Between the Great Divide

by Anam Zakaria

  38.Shabbir Mir, ‘Dividing governance: Three new districts notified in G-B,’ Express Tribune, 26 July 2015. Web: https://tribune.com.pk/story/926380/dividing-governance-three-new-districts-notified-in-g-b/ (Last accessed: 16 May 2017).

  39.Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, ‘Gilgit-Baltistan.’ 1 October 2008. Web: http://unpo.org/members/8727 (Last accessed: 16 May 2017).

  40.Human Rights Watch, ‘With friends like these,’ Volume 18. No.12, September 2006, p. 28. Web: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/pakistan0906webwcover_0.pdf (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  41.Zulfiqar Ali, Tariq Naqash and Jamil Nagri, ‘“Almost” Pakistan: Gilgit-Baltistan in constitutional limbo,’ Dawn, 19 January 2017. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1198967 (Last accessed: 23 May 2017).

  42.Manoj Joshi, ‘Why India insists on keeping Gilgit-Baltistan firmly in the Kashmir equation,’ TheWire.in. 2 June 2015. Web: https://thewire.in/3018/why-india-is-bringing-gilgit-baltistan-back-into-the-kashmir-equation/ (Last accessed: 24 May 2018).

  43.Kashmir Study Group, ‘Jammu and Kashmir: Distribution of religions,’ Web: http://kashmirstudygroup.com/awayforward/mapsexplan/religions.html (Last accessed: 23 October 2017).

  44.Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, ‘Gilgit-Baltistan.’ 1 October 2008. Web: http://unpo.org/members/8727 (Last accessed: 16 May 2017).

  45.Shujaat Bukhari, ‘Nearly 35% people speak Kashmiri in erstwhile J&K: Study,’ Rising Kashmir, 29 June 2014. Web: http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2014/kashmir20140629d.html (24 October 2017).

  46.Ibid.

  47.Khalid Rahman and Ershad Mahmud, ‘Kashmiri refugees: Facts, issues and the future ahead,’ Policy Perspectives, Vol.3, No.1, Pluto Journals, pp. 59-60.

  48.Shams Rehman, Azad Kashmir and British Kashmiris, National Institute of Kashmir Studies (NIKS), Mirpur 2013, pp. 180-188.

  49.AFP, ‘UN rights chief calls for major probe into Kashmir abuses,’ Dawn, 14 June 2018. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1414125/un-rights-chief-calls-for-major-probe-into-kashmir-abuses (Last accessed: 14 June 2018).

  50.Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir,’ p. 7, 14 June 2018. Web: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/PK/DevelopmentsInKashmirJune2016ToApril2018.pdf (Last accessed: 14 June 2018).

  51.Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir,’ p. 8, 14 June 2018. Web: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/PK/DevelopmentsInKashmirJune2016ToApril2018.pdf (Last accessed: 14 June 2018); also, Nidhi Razdan, ‘India rejects UN report on Jammu and Kashmir as fallacious, motivated,’ NDTV, 14 June 2018. Web: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/government-rejects-un-rightsbody-report-on-jammu-and-kashmir-calls-it-fallacious-tendentious-and-mo1867432?pfrom=home-lateststories (Last accessed: 14 June 2018).

  52.Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence, Penguin Books, 1998, p. 10.

  Chapter 1

  1.Umair Jalal, ‘How Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat uses politics to support its campaign of Anti-Shia terror in Pakistan,’ The Diplomat, 20 September 2016. Web: https://thediplomat.com/2016/09/how-ahle-sunnat-wal-jamaat-usespolitics-to-support-its-campaign-of-anti-shia-terror-in-pakistan/ (Last accessed: 23 January 2018).

  2.Express Tribune, ‘Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat banned in Pakistan: Report,’ 10 March 2012. Web: https://tribune.com.pk/story/348077/ahle-sunnat-wal-jamaatbanned-in-pakistan-report/ (Last accessed: 26 October 2017).

  3.Ershad Mahmud, ‘No headway in sight,’ The News, 2 October 2016. Web: http://tns.thenews.com.pk/headway-sight/#.V_CoxqJ941h (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  4.Area-wise, Neelum is the largest of the ten districts of AJK. It has an estimated population of 170,000-200,000. Neelum Valley is a part of the Neelum district but the valley itself begins from Chela Bandi Bridge, north of Muzaffarabad, and has a population of 200,000-250,000 people.

  5.In 2016, a number of casualties were reported from Neelum Valley; this is addressed later in the book.

  6.Mateen Haider, ‘Pakistan files complaint with UNMOGIP over “Indian ceasefire violations”,’ Dawn, 17 July 2015. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1195076 (Last accessed: 26 October 2017).

  7.Al Jazeera, ‘India-Pakistan border clashes leave civilians dead,’ 16 August 2015. Web: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/india-pakistan-borderclashes-leave-civilians-dead-150816054326331.html (Last accessed: 26 October 2017).

  8.The Indian Express, ‘India issues demarche to acting Pak high commissioner for infiltration by JeM terrorists,’ 5 September 2017. Web: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-issues-demarche-to-acting-pak-high-commissioner-forinfiltration-by-jem-terrorists/ (Last accessed: 5 November 2017).

  9.Akbar Khan, Raiders in Kashmir, Pak Publishers Limited, 1970, p. 14.

  10.Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, pp. 8-9.

  11.Ibid., p. 12.

  12.Thomas M. Leonard, Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Routledge Publishers, 2005, p. 897.

  13.‘Under the “notional” award provided in the first Schedule of the Indian Independence Act, all of the Gurdaspur district, with a 51.14 per cent Muslim majority, had been assigned to Pakistan, which meant that all these routes would have fallen under the control of Pakistan… Mountbatten, however, suggested that the Boundary Commission would be unlikely “to throw” the whole of the Gurdaspur district into the Muslim majority areas. Of Gurdaspur district’s four tehsils, one, Pathankot, was predominantly Hindu. Subsequently, the revised Mountbatten plan referred to the basis for Partition by area rather than by district… In the final award the three tehsils of Batala, Gurdaspur and Pathankot went to India… In view of inadequate explanations and selective secrecy surrounding the Radcliffe award, the belief amongst Pakistanis that there was a conspiracy between Mountbatten and Nehru to deprive Pakistan of Gurdaspur has held fast.’ Schofield, however, explains in her book that contrary to the perception that Gurdaspur had been deliberately given to India at the last moment as part of a conspiracy, Lord Wavell had suggested in February 1946 that the district be awarded to India to safeguard the interests of the Sikhs since the headwaters of the canals which irrigate Amritsar were in Gurdaspur district. He had reportedly stated that ‘Gurdaspur must go with Amritsar for geographic reasons, and Amritsar being (the) sacred city of Sikhs must stay out of Pakistan.’ Victoria Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War, I.B Tauris and Co. Ltd, 2010.

  14.Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, p. 11.

  15.Stanley Wolpert, Nehru: A Tryst with Destiny, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 413.

  16.Akbar Khan, Raiders in Kashmir, Pak Publishers Limited, 1970, pp. 17-18.

  17.It should be noted that the term ‘Azad Kashmir’ was coined prior to the accession and initially the term ‘azad’ referred to ‘freedom’ from the Maharaja’s rule. The region came to be known as ‘Azad Kashmir’ after the creation of the ‘provisional Azad government’ on 24 October 1947. Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, pp. xvii, 37 and 58.

  18.Ibid., pp. 16, 32 and 57.

  19.Ibid., pp. 37-38.

  20.Ibid., p. 37.

  21.The date of accession and chronology of events have been contested through more recent research. Victoria Schofield, ‘Kashmir: The origins of the dispute,’ BBC, 16 January 2002, Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1762146.stm (Last Accessed: 9 June 2018).

  22.Akbar Khan, Raiders in Kashmir, Pak Publishers Limited, 1970, p. 76.

  23.Muhammad Hussain Choudhary and Uzma Azam, Pakistan Studies, Class 9, GFH Publishers, p. 115.

  24.NDTV, ‘Pakistan Army violates ceasefire on Line of Control in Kashmir,’ 29 September 2016. Web: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pakistan-armyviolates-ceasefire-on-line-of-control-in-kashmir-1467866 (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  2
5.ISPR, ‘India resorts again to unprovoked firing at LoC,’ Geo TV, 6 November 2016. Web: https://www.geo.tv/latest/119823-India-resorts-again-to-unprovoked-firing-at-LoC-ISPR (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  26.Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, p. 76.

  27.Ishtiaq Ahmed, ‘The 1947-48 Kashmir war,’ Daily Times, 16 March 2010. Web: http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/16-Mar-2010/view-the-194748-kashmir-war-ishtiaq-ahmed (Last accessed: 15 September 2016).

  28.AFP, ‘National Guinness says Kashmir world’s largest militarized zone,’ Pakistan Today, 3 April 2013. Web: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/04/03/national/guinness-says-kashmir-worlds-largest-militarised-zone/ (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  29.Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, p. 20.

  30.Ibid., p. 18.

  31.Muhammad Saeed Asad, Wounded Memories, translated by Qayoom Raja and Tanveer Ahmed, Mirpur: National Institute for Kashmir Studies (NIKS), 2010, p. 10.

  32.Ibid., p. 30.

  33.Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, p. 48.

  34.Rahul Pandita, Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits, Random House Publishers, 2013, p. 255.

  35.Muhammad Saeed Asad, Wounded Memories, translated by Qayoom Raja and Tanveer Ahmed, Mirpur: National Institute for Kashmir Studies (NIKS), 2010, p. 26.

  36.Faisal Yaseen, ‘On KPs’ plea, “AJK” SC orders protection of Sharda Peeth,’ Rising Kashmir, 29 January 2018. Web: http://risingkashmir.com/news/on-kpsplea-ajk-sc-orders-protection-of-sharda-peeth (Last accessed: 31 January 2018).

  37.Obaid Ur Rehman Abbasi, ‘A red fort, a Kashmir chronicle,’ Express Tribune, 13 January 2013. Web: http://tribune.com.pk/story/491582/a-red-forta-kashmiri-chronicle/ (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  38.Amardeep Singh, Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan, The Nagaara Trust, 2016, p. 245.

  39.Mushtaq Soofi, ‘Punjab Notes: Vehat—where great warriors clashed,’ Dawn, 20 November 2015. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1220932 (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  40.Syed Mehdi Bukhari, ‘Pakistan’s blue gem: Neelum Valley,’ Dawn, 20 October 2015. Web: http://www.dawn.com/news/1207140 (Last accessed: 25 May 2018).

  Chapter 2

  1.Amardeep Singh, Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan, The Nagaara Trust, 2016, p. 3.

  2.Shafique Khokhar, ‘Pakistan’s Christians and Muslims condemn blasphemous film about Muhammad,’ Asia News, 17 September 2012. Web: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pakistani-Christians-and-Muslims-condemn-blasphemousfilm-about-Muhammad-25834.html (Last accessed: 17 May 2017).

  3.Bureau Report, ‘Hindus protest Modi’s threatening posture against Pakistan,’ Dawn, 3 October 2016. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1287691 (Last accessed: 17 May 2017).

  4.Akbar Khan, Raiders in Kashmir, Pak Publishers Limited, 1970, pp. 120-121.

  Chapter 3

  1.Andrew Buncombe, ‘Syed Ali Shah Geelani: Why is India afraid of this 83-year-old man,’ The Independent, 1 March 2013. Web: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syed-ali-shah-geelani-why-is-india-afraid-of-this-83-year-old-man-8516534.html (Last accessed: 24 January 2018).

  2.Mail Online India, ‘Hurriyat leaders attend Pakistan Day celebrations in Delhi but Centre rules out third-party over Kashmir,’ 23 March 2015. Web: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3008186/Hurriyat-leaders-attend-Pakistan-Day-celebrations-Delhi-Centre-rules-party-dialogue-Kashmir.html (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  3.Dawn, ‘Hurriyat has no place in talks with Pakistan, says India,’ 23 March 2015. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1171396 (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  4.Gallup Pakistan, ‘Kashmir Issue: Compilation of daily polls and 30-year polls,’ 11 March 2016, p. 4.

  5.Deeptimaan Tiwary, ‘NIA probes Hurriyat “funding from Pak”,’ The Indian Express, 20 May 2017. Web: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/nia-probeshurriyat-funding-from-pak-geelani-separatist-4664628/ (Last accessed: 4 November 2017).

  6.Jawed Naqvi, ‘India in U-turn, ready to hold talks with Hurriyat on held Kashmir,’ Dawn, 24 October 2017. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1365775/india-in-u-turn-ready-to-hold-talks-with-hurriyat-on-held-kashmir (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  7.A.G. Noorani, ‘The Kashmir ruse,’ Dawn, 28 October 2017. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1366667/the-kashmir-ruse (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  8.Jyoti Malhotra, ‘J&K policy: Modi realises barrel of gun can never successfully mediate a solution in troubled state,’ The Indian Express, 24 October 2017. Web: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/delhi-turns-around-on-muscularjk-policy-offers-talks-4903717/ (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  9.Mudasir Ahmad, ‘Massive crackdown in Kashmir to guarantee “peaceful” Modi visit,’ TheWire.in, 6 November 2015. Web: https://thewire.in/14890/massive-crackdown-in-kashmir-to-guarantee-peaceful-modi-visit/ (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  10.Asian Age, ‘Hurriyat: China friend, India “cruel occupier”,’ 15 March 2016. Web: http://www.asianage.com/india/hurriyat-china-friend-india-crueloccupier-363 (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  11.Mudasir Ahmad, ‘Massive crackdown in Kashmir to guarantee “peaceful” Modi visit,’ TheWire.in, 6 November 2015. Web: https://thewire.in/14890/massive-crackdown-in-kashmir-to-guarantee-peaceful-modi-visit/ (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  12.Muzamil Jaleel, ‘Hurriyat: its history, role and relevance,’ The Indian Express, 31 August 2015. Web: http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/hurriyat-itshistory-role-and-relevance/ (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  13.Basharat Peer, Curfewed Night, HarperPress, 2010, p. 13.

  14.Ibid., p. 14.

  15.Altaf Hussain, ‘Kashmir’s flawed elections,’ BBC, 14 September 2002. Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2223364.stm (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  16.Rashneek Heer, ‘Why India won’t remember the day Kashmiri pandits were left to die,’ DailyO, 19 January 2016. Web: http://www.dailyo.in/politics/kashmiri-pandits-exodus-habbakadal-hizbul-mujahideen-yasin-malik-pakistan/story/1/8533.html (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  17.Newsweek Pakistan, ‘Amanullah Khan and Kashmir,’ 28 April 2016. Web: http://newsweekpakistan.com/amanullah-khan-and-kashmir/ (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  18.Stephen Tankel, Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 57-58.

  19.In 2017, when the US blacklisted Hizbul Mujahideen as a ‘terrorist organization’, a rally was held in Muzaffarabad, condemning the decision. Shaikh Jamilur Rehman, secretary general of United Jihad Council (UJC), claimed that ‘Hizbul Mujahideen is an indigenous organization engaged in a legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination… it cannot be dubbed as a terrorist organization by any stretch of the imagination.’ He dismissed the decision as a propaganda move to appease the Modi government and stated that, ‘We will carry on our struggle… until the eviction of the last Indian soldier from our motherland.’ Tariq Naqash, ‘AJK Protestors rally to condemn blacklisting of Hizbul Mujahideen by US,’ Dawn, 17 August 2017. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1352145/ajk-protesters-rally-to-condemn-blacklisting-of-hizbulmujahideen-by-us (Last accessed: 21 August 2017).

  20.Dawn, ‘Protests in AJK against Indian occupation of Kashmir,’ 28 October 2017. Web: https://www.dawn.com/news/1366751/protests-in-ajk-against-indianoccupation-of-kashmir (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  21.Saba Naqvi, ‘The ominous sound of crackers in Pakistan: Why Modi’s Kashmir’s visit is so crucial,’ Scroll.in, 5 November 2015. Web: https://scroll.in/article/766985/the-ominous-sound-of-crackers-in-pakistan-why-modis-kashmirvisit-is-so-crucial (Last accessed: 28 October 2017).

  22.Mudasir Ahmad, ‘Massive crackdown in Kashmir to guarantee “peaceful” Modi visit,’ TheWire.in, 6 November 2015. Web: https://thewire.in/14890/massive-crackdown-in-kashmir-to-guarantee-peaceful-modi-visit/ (Last
accessed: 28 October 2017).

  23.Basharat Masood, ‘J&K police told to crack down on big militant funerals,’ The Indian Express, 27 February 2018, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/jk-police-told-to-crack-down-on-big-militant-funerals-5079499 (Last accessed: 24 May 2018).

  24.Azhar Qadri, Suhail A. Shah, ‘Two lakh across Valley attend Burhan Wani’s funeral,’ The Tribune, 9 July 2016. Web: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/community/two-lakh-across-valley-attend-burhan-wani-sfuneral/263661.html (Last accessed: 24 January 2018).

  25.Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, Human Rights Review, 2016, p. 2. Web: www.jkccs.net (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).

  26.According to Snedden: ‘J&K economy was heavily integrated with, and dependent on, these areas (which were to become Pakistan). Up to 98 per cent of the non-timber exports from the Kashmir Valley went via the Jhelum Valley Road to Rawalpindi, the city considered the “warehouse” for goods transiting to and from the Kashmir Valley. J&K timber exports were floated down the Jhelum and Chenab rivers to points downstream in (Pakistani) Punjab. Goods from J&K freighted by rail from Jammu City or Rawalpindi were carried on the western rail network to Karachi, the traditional port for the princely state. Owing to its proximity, Karachi enjoyed a 65 per cent freight advantage over goods sent to Bombay or Calcutta.’ Christopher Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2013, p. 9.

  Chapter 4

  1.Human Rights Watch, ‘India’s secret army in Kashmir: New patterns of abuse emerge in the conflict,’ Vol.8, No.4 (C), May 1996. Web: https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/India2.htm (Last accessed: 7 November 2017).

  2.Rahul Pandita, Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmir Pandits, Random House Publishers, 2013, p. 1.

  3.Ibid., pp. 1-2.

  4.Ibid.

  5.Rahul Pandita, ‘The nowhere people,’ Open, 13 October 2012. Web: http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/india/the-nowhere-people (Last accessed: 15 January 2017).