‘Kashmir is not part of India’

Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley’s remarks that Jammu Kashmir is an integral part of India and that boundaries cannot be rewritten have come in for severe criticism from separatist leaders and parties.
Reacting to Jaitley’s remarks in Srinagar yesterday, the Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani said “stubbornness of the Indian government is the main hurdle in resolution of Kashmir dispute.” He advised Jaitley “to go through pages of history.”
“Jammu and Kashmir has never been a part of India and such misleading statements can never alter the hard reality about Kashmir issue. Indian leaders had promised to resolve this issue under the supervision of international community and according to aspirations of people of J&K. Implementation of UN resolutions is imperative for Kashmir resolution but it is the stubborn approach of India that is creating hurdles for its implementation,” Geelani said in a statement.
He said, “India, Pakistan and member countries of UNO are signatories to these resolutions and India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru himself took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and promised when situation will become viable in Kashmir, they would hold plebiscite and give Kashmiris choice to remain with India or Pakistan.”
“The instrument of accession with India is disputed and not valid. However, the reality is that in August and September 1947, Indian troops forcibly entered into Kashmir. It was India which took Kashmir issue to UN and passed resolutions on it. Implementation of UN resolutions is imperative for Kashmir resolution and all parties are bound to accept the verdict of people,” Geelani said.
The incarcerated chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Muhammad Yasin Malik, while reacting sharply to Jaitley’s remarks, said, “Jaitley is ignorant of history and he needs to revisit history of nations.”
“Kashmiris have been witnessing elections from 1950s and even the United Nations has termed these elections a local affair which has no bearing on the political status of Jammu Kashmir. Kashmiris have been hearing absurd and ridiculous statements of Indian leaders every now and then. But these cannot change the disputed status of Jammu Kashmir nor deny the need for solving this dispute. The mighty USSR had to fall, giving rise to more than 15 new countries and since 1990, 34 new countries emerged and changed the geography of nations,” Malik, according to a spokesman of Front said.
Malik said: “If international community’s appetite to swallow violence has decreased, its appetite of giving nations their right of self- determination is still on high. Montenegro, East Timor, South Sudan, and Scotland are some glaring examples of nations being given an opportunity to choose their future and boundaries being redrawn.”
“If ArunJaitly wants to befool himself and his nation, we cannot help it, but the reality is that without solving Kashmir dispute the dreams of peace, stability, progress and becoming global leader can never be fulfilled,” Malik said, adding, “ArunJaitly needs to revisit history of nations. He will surely find that no powerful country or nation has ever achieved its goals by suppressing the voices of weak nations and no nation that strived for its freedom has ever lost against any powerful nation. These battles are not fought with materialistic means only but with passion and ideological firmness. A nation that has sacrificed more than one lakh people cannot be intimidated by these arrogant statements.”
Referring to elections, Yasin Malik said “if Jaitley and his nation are so sure about the support of 70 percent Kashmiris, why don’t they hold a referendum and ask people about their political future?”
“New Delhi and its stooges in Kashmir have banned boycott campaign, thousands of political opponents have been arrested and nobody among freedom camp is allowed to go to the people and hence this whole election drama is a state-manipulated theater that has no credibility at all,” he said.
“Jaitley should bear one thing in mind that India’s military might and economic power cannot deter Kashmiris from pursuing the path of freedom and justice. And without resolving Jammu Kashmir dispute, the sub-continent cannot have lasting peace, stability and prosperity. So instead of issuing these arrogant and ridiculous statements, New Delhi and its leadership should concentrate on finding ways and means to resolve this dispute according to the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris.”
Strongly reacting to Jaitley’s statement, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) acting-chairman Abu Mohsin, in a statement, termed it as “reflection of New Delhi’s arrogance, stubbornness and reluctance to accept historical realities.”
Hurriyat Conference (M), while reacting to Jaitley’s remarks, termed them as “strange and contrary to political and historical facts about Kashmir issue.”
“There is no relation between Kashmir dispute and so-called electoral process being conducted in world’s largest militarized zone,” a spokesman of Hurriyat (M) said in a statement. “The pending UN resolutions on Kashmir make it clear that it is a disputed territory. Those people who think sham elections could prevail upon the disputed status of Kashmir are grossly mistaken.”
The Hurriyat reiterated its stand that Kashmir dispute can only be addressed either by the implementation of the UN resolutions or through talks among the three parties: people of Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat has called for complete shutdown on December 8, on the occasion of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Kashmir.
Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief AsiyaAndrabi, while reacting to Jaitley’s remarks, said, “Actually Indian leadership is unaware about the facts of Kashmir dispute. We are neither demanding separate nation nor are we terrorists.   Kashmir was never part of pre-1947 Hindustan nor is it part of present India. We started armed struggle only when Indian troops occupied Kashmir illegally and Indian national Congress claimed Kashmir as its state. After our resistance against this forced accession, the then Indian prime minister promised us that Kashmir issue would be resolved by implementing the UN Resolutions. So how is Jaitly justified in claiming Kashmir as India’s integral part?”
Meanwhile, Aasiya has called for bandh on December 8, against Modi’s visit to Kashmir and SuhaibQasmi’s “defamation of  Muslims and character of Ulema”.
Denouncing Jaitley’s remarks, the J&K Court Bar Association Kashmir Thursday said “Jaitley should know that Kashmiris want the issue settled in accordance with the UN resolutions.”
“Jaitley must know that Kashmir has never been a part of undivided India and after partition the people were never given an opportunity to accede to India and Pakistan in accordance with Indian Independence Act,” he said.
“When Indian forces entered Kashmir on 27.10.1947 illegally and against the wishes of people, the matter was taken to UN Security Council by India itself, which passed resolutions for holding plebiscite in the State,” a Bar spokesman said in a statement today, adding, “Kashmir is not a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan but a problem of more than 12 million people who want to choose their future according to their wishes and aspirations.”
Meanwhile, Bar, at an executive committee meeting, decided to abstain from court work on December 8 on the occasion of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Srinagar.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (H) chairman Javid Ahmad Mir, while reacting to the remarks, said, “Kashmir is an internationally acknowledged dispute and no power in the world can change its disputed status.”