The Kashmir issue

Letter August 17, 2019
Attempts at resolving the Kashmir issue have always been thwarted by India

CANADA: There is tragic history behind the Kashmir imbroglio. The Britishers gave Kashmir to a Dogra general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh for Rs7.5 million, and in the process sold Kashmiris at the rate of Rs2 per Kashmiri. It is with this that the tragedy of Kashmiri Muslims began and continues to this day. Many might be mistaken into believing that the current intensification of Indian brutalities started with the Pulwama incident. No, it goes back to the Dogra general Gulab Singh. Then came the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. Kashmir was forcibly occupied by India entirely against the wishes of Kashmiris. Indian PM Pandit Nehru had promised a plebiscite to ascertain the wish of Kashmiris. But the promised plebiscite has never been fulfilled. And on August 5 this year, the Modi government stripped the region of its limited autonomy.

Attempts at resolving the Kashmir issue have always been thwarted by India. Now Indian atrocities have reached an unprecedented level. Now two nuclear armed nations are locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation over Kashmir. It is time the international community worked towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Usama Chohan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2019.

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