Author: M. V. Kamath
Publication: The Organiser
Date: August 12, 2001
Dear General: For weeks you kept
saying that you were willing to meet, indeed were very anxious to meet,
Prime Minster of India Atal Behari Vajpayee at any time, on any date and
at any place. Shri Vajpayee finally took you at your word and invited you
to India. I am afraid you mistook Shri Vajpayee's generosity for weakness.
It is apparent that you thought
Shri Vajpayee's willingness to talk to you as a sign that India had reached-as
a result of jihadi efforts-a level of weakness when you could push India
around. That was miscalculation Number One. The second miscalculation was
that you thought that by insisting that Kashmir (you never spoke of 'Jammu
and Kashmir) was the core issue-you called it a dispute-you would force
India to forget history. General, let me clear some of the cobwebs in your
mind:
* As Shri Vajpayee made it clear,
India is not weak. It can handle jihadis and as he said, it has "the stamina
to continue to resolutely deal with the continuing violence". So please
don't think that by continuing to encourage the jihadis you will bring
India to its knees. You won't. And your jihadis will pay a heavy price.
* The day Maharaja Hari Singh singed
the Instrument of Accession on October 27, 1947 - whatever may have been
Shri M. A. Jinnah's predilections-Jammu and Kashmir ceased to be a 'dispute'
between India and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir immediately became an inalienable
part of India. And so it will remain, tomorrow, next year and for eternity
to come. Please don't have any delusions in this regard.
* That despite the fact of the entire
state's accession to India, Pakistan went on a rampage and occupied a third
of the state's territory, is illegal and unacceptable to us. Unless you
vacate occupied territory, there cannot be any meaningful discussion between
India and Pakistan.
* You ask for a referendum in 'Kashmir'-
not in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It is as if Pakistan is ruled by
a democratically elected Government. For the best part of your country's
post-independence history, General, it only had military dictators running
the Government. With what face General, do you now ask for a referendum
in 'Kashmir'?
* You compare events in 'Kashmir'
with what happened in Bangladesh and India's alleged help to the Mukti
Bahini. General, thanks to your country's forces in Bangladesh, some ten
million Bengalis came to India as refugees. Tell me, how many Kashmiris
have gone to Pakistan as refugees? The only 'refugees' are the Kashmiri
Pandits who had been driven away from their homeland in the Valley and
who are now living in Jammu in refugee camps.
* You do not consider the secessionist
violence in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorism. You say that it is a violent
struggle for self-determination, and that the jihad in Kashmiris justified.
Let me tell you General, that if your country does not send Afghan, Libyan
and your own terrorists across the Line of Control to kill and maim, there
would be no "secessionism".
* Besides, General, there are many
in Sind-the mujahids especially-who thinks Partition was wrong. What would
you say if India sent armed men across the boundary to create trouble in
Sind and to help the Mujahids to fight for self-determination?
* At the banquet given by President
K. R. Narayanan you said that there cannot in future be a military "solution"
of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. What you mean is that Pakistani soldiers
in uniform will not be sent across the Line of Control but it is perfectly
in order for Pakistan to send trained jihadis, fitted with weaponry, to
cross the Line and create mayhem. That, General, is not acceptable. You
are playing with worlds-and you know it.
* You say that you will continue
to give diplomatic and moral aid to the Hurriyat and the secessionists.
That constitutes an act of war. Kindly remember that. The Hurriyat does
not, in any event, represent the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It did not
even contest the elections and it is not better than a stooge, supported
financially by you. Your stooges cannot be invited to a negotiating table.
* The Associate Press reports Hafiz
Mohammed Saeed, chief of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as saying that as of July
18, it will take its activities outside the borders of Kashmir and "will
start targeting Indian Government facilities everywhere in India". If you
can't control the Lashkar-e-Toiba, why should India talk to you?
* When a delegation of Indian ladies
called on you in the first week of July and asked what you thought of Kashmir
Valley being given to Pakistan with Jammu and Ladakh remaining with India,
your answer was that "there are Muslims in Ladakh and Kargil" and they
cannot be abandoned! What gives you the right to look after the Muslims
in Ladakh and Kargil, General? Are you going to look after the interests
of Muslims in the rest of India as well?
* When the issue of Indian Prisoners-of-War
rotting in Pakistani jails since 1971 was raised, your reply, General,
was that there are no P-o-Ws in your jails. General, they are not in jails,
they are in mental asylums where they have been placed, thanks to the cruelty
shown by your people. Don't fool yourself and don't fool us.
* You say that 'Kashmiris' should
be involved in any future discussions between India and Pakistan. In the
first place, General, you have no business to raise the Kashmir issue with
India. You-and Pakistan-have no locus standi in the matter. In the second
place, even if we concede, for the sake of argument, that it is worth while
discussing Kashmir with you, along with the representatives of the Hurriyat,
we should also have the representatives of the National Conference to sit
at the table along with representatives of Kashmiri Pandits, the Hindus
in Jammu and the Buddhists in Ladakh.
* God has not given you, General,
the right to speak for Kashmiris. The entire State of Jammu and Kashmir
(including the area occupied by you and the area you illegally leased out
to China) is part and parcel of India-legitimately. As Maharaja Hari Singh
wrote to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a letter dated January 31, 1948, "The
internal administration or the question of accession is wholly foreign
to the jurisdiction of the Security Council". It will do all of us a lot
of good, General, if you forget Kashmir and live in peace. Kashmir is not
our business. If our remember and accept that as a fact, all will be well.
Regards.
