Pakistan promoting religious extremism, building false narrative on J-K since 1947

By Dr Misfar Hassan
London [UK], November 16 : The historical narrative on Jammu and Kashmir adopted and being taught in areas of Jammu and Kashmir under the control of Pakistan is a complete pack of lies created by the military establishment to promote religious extremists to use them to fulfill their nefarious designs and desires to keep their controls over the system for their illegal and unlawful desires of public resources by using power given to them for defence of the country.
One such historical fact that I am writing on is the day of 27th October 1947 when the Indian military landed in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is very interesting to note the context of this historical event. J&K was semi-autonomous till 14 August 1947; it became independent on 15 August 1947 with the implementation of the Independence Act of India 1947 when the subcontinent was divided and a new country Pakistan emerged on the map of the globe.
This creation was based upon the free will of the people or more specifically Muslims of the subcontinent to have a separate home land where they would live freely according to their religious and cultural beliefs.
Since the British occupiers were forced to withdraw their unlawful occupation of the sub-continent they conspired to teach a lesson to the people for claiming their democratic rights. The representative of the British establishment Lord Mountbatten readjusted the agreed boundary by including the Muslim majority tehsil of Gurdaspur into Indian dominion thus providing the only land route entry to India in J&K was unhappy and wanted to teach a lesson (as unfolded by subsequent events).
With this brief background, I come to the events That I want to focus on today on 15 August 1947 J&K became an independent state. It was not part of India and had its own ruler and Mr Jinnah had entered into an agreement, the 'stand still' agreement accepting JK as a separate entity. This agreement was implemented on 15 August 1947 while the Indian government wanted some clarifications pending negotiations.
The British establishment representative, the last governor of the North-West Frontier Province of newly created state of Pakistan in collaboration with military officials of Pakistan, the Prime Minister Liaquat Ali, Chief Minister of Punjab Sardar Shaukat Hayat and Sardar Ibrahim Khan, hatched the conspiracy of organising an attack on Kashmir by tribals. These conspirators passed the Governor-General, Mr Jinnah.
These tribals were given instructions that they are going on holy war and their task was to kill non-Muslims and freely loot movable property such as cash jewellery or any other valuables.
The tribal invasion started on the 22nd of October 1947 the first person killed in Muzaffarabad, now the capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was Krishna Mehta, the deputy commissioner. The local people also got involved in the lootings while some helped non Muslims by providing shelter and protection from the savage actions of tribals. The tribals, some believe in their guise were trained soldiers of the Pakistan military, marched towards Srinagar in Kashmir valley. In Baramulla, there was a missionary hospital where these tribals raped and killed six nurses.
In other parts of the state adjacent to Punjab province of Pakistan like Mirpur, Bhimber and Poonch, the mass murder of non-Muslims and looting ensued as similar events also happened in mainland India where mass migration and killings showed the apathy of British administration who just played role of spectators. When the reports of this situation reached the ruler of the state, Hari Singh, in order to protect his subjects and restore peace and order he sought support from the Indian Government that promised support only if the ruler would accede to India.
An agreement was reached on 26 October 1947 and the Indian military was airlifted and landed into Jammu Kashmir on 27 October 1947. The military pushed back the tribals as a consequence of the Indian military landing into the State the Pakistan military responded and the first full-fledged war ensued between India and Pakistan which only stopped when the case was taken to the UN Security Council.
The ceasefire came into force on 01 January 1949 and a ceasefire line dividing the state pending self-determination came into existence.
The issue is the date when the Indian military landed into Kashmir at that point in time the military entered the state to stop the killings and looting by the savage tribals who had started to rob the locals. Muslims were indulging into abducting Muslim women of Kashmir valley. Today, the members of Diaspora from Pakistan occupied Kashmir living in the UK commemorate the day as black day although their ancestors were involved in killings of non-Muslims in collaboration with tribals and these people also occupied the properties that were vacated by fleeing non-Muslims.
The issue here is that the members of the Diaspora community living in the UK do they know the realities of historical facts or they just act as robots being remotely controlled by the offices of the Pakistan High Commission in the UK. Many MPs, who get perks from the Pakistan government in facilitating the spread of the lies, as they are totally unaware of the facts. Yet they would stand up in the House of Commons and trumpet the fake narrative of the Pakistan government on Kashmir in contradiction to the realities accepted by Pakistan officially in the UN. Does anyone care about the way the group of liars would keep on trumpeting untrue facts? And helping to maintain the status quo!
The fact is that this group of liars does not have any conscience that their acts are indirectly helping innocent people being killed in Kashmir as the facilitators who provide arms and ammunition to the mercenaries use this fake propaganda to hide their heinous acts behind the lies trumpeted by this group.
What they do not realise and understand is the fact that the international community, in particular, the new administration of Joe Biden of the USA like the Trump administration has clearly stated the facts that the Pakistan establishment, although working in collaboration with the Allied forces, betrayed and cheated them many incidents are on record. This is the reason why Pakistan remains on the grey list of FATF.
The Pakistan establishment is currently in a difficult situation due to their hypocritical policies towards their neighbours and the international community. The country is at the brink of being declared a failed state. Unless the undue interference of the establishment into civil affairs stops completely, issues will not resolve. Another matter of fact is that the establishment that is fully facilitating the religious extremists in Pakistan and following a policy of halting among various sects of beliefs the country is never going to recover from the difficulties it has landed itself into.
The establishment needs to review its policy of promoting fake narratives as the world knows all facts and their lies cannot hide behind these Black Days commemorations. It's time to develop a policy of reconciliation and promote peace and harmony and move away from provoking the young and vulnerable in the name of religion promising fake rewards of paradise.
(Dr Misfar Hassan is a consultant in Child and Adolescent mental Health and a Kashmiri political activist based in United Kingdom)