The Jammu and Kashmir National League (JKNL) established on 29th May 2016 has been conceived as a nonviolent, secular and democratic political party of Jammu & Kashmir State to work for the permanent resolution of political conflict between Srinagar and New Delhi. The mandate of JKNL is also to struggle for recognizing the people of erstwhile princely state an essential Party to the decades old territorial dispute over Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The main objectives of JKNL are: (i) to end human bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir State; (ii) to revive the economy of Jammu and Kashmir State; (iii) to restore the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir State ensured by the original constitution of the state implemented on 26th January 1957; and (iv) to struggle for holding a referendum on Maharaja Hari Singh’s accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union. A systematic account of the above mentioned four basic objectives of JKNL is very briefly given as under:
To End Human Bloodshed in Kashmir:-The Jammu and Kashmir State in general and the Kashmir Valley in particular has turned into a battleground of India and Pakistan since 31st July 1988 when the Pakistan trained Kashmiri militants started armed struggle against the Indian forces in Kashmir. Over the past three decades of insurgency and counter insurgency activities nearly one lakh people have lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir State. Many thousand people have got seriously injured, maimed and blinded during the past three decades of armed struggle in the conflict-ridden state. Several prominent militant organizations like Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Ghazwat-ul-Hind have operated in Kashmir since 1988 to pressurize Indian forces to leave the disputed territory. To check the cross-border movement and the violent activities of militants in Jammu and Kashmir State, the Government of India sent several lakh military, paramilitary and police forces, fully armed with latest weapons and stringent laws, in the militancy affected areas of the mountainous state. The net outcome of the accumulation of arms and ammunition by the state and non-state actors in Jammu and Kashmir State has been the large scale violation of human rights in the state. The use of heavy metal bullets and pellet guns by the central and state government forces against the protesting mobs over Amarnath Land Scam in 2008, Tufail Mattoo murder case in 2010, and Burhan Wani killing in 2016 has led to a large scale loss of human lives in Kashmir. The more recent Operation All Out launched by the central and state government forces against the militants in Kashmir has led to the killing of a large number of Kashmiri militants and civilians during the years 2017 and 2018. The 30 years of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir State could not achieve the desired objective of forcing the government of India to have a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue among the parties to the territorial dispute. The JKNL is of the firm opinion that the human bloodshed in Kashmir must cease at any cost to give the inhabitants of the state to breath freely in the militancy hit areas of the state.
To Revive the Economy of Kashmir:-The economy of Jammu and Kashmir State in general and the economy of Kashmir Valley in particular was very badly affected by the armed insurgency and counter insurgency. The daily strikes and regular protests against the killing of armed militants, unarmed civilians, politicians, academicians, journalists and other intellectuals by the government forces and/or unidentified gunmen has negatively impacted the manufacturing, business and service sectors in Kashmir. The education, tourism, retail trade and health sectors have been the worst affected social and economic sectors of life in Kashmir. The lack of employment opportunities in the public sector, reduction in demand for daily wagers in the unorganized private sector and the decline in industrial production and tourism related services in Kashmir has led to steep rise in the incidence and acuteness of urban poverty in the troubled state. The JKNL is highly concerned about the revival of economy in Kashmir to address the issues of unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the state, with special focus on checking the urban poverty in Kashmir Valley. The JKNL will struggle hard for seeking the economic package from Government of India as well as Foreign Direct Investment to develop the agricultural, horticultural, livestock, forest, water, mineral, tourist, industrial and human resource base of Jammu and Kashmir State with special thrust on the review of Indus Water Treaty to bring more land under irrigation and utilize the hydropower potential of the state. The JKNL accords very high priority to the promotion of transport infrastructure for boasting up the cross-border trade of Jammu and Kashmir with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China through the development of new highways, railway lines, hydropower transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines and airlines. Keeping in view the temperate climate of Kashmir Valley and its adjoining mountainous areas the region is endowed with favourable landscape and climate to specialize in the development of human resource through imparting the quality education.
To Restore the Autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir State:-Knowing the fact that Kashmir problem is intrinsically a political problem, there is an urgent need to address the political urges and regional aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The historical conditions under which the leadership of the only Muslim dominated State, located in the immediate neighbourhood of Muslim dominated Pakistan, decided to accede to Indian Union need to be acknowledged properly to protect the internal sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir State within the asymmetrical federal structure of India. The common masses in India need to be educated about the historical fact that Maharaja Hari Singh has signed the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir State with Indian Union only with respect to defence, foreign affairs and communication. More importantly, the people of India need to be educated about the fact that whereas as the other princely states merged with the country, the Jammu and Kashmir State did not merge with the Indian Union.The provisions of the original Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir State adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir State Constituent Assembly on 17th November 1956 and implemented after the concurrence of the President of India by the Government of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad on 26th January 1957 need to restored to build confidence in Indian asymmetrical federalism, democracy and secularism among the people of Jammu and Kashmir in general and the Muslim minority in particular.
To Hold Referendum on Jammu and Kashmir State’s Accession With Indian Union:- The 20th century being the age of nationalism, democracy and peoples right of self-determination required respecting the wishes of the Kashmiri nation in 1947 to establish an independent country free from both India and Pakistan. The undemocratic attitude of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Maharaja Hari Singh as well as the opportunistic tendencies of National Conference and Muslim Conference leadership in 1947 led to the political division within Jammu and Kashmir State that ultimately resulted into the territorial division of the former Dogra kingdom. The tribal invasion in Kashmir on 22nd October 1947 from Northwestern Frontier of Pakistan forced Maharaja Hari Singh to seek military assistance from New Delhi only after he acceded to the Indian Union on 26th October 1947. History is testimony to the fact that Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister of India all promised the people of Jammu and Kashmir in October and November 1947 to ascertain their wishes on the subject of Maharaja Hari Singh’s accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India Union. Even if the United Nations Security Council did not recognized the right of the Kashmiri nation to establish a sovereign nation, because of the Cold War geopolitical interests of United Kingdom and United States in the Western High Asia, both India and Pakistan endorsed the UN Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir State calling for two-option plebiscite in the former Dogra princely state. The UN Security Council has not been justified in undermining the right of the 4 million people of Jammu and Kashmir State living on a territory of 2.23 lakh square kilometers outside the territory of both India and Pakistan.
The JKNL being a democratic organization firmly believes in the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir State to establish an independent country free from both India and Pakistan. So the political struggle of JKNL revolves round the basic objective of recognizing the people of Jammu and Kashmir State as the basic party to the Kashmir dispute. The people of Jammu and Kashmir State have the basic political right to establish a sovereign nation of their own without any interference of either India and Pakistan or the United Nations Security Council. Since, the territory in which there is already a popular struggle going on for the last three decades is under the control of India, the justice demands the Government of India must fulfill its promise made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir State. If the Government of India feels that it would lose the referendum after seven decades of rule in Jammu and Kashmir State, that means, she has missed the opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people over this long period. The Government of India has still an opportunity to executive people friendly policies in Jammu and Kashmir State, to win the masses to its side. The restoration of the internal sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir State becomes very essential for the Indian state as well to preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Indian Union. Having said that, no power on the earth can snatch the political right of the Kashmiri nation, to exercise its free will to make Jammu and Kashmir State a part of Indian Union or a province of Pakistan or a sovereign, secular, democratic and federal nation free from both India and Pakistan. The ultimate political goal of JKNL is therefore to peacefully struggle for the creation of an independent Kashmiristan.
Prof. G.M.Athar can be reached at ghathar@yahoo.co.in
