Prof. G.M. Athar
THE CONVERSION OF MUSLIM CONFERENCE INTO NATIONAL CONFERENCE:
Many critics of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah blame him for deviating from the Kashmir Cause by transforming All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference established in October 1932 under his leadership, into All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on 11th June 1939.
It is the considered opinion of several scholars that this was a very wise step because Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah was a political leader but not an Imam or Waiz of some mosque to lead only Muslms and forget about the non-Muslims who constituted 23% population of Jammu and Kashmir State in 1939.
So inclusive political struggle against the Dogra autocracy under the banner of All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference was far better than the exclusively Muslm political struggle under the banner of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference.
THE SUPPORTING OF ACCESSION OF KASHMIR WITH INDIA
The detractors of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah also held him responsible for distancing the Muslims of Kashmir from the Muslim nationalism from 1937 onwards as well as from the Muslim dominated Pakistan after1947 and wedding them politiically with Hindu dominated Bharat following the Pakistani tribal raid in Kashmir on 22nd October 1947.
The Kashmiri Muslims in the post-partition era fail to understand that Kashmiri people are not just Muslms but they are one of the oldest nations of Asia having a definite geography and long political history of being residents of an independent country till the takeover of Kashmir by Mughal Army in 1586.
More importantly the Kashmiri nation has a closed geographical personality, distinct ethnicity, language and culture which gives the people of Kashmir a strong of Kashmiri nationalism. So the Kashmiri nationalism was in direct clash with the Muslim nationalism of Indian Muslim League of Jinnah from 1940 onwards.The Indian nationalism of Indian National Congress was of course clashing with Kashmiri nationalism, but there were two important reasons behind Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah’s friendly ties with Congress leadership.
Firstly All India States People’s Conference was struggling for abolition of autocracy in the 562 princely states of Indian subcontinent since 1927, so it was a source of moral strength and political support for Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah to join the umbrella organisation to fight for the abolition of Dogra autocracy in Jammu and Kashmir State.
Secondly, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was having his ancestors from Kashmir, so he had an emotional attachment with Kashmir and its people and was prepared to grant maximum possible autonmy to Kashmir within the framework of Indian Constitution, contrary to Mohammad Ali Jinnah who had himself negotiated the independence of Pakistan with the British, so he wanted to negotiate the accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Pakistan through an engagement with Maharaja Hari Singh, having the legal authority to sign the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union.
Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah was of course a popular political leader of Kashmiri nation but he had no authority to accede to India or Pakistan. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the one hand secured the signature of Maharaja Hari Singh on Instrument of Accession and on the other hand ensured that Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah is installed as the head of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir State. So it was a win-win situation for both India as well as the Kashmiri nation.
THE RELUCTANCE TO RATIFY THE ACCESSION OF KASHMIR WITH INDIA
Why Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah proved disloyal to India in1953 is because the reference of Kashmir Question to United Nations on 31st December 1947, under the Chapter VI and Article 35 of the United Nations Charter developed a sense of insecurity within Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah because endorsing Pakistan as a party to the Kashmir dispute and throwing the ball in the people’s court of Muslim dominated Jammu and Kashmir State had the danger of getting Kashmir pushed to Muslim Pakistan.
Although the plea of Government of India to the United Nations Security Council on 5th January 1948 was ask Pakistan to demilitarise the territory of Jammu and Kashmir State, so that the people of the former Dogra kingdom can exercise their right of self-determination to decide whether they want to stay with India join Pakistan or away from both India and Pakistan to establish an independent country.
In case of a two-option plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, the Muslim dominated state would have voted for Pakistan, so in order to deny Pakistan such an opportunity Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah met at New York on 25th January1948 to Warren Austin Permanent Representative of United States at United Nations and told him that an independent country is the best option for Jammu and Kashmir State.
However, at that point of time the West was fearing that an independent country would become a Soviet satellite country so on 21st April 1948, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir State recommending demilitarisation of the territory of the state by Pakistan, reduction in the number of troops by India to the optimum level to maintain the law and order situation in the disputed territory and the conduct of two-option plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir under the supervision of United Nations to determine whether the people of the state want to stay with India or join Pakistan.
However, the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan recommended the people’s right of national self-determination and the United Nations Security Council endorsed the right of self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir State through its resolution on the state on13th August 1948. Sir Zafarullah Khan Foreign Minister of Pakistan, moved an application to the United Nations Security Council to change the right of self-determination to the two- option plebiscite in the state. India maintained a criminal silence, with the result the United Nations Security Council passed a fresh resolution on 5th January 1949 on Jammu and Kashmir State upholding the previous decision to have two-option plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir State to determine whether the people want to stay with India or join Pakistan.
Subsequently India and Pakistan in presence of the representatives of United Nations signed the Karachi Agreement on 28th April1949 to endorse Ceasefire Line as the working border between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir State.. However, Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah remained in constant touch with American diplomats like Loy Handerson and political leaders like Adlai Stevenson to impress upon America to support an independent Jammu and Kashmir till Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah’s dismissal from Prime Ministership and arrest on 9th August 1953.
The reluctance of Indian Constituent Assembly on 17th October1949 to grant autonmy to Jammu and Kashmir State on permanent basis and the opposition of Hindu nationalists led by Dr Shama Prasad Mukherjee, President of Akhil Bhartiya Jansang and Prem Nath Dogra President of Jammu based Praja Parishad to the Delhi Agreement on 3rd June 1952 further deepened the sense insecurity within Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah, that is why he was reluctant to get accession of Jammu and Kashmir State ratified by the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir State and refused Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to work within the framework of Indian Constitution when the latter was deputed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to visit Srinagar in July 1953 to convince Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah to desist from his anti-India politiical stance.
THE ABANDONMENT OF PEOPLE’S RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION
The critics of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah held him responsible for abandonment of two decades of political struggle for people’s right of self-determination launched by the people of Kashmir under the banner of Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front established by Mirza Mohamad Afzal Beigh on 9th August 1955 for the post of Chief Ministership in February 1975.
The people of Kashmir in general and the detractors of Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah in particular fail to underline the fact that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was behind the bars from August 1953 to April 1964 and the dominant majority of the people of Kashmir was running after economic incentives, government employment and other benefits from the Government of India under the leadership of Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad and Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq. More importantly the Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front enjoyed the moral, material, diplomatic and political support of Pakistan.
The defeat of Pakistan by India in East Pakistan in December 1971 forced the Muslim dominated country to have Shimla Agreement between India on 2nd July 1972 to release its 90,000 prisoners of war after agreeing to make Kashmir a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and name the Ceasefire Line between India and Pakistan as the Line of Control.
Following the Shimla Agreement Dr Farooq Abdullah visited Pakistan to meet Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, President of Pakistan, the great leader of Pakistan expressed his inability to press India for the demilitarisation of Kashmir and conveyed his message to Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah through the Kashmiri youth leader to engage with New Delhi to address the Kashmir issue within the framework of Indian Constitution.
The demoralised Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah who was neither a member nor an office bearer of Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front finally pressurised Mirza Mohamad Afzal Beigh to wind up his Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front and sign the Beigh-Parthasarthy Accord in November 1974 to pave the way for establishment of the Government in Jammu and Kashmir State through the support of Pradesh Congress Committee on 25th February 1975.
In fact soon after signing of Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan, Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah began to assert that the dispute between Kashmiri nation and country was not about the accession of the Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union, but about the degree of autonmy the state enjoyed at the time of his dismissal from Prime Ministership on 9th August 1953.So Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah abandoned the demand for people’s right of self-determination and began to stress the protection of Kashmir identity by way of the restoration of autonmy of Jammu and Kashmir State.
CONCLUSION
Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah has played an important role in shaping the political history of Kashmir from 1931 to 1982. The Kashmiri ñationalist leader had the goal to abolish autocracy in Jammu and Kashmir but the Pakistani tribal raid forced him to support accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union.
The reference of Kashmir Question to United Nations developed insecurity in him which led him to work for establishment of an independent country with the help of America.
However, the defeat of Pakistan by India in East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 demoralised Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah whiçh became the main reason behind his abandoning the demand for people’s right of self-determination to join the Indian political mainstream in 1975.
Reach author at Email:ghathar@yahoo.co.in
*the views & opinion expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy the prime post
