Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) recently organized a symposium to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir who are facing injustice and living in a turbulent situation for over six decades. A number of prominent figures from the Pakistani community in Jeddah addressed the gathering, in which they shed light on the history of the Kashmir problem that dates back to the partition of the subcontinent between India and Pakistan after a long and bitter struggle by both Hindus and Muslims to liberate the country from the British colonial rule.



There was also a parallel struggle on the part of Muslims for Pakistan as a separate nation for Muslims on the basis of the two nation theory. This theory envisages that Hindus and Muslims are two different communities and they cannot have peaceful coexistence in a single nation. The speakers at the symposium also underlined the need for repatriation of stranded Pakistanis (Biharis) who are languishing in crowded Bangladeshi camps for over four decades.



The world famous traveler, philosopher and historian of the Medieval Islamic period Abu Al-Rayhan Muhammad Bin Ahmed Al-Biruni, whom Orientalists called the ‘Arab Ptolemy,’ perhaps first mooted the two-nation theory as it was visualized in a number of his books. Most important among these books was titled “Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused.” Al-Biruni described in the book about the ideologies, customs and traditions of Hindus. He pointed out that Muslims and Hindus differ each other in their customs and everything else. He made these observations in 11th century A.D.



In the last third of the 19th century, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established Aligarh Movement that concentrated on spreading education among Muslims in its initial stage. This was after the defeat of the insurgency, waged by Hindus and Muslims under the leadership of the last Mughal emperor against the British rule. This resulted in taking retaliatory measures by the British against Muslims like banning the teaching of Arabic and Persian languages and religious subjects…



After this came the Pakistan Movement, of which the most prominent leader was Allama Muhamamd Iqbal, who is well known as the ‘Poet of the East.” He was a proponent of the theory to divide the subcontinent so as to establish a separate nation for Muslims. Later, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the champion of this theory. Jinnah had fought a long battle to safeguard the unity of India and secure the rights of minorities. But with the passage of time, he was fully convinced that the rights of Muslims could be realized only through establishing an independent nation for them.



Jinnah stressed this point in a series of letters exchanged with Mahatma Gandhi in 1944 in which he said: We hold fast to the theory that Hindus and Muslims are two large nations (Ummah), under any definition or criterion for Ummah. We are a nation of 100 million Muslims. Apart from this, we are an Ummah with distinctive features in culture, language, literature, art, architectural engineering, names, special technical terms, temperaments, values, history and ambitions. In short, we have a distinctive viewpoint about life. In accordance with the fundamental principles of the international law, we are a nation.



In view of the adamant position taken by the Muslim leadership and the genuineness of their demand, the Indian Congress Party leadership came into terms to implement the two-nation theory and agreed to divide the country on the basis of this theory and concept that those regions where Muslims are a majority shall be part of Pakistan and those regions where Hindus are a majority shall remain as part of India while the minorities in both sides are given the option either to remain in the country where they are living or migrate to the country where their religion prevails. The British rulers agreed to this theory.



As far as Kashmir is concerned, it should have been an integral part of Pakistan, on the basis of the two-nation theory, as more than its 90 percent population was Muslim and it is situated adjoining to the territories that became part of Pakistan. Logically and geographically, the princely state of Kashmir is supposed to be part of Pakistan but the ruler of Kashmir was a Hindu. The Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh preferred to continue to remain as an independent princely state. When he saw that it was not possible, he decided to join India, and eventually he sought India’s protection. India heartily welcomed it, though it was contrary to the spirit of the two-nation theory, which was the mutually agreed basis for the partition of the subcontinent.



This infuriated Pakistan and it considered this as going back on the agreement reached between the two parties. This resulted in the first war fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The war continued until the intervention of the United Nations, which brokered a ceasefire. Later, the UN took a decision to hold a plebiscite to give the Kashmiris their inalienable right for self-determination. However, India pulled back from its earlier position of holding a plebiscite. It did not pay any heed to regional and international demands to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir.



This still remains an unfulfilled demand raised by the people of Kashmir, who live divided in two parts of Kashmir controlled by India and Pakistan for over six decades. The major part of Kashmir and majority of people are under Indian administration. The government of India always claims that it has implemented a large number of development projects in Kashmir.



The logic is that the fate of Kashmir is to be determined by holding a plebiscite in line with the UN resolution, and following the examples of Timor and South Sudan in the recent past. It is in this context that demands are being made to the UN and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to exert efforts to secure an agreement of all the parties involved, especially India, to grant the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination and thus uniting the families who have been scattered in two parts of Kashmir.



This would bring peace back to the region, putting an end to the turmoil prevailing for several decades. It will also help to make concerted efforts through pumping of resources for the overall development of the region in a way serving the people and improving their standard of living instead of wasting everything in disputes and conflicts.



— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at algham@hotmail.com