Ashik Kabir
ashikk992@gmail.com
Located in the northwest Himalayan ranges of the Indian subcontinent, Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim preponderant state. It was ruled by Hindu Dogra Maharajas from 1846 to 1947. When the British rule of subcontinent ended creating India and Pakistan, Kashmir remained a matter of dispute between both the countries. The state enjoys special status under article 370 of the Indian constitution, which distinguishes it from all other states. Jammu and Kashmir, the former princely state is tremendously assorted and divided into three distinct regions. A fourth region was merged with Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1948 and is called “ Azad Kashmir”.
The Kashmir Valley, with the capital Srinagar , is the most populous and homogenous among the three regions. It is overpoweringly Muslim and until recently had a small Hindu minority of largely Brahmin Pundit families with whom the Muslim population historically enjoyed constructive relations.
The Dogras linger dominant ethnic group in Jammu and promotes Dogra “ nationalism ” has led to increasing resentment against Kashmir’s Muslim majority rule and demands for a separate Hindu state of Jammu. Located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas ranges in the northeastern part of the state , the large but meagerly populated area of Ladakh is isolated from rest of the state. The area is penetratingly polarized between the Shiite Muslim majority district of Kargil and the Tibetan Buddhist dominated district of Leh.
Due to the extreme diversity of the state , the politics of Jammu and Kashmir are extraordinarily complex. After the end of Hindu Dogra rule in 1947, The politics of Jammu and Kashmir became dominated by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference (NC). Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was Known as the “ the Lion of Kashmir”. The NC was founded by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1939 as a popular movement against the Dogra rule. Unlike the leaders of Muslim League, Abdullah sought to mobilize the diverse population of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of a shared geographical, historical and cultural uniqueness referred to as the Kashmiriyat.
Sheikh Abdullah served as the first Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 until he was removed and imprisoned by the Indian government in 1953. Initially a strong supporter of Union with India, by the early 1950’s Sheikh Abdullah had begun to question the state’s attainment and was wholehearted with idea of creating an independent Kashmir.
Despite spending the next two decades in and out of the Prison, Sheikh Abdullah remained an influential character in the politics of the state until his death in1982. After losing the control of NC, Abdullah encouraged his supporters to form the Plebiscite Front (PF), a mass based political movement that demanded self-determination For Jammu and Kashmir. The PF laid the foundation for Kashmiri separatism and remained an active force in Kashmiri politics until the early 1970’s.
In the aftermath of Bangladesh liberation war in 1971 and the dismantling of Pakistan , Sheikh Abdullah dissolved the PF, revived NC and came to a settlement with Indira Gandhi that emerged him again in power. Abdullah was restored as the Chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1975 and ruled the state until his death in 1982. Sheikh Abdullah was succeeded by his son Farooq. In June 1984 in an attempt to extend Congress control to the state, Indira Gandhi engineered a split in the NC and instructed her newly appointed Governor , to dismiss Farooq government. The Muslim community in Kashmir saw this act as a repeat of the dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 and a renewed assault on the state’s autonomy. Local resentment escalated when Farooq entered into a highly unpopular alliance with the Congress and restored to the chief ministership pending new assembly elections. Perturbed by the rigging of the elections and the lack of legitimate avenue for political expression , a new generation of young Kashmiri politicians emerged in an open revolt under the banner of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
(to be continued)