Legally, Jammu & Kashmir is an integral and inseparable part of
India. The British had ruled India as one undivided country made up of
many provinces and princely states. When they left, India was
partitioned into two separate countries. The new country, as mentioned
earlier, was called Pakistan. The British as well as the leaders of both
India and Pakistan had agreed to one basic principle - every inch of
land must go either to India or to Pakistan. In other words, people
living in India before the partition of 1947, had only two options: they
could either join Pakistan or they could join India. They could not
remain independent.
Jammu & Kashmir was actually an exception. The Maharaja of the State had wanted time to decide whether he should join Pakistan or join India. But the rulers of Pakistan did not want to give him the opportunity to decide and instead attacked his state, killing hundreds of people and causing extensive damage to property.
According to the agreement on which the partition of India was
based, the rulers of princely states, like Jammu & Kashmir, had the
absolute right to decide whether they wanted to join Pakistan or India.
There was never any question of holding a referendum or a plebiscite.
All the same, the then Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru,
agreed to hold a plebiscite because he was a democrat and wanted to
find out what the people of the state of Jammu & Kashmir wanted.
The plebiscite was not held because Pakistan refused to vacate the
large parts of Jammu & Kashmir that had been occupied by its
soldiers. The plebiscite was meant for all the people of the state of
Jammu & Kashmir and not just for those who lived in the Kashmir
Valley. But the Pakistanis felt that the parts of the state they had
captured was theirs and would not part with it. Pakistan defied the
agreement reached by the world body called the United Nations and
refused to vacate its troops. The powerful countries of the world did
nothing to ensure that Pakistan honoured the UN Resolutions on Jammu
& Kashmir. India could not therefore hold a plebiscite.
In 1947, when the Pakistanis attacked Jammu & Kashmir, the most
popular leader of that state was a man named Sheikh Abdullah. He was a
friend of the Indian Prime Minister, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. Both men
believed in secularism, which is a concept that allows people of all
religions and creeds to live together. Pakistan, on the other hand, was
created on the basis of religion. The leaders of Pakistan wanted a
country where only Muslims would rule. Indian leaders, on the other
hand, felt that anybody could rule as long as the people elected that
person. Sheikh Abdullah preferred the idea of secularism. He therefore
wanted Jammu & Kashmir to be part of India rather than part of
Pakistan. At the same time, the Hindus who were a majority in the Jammu
region, also did not want to join Pakistan. Nor did the Buddhists of
Ladakh. Since all these groups wanted to be with India, there was no
point in holding a referendum on the Indian side of Jammu & Kashmir.
Also, in 1954, the people on the Indian side of Jammu & Kashmir
elected a government of their own. This government made it clear that
their state was part of India and not part of Pakistan. Officially
speaking, they "ratified Jammu & Kashmir's accession to India". This
meant that henceforth there could be no question of holding a
plebiscite in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
A plebiscite cannot be held today for two reasons. Firstly, Pakistan
continues to illegally occupy a large chunk of Jammu & Kashmir and
does not allow the people here any freedom of choice. In most parts of
the Pakistani occupied part of Jammu & Kashmir, the local people
have no democratic rights. They cannot elect a government and they
cannot dare to even talk against Pakistan for fear of being killed. For
all practical purposes, the territory and the people captured by
Pakistan in 1947 have been incorporated into Pakistan. These people have
always been ruled by Pakistan and have not been given the opportunity
to learn what democracy is all
http://www.causes.com/causes/642563-jammu-kashmir-is-was-will-be-the-part-of-bharatvarsh/actions/1598497
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