POK LEADERS' VISIT
By Ms. Naina
The importance of the first ever visit of a delegation from
the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir lies in the message they conveyed to India, the
government in New Delhi, the government in Srinagar, the mainstream political
parties, the separatists and the militants.
Their timing is significant and that it forms a significant milestone in the
on-and-off peace dialogue with various elements in Jammu and Kashmir. The very
fact that the Government of India allowed them in to facilitate the first ever
"heart-to-heart" talk on the Indian soil is itself significant.
Such "heart-to-heart" dialogues have taken place earlier in Geneva, Brussels and
other places. But this one in Delhi made all the difference. It showed at one
end that New Delhi was able to listen to, if not fully accept and assimilate,
some of the elements that have been kept out of the dialogue.
Two, of what the leader of the delegation, the octogenarian Sardar Mohammed
Abdul Qayyum Khan, the "supremo" of the Muslim Conference, said, most crucial
was that, he was able to speak his mind in a manner that the separatists
hobnobbing with Islamabad could not have been told. Qayyum was speaking a
language that went beyond that of Musharraf and Manmohan Singh.
Not enough is known about POK, much less about the role of Qayyum, in India. He
leads the Muslim Conference, the very body that Sheikh Abdulah founded, but
later changed to National Conference. He was all of 22 when he raised the banner
of revolt against the then maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir. He took the advantage
of the partition and the turmoil that J&K underwent. He was very much behind the
"invaders" from North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan of Pakistan, who
marched into J&K for loot and pillage in 1947. But records of that time show
that Qayyum did not himself participate. He supervised the refugee camps and
ensured that when the tribals swept in to J&K, targeting Srinagar, women did not
join in. He also ensured the safety of women and children in the refugee camps
in Poonch, which was the jagir of the Maharajah.
In the subsequent years, Qayyum was the "President" of the POK for four terms
and once, its Prime Minister. But in the recent years, he has fallen out with
the Islamabad establishment and the ISI, who prefer younger and more malleable
people than Qayyum.
Qayyum was very forthright in saying that India and Pakistan must work out a
solution with Kashmiri participation. There could not be an independent J&K and
that all talk pertaining to that was "mental luxury." The man who swore by the
UN resolutions and was for plebiscite now says it is a mere strategy and that
there has to be a negotiated solution in a spirit of give and take.
Qayyum was candid in saying that the break up of India will not help Pakistan
and vice versa. Nor a division of Kashmir would help any party. He lamented that
there were too many opinions and too many colliding interests in the name of
Kashmir and there was need for a consensus. "There are too many calculations of
profit and loss and for this we are criticized across the world."
He also lamented the indoctrination of four generations, instilling a spirit of
distrust and hatred. "We cannot undo this with a switch of a button, but we must
make a beginning." Although Qayyuum was head and shoulders above the rest, he
was not alone and the delegation had people from other parties including PPP (Shahid
Bhuto), National Awami Party and others.
There were interesting people like Arif Shahid of All Party National Alliance (APNA)
and Prof M.A.R.K Khaeleque, whose J&K National Aami Party is part of the APNA.
APNA treats Pakistan as the occupying force and calls it Pakistan occupied
Kashmir. Both the J&Ks are "occupied" (Maqbuza). The establishment in Islamabad
does everything to suppress Khaeleque and his party with their base in Gilgit
and Baltistan, areas that Islamabad wants to keep away from the world and public
gaze. It rules them directly in the name of allowing autonomy to the tribal
leaders. There is no assembly and no democracy. APNA leaders say their region
had 7,000 years of history till Emperor Akbar captured the area. It was after
the Amritsar Agreement between the British East India Company and Maharaja
Ranjit Singh that the area was given away to Maharaja Gulab Singh who founded
the Dogra dynasty. There was rebellion against the Maharaja between 1931 and
1938, after Muslim Conference was founded in 1931 and the name was changed to
include non-muslims. Arif shahid said that the ideals, the manifesto spoke of
Kashmir and set democracy, socialism and secularism as their goals.
Prof. M.A.R.K. Khaeleque gave some interesting details. Gilgit and Baltistan do
not fall within "Azad Jammu and Kashmir" or POK. But the region between Chitral
to Ladakh is the majority territory - 28,000 sq. km. By comparison, the Valley
is only 8,000 sq. km. POK's population is 3 million, while the Indian J&K has
22,000 sq. km and 10 million population.
There are various languages spoken in POK: Punjabi, Dogri, Puchhee, which is
like Dogri. Kashmiri is spoken only in the Valley, while Ladakhis have their own
Ladakhi language. Gujri language is spoken on both sides of the LOC.
As for area ceded to China, it had no population and even now remains
unpopulated. It was ceded to China because it was strategically important to
Beijing. But since J&K is a disputed territory, India should have been
consulted.
The plea of Arif Shahid and Prof Khaeleque was that the world, particularly
India was viewing them from the viewpoint popularized by the Pak establishment
as articulated by the PTV, Nawa-e-Waqt and Jung. That is the irony of it. -CNF
(The Writer is a Keen Watcher of Developments
in Pakistani occupied Kashmir.)