Kashmir – The Moaning Mountains

Kashmir

The name has a musical lilt & creates a visual of unparallel beauty. Beauty that we have all been fascinated with as we watched the Bollywood actors of the 60s & 70s romance in the lush green meadows or drive through chinar lined alleys,

Kashmir dazzled not only the mortals, but the immortal Gods as well & enticed them in creating their abodes here. Mythology has it that Kashmir was a land of lakes. Rishi Kashyap drained the gurgling waters & behold – emerged the beautiful Kashmir with the snowy mountains of Sonmarg, the emerald green pastures of Gulmarg & the village of shepherds – Pahalgam. It was through this village walked Lord Shiva with Devi Parvati thousands of years ago on his way to the caves of Amarnath. In these silent caves, the Lord narrated the Amarkatha or the secret of immortality to the Devi – Amarnath one of the holiest pilgrimages of the Hindus.

While the rest of India was invaded by multiple invaders from across geographies, Kashmir nestled in the cradle of the Himalayas, was able to avoid atleast some of them. Nonetheless, it has been ruled by the Hindu Karkotas, Utpalas & Loharas, the Buddhist Kusans & the Muslim Shah Mir dynasty, the Mughals & the Afghans. Buddhism spread to Tibet from our Kashmir.

Since times immemorial, we have seen religion of the masses being tied to the religion of the ruler. Tolerant rulers were never the rule but only exceptions. Be it the Christian crusaders or the spread of Islam / Buddhism / Hinduism – the general masses had to follow the kings or be persecuted. Secularism is a newly coined term which even in modern times often remains a text book concept. The common people can not choose but only follow. Kashmir was no exception. While Hinduism flourished under the Karkotas, Utpalas & Loharas, Buddhism under the Kusans, the no. of Hindu priests & Buddhist monks dwindled under the Islamic rulers. Thirteenth century onwards, Hindus & Buddhists slowly & consistently became minorities through either migrations or conversions.

In 1819 there was a change of guard. Sikhs under Ranjit Singh captured Kashmir & ruled the land for almost 3 decades. History doesn’t indicate that the Sikhs were religiously tolerant but the kingdom flourished in terms of trade & commerce. Kashmiri shawls & carpets gained popularity. The Sikhs were replaced by the Dogra dynasty. Raja Gulab Singh (as shown in the picture) literally purchased Kashmir from the British for a whopping sum of 7.5 million. 2 centuries ago this was a lot of money which the Dogras shelled out in return of their quasi independent rule over Kashmir. The Dogras ruled till 1948.

Kashmir post 1947-48 has been a story of extremism – extreme hatred, enmity, bloodshed, war. While nature preserved its beauty, the humans failed humanity & this saga of failure continues even after almost 8 decades of independence.

How did this trail of utmost misery & suffering unfold? What really happened in those mountains whose tremors are felt through out the nation? Why this bitterly fought battle for Kashmir while the more than 500 other princely states settled down?

In 1947, during independence of India & Pakistan, the rulers of all princely states were given the option of merging with either Pakistan or India or remaining independent. The 3rd option of remaining independent was on pen & paper only & was strongly discouraged by both, India & Pakistan. While the other princely states fell in line after some amount of discussion, negotiation, cajoling & even threats, the Raja of Kashmir delayed his decision.

We are talking of the time when we were going through a bloody partition. Millions of people were slaughtered in the name of faith. Refugees crowded both sides of the border – once rich families reduced to homeless, penniless bands of hopeless people. While the British left the country, they ensured that we were not the rich & bountiful Hindustan or the ‘sone ki chiriya’ which they had captured but was a tottering nation fighting hard to secure her newly formed borders.

During this time of ultimate uncertainty, King Hari Singh of Kashmir was also uncertain & he delayed his choice till around October 1947. Could we have a different history if Hari Singh was more decisive – may be or maybe not.

The Muslim inhabitants of Kashmir were already bristling with rage & discontent due to the discriminations & unjust preferences of the Hindu kings ruling them for more than a century. Anticipating accession to India by the Raja, the Muslim tribes of Poonch revolted. Pakistan pushed in the pathans from their border areas to strengthen the uprising. Hari Singh was distraught & tried to curb the uprising & in the process reached out to India for support. Lord Mountbatten, at that time was one of the chief negotiators with the princely states. He accepted the instrument of accession signed by Hari Singh following which Indian troops were airlifted into Srinagar.

Pakistan outrightly rejected this instrument of accession since Hari Singh before this had already signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan through which Kashmir & Pakistan agreed to continue trade, communication & travel till a permanent solution was reached.

As Indian military poured into Kashmir, Pakistan, sensing the urgency of the situation, sent in their military as well to support the already warring tribes from Poonch & the Pathans. This was the 1st war of Kashmir fought bitterly in 1947-48.

India was able to drive out the tribal rebels as well as the Pakistani army from about 2/3rd of Kashmir which came to be termed as the India administered Kashmir. Remaining 1/3rd which was more of a sparsely populated mountainous region, became the Pakistan administered Kashmir. Ceasefire was declared under the aegis of the United Nations. This became the ceasefire line which was later in 1972 recognized as the line of control as per the Shimla Agreement. China too occupied a small portion in Aksai Chin.

In 1947-48, approximately 77% of the Kashmiri population was Muslims & 20% Hindus. Also, Kashmir shared common border with Pakistan. However, Hari Singh had signed the instrument of accession with India & Nehru declared that a plebiscite would be held for the people’s opinion on the future of Kashmir. One of the pre-conditions of holding an unbiased plebiscite was complete removal of the Indo-Pak militia from the region. Given the atmosphere of extreme mistrust, both the countries dismally failed to deliver on this ask & hence, Kashmir never had the promised plebiscite.

After the 1947-48 war, India Pakistan fought over Kashmir in 1965, & 1999. Beyond these official wars, there have been continuous frictions, border skirmishes & infiltrations. Extremely disgruntled with the way the Kashmir issue turned out to be, Pakistan has always engaged in ways & means to jeopardize the situation either by sending extremists across the border to create an environment of constant terrorism & tension or through unprovoked firings at the LOC. Bilateral relations have been almost non-existent with feuds over other issues as well like water sharing.

The above is history of what happened. Could it have been different if Kashmir acceded to Pakistan? Most probably not – Pakistan has never considered the Muslims migrating from India as their own. It would not have been any different for the Kashmiris. But if for a moment we pause & ask the common Kashmiri what he / she wanted? The answer will always be coloured by the person asking. The Kashmiris formed the JKLF – Jammu & Kashmir liberation front. But liberation from whom? Pakistan would say from India. But is that correct? I personally feel, they wanted liberation from being ruled – from being told which religion to follow, which country to support, which party to vote for, from having their voices & their media choked forcefully, from AFSPA…

The 1980s & 90s was a period in the history of Kashmir which is synonymous with unrest & blood shed. General elections were held in 1987 & Farooq Abdullah again returned to power. However, the Kashmiris considered the elections to have been heavily rigged since the results were contrary to the popular political support in the valley. Disillusioned with politics & considering their rights & freedom to be severely curbed by India, the youth started joining active militancy in protest & in their call for Azad Kashmir. It was jihad for them. Kashmir has always been a heavily militarized zone. The militants attacked army cantonments, stone pelted the soldiers, there were attacks on Amarnath pilgrims & military vehicles causing heavy casualties. Attack on the parliament, Pulwama attack, Uri attack, the Mumbai attack & the instances go on. The army also responded & the unrest reached new levels with covert & also open support from Pakistan. The latest in the list is the Pahalgam carnage killing 26 Hindu male tourists.

The list of events will be glaringly incomplete if we do not mention the Kashmiri Pandits. Ever since the 13th century, with the advent of the Muslim rulers, the no. of Hindus & also the Kashmiri pundits have been on the decline. The few who still remained faced mass murders in the 1990s when militancy started building up in the valley. There was an open call from the Muslims that the Pandits should either migrate or convert or embrace death at the hands of the mullahs. And they were true to their words. As per official figures, 219 Pandits were murdered. It was planned execution. Some of these families still live in abject conditions in the refugee camps – probably in expectation of returning to their homes safely some day. At times I wonder, were the Muslims butchering their own? Since the Muslims were technically descendants of the Hindus who were forcefully converted by the Islamic dynasties.

Post Pahalgam massacre in April 2025, the countries are at a point of almost no return. India, as a nation, demands retribution. Bilateral talks, external negotiations seem to be remote options. However, the supreme cause of concern is the nuclear armaments of both nations. In the extreme situation of a nuclear war, the threat of annihilation will not only be for India & Pakistan but for the entire South Asia or may be beyond. Are we looking into the eye of wiping out of humanity from the region – pray not!