at least had the decency of covering up these scars with fast growing shrubs and trees as was done in the case of the road going up the Shankaracharya hill for TV transmitter. Similar degradation has been done to karewas (sedimentary clay formations) by taking clay for constructing railway track and filling some water bodies for constructing colonies!

All our Mountains used to be covered with lush green and dense forests. In the earlier times these forests were so dense and near to the city that wild animals would be seen roaming in the lanes of old town especially in winter. Hundreds of migratory birds would fall into the backyards of the people during a heavy snowfall. Gone are those days! We have massacred our forests in a joint venture. During the peak of militancy the security forces and timber smugglers had joined hands for a very profitable enterprise. Truckloads of furniture were sent to different parts of the country. The felling in the forests especially next to the road heads was so indiscriminate that even very young trees were not spared. Some of the top forest lessees enjoyed official patronage and some are even now holding important offices in the Government of the day.

Kashmir used to be famous for wild life. The Dachigam National Park boasted of over 800 Hangul or Kashmir Stag. During the turmoil most of these got butchered by the conflicting parties as well as by the people living in villages at the periphery of the sanctuary. According to some reports the number had gone down to 150 or so. Hopefully, it may have started going up again in last couple of years or so? On the contrary, the vermin like Black bear have considerably increased in number and are a menace to the people living at the edges of the forests. The wetlands which provided home to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds seem to have gone out of focus and dried up!

The drastic climatic changes in Kashmir cannot be solely blamed on global warming. About 30 years back one could not even think of ceiling fans in Kashmir. Now some people have started using coolers and air conditioners. The famous short story writer Krishan Chander in one of his stories had shown Kashmiri farmers growing dates and coconuts! With the present climate change, it may soon come true!

Is there a solution to this problem? Can we stem this rot? Yes, we can. But it would need a multi-pronged approach. We have to begin with our children. Most important is the elementary level. Children have to be given lessons in Environment both theoretical as well as practical during their formative years. In addition, the leaders of all shades and hues have to unite to ensure mass support. All political “streams” have to join together to save the Environment. Surely they can at least unite on this important issue if they claim to be true leaders of the people? Finally, all efforts to safeguard and conserve our Environment can only be a real success if the Media, both electronic and print take it as a challenge and rising above commercial considerations, starts a dedicated and concerted campaign to make people aware about it and continuously laud efforts to save it.