Reality of plebiscite and UN Resolution for Jammu Kashmir Explained

 

Biggest propaganda has been spread to establish dispute in Jammu Kashmir in last 70 years, is ‘UN resolution on plebiscite’. Pakistan and Separatists including a radical fraction of Indian left use it as a weapon to entice Kashmiri Youth to fight against India, though this fictional narrative is totally against facts. So here is the story, why and where did the story of plebiscite and UN Resolution start from?

 

 

  

 

“Jammu and Kashmir had exceeded to India and now it is part of India. It was attacked by Pakistani civilians and tribals from the western region of Pakistan and they are getting direct support from Pakistan. The Government of India requests the Security Council that it must stop Pakistan from helping these attackers because this help will be considered as attack on India. If Pakistan will not stop then, to protect itself, India will have no other alternative but to enter Pakistani territory, to take military action against the attackers. This is a very important matter and the Security Council must take immediate action the international peace is not disturbed,”

 

 

 

 

(1) To prevent Pakistan Government personnel, military and civil, from participating or assisting in the invasion of the Jammu and Kashmir State;

 

 

(2) To call upon the other Pakistani nationals to desist from taking any part in the fighting in the Jammu and Kashmir State;

 

 

(3) To deny to the invaders:

 

 

(a) Access to and use of its territory for operations against Kashmir,

 

 

(b) Military and other supplies,

 

 

(c) All other kinds of aid that might tend to prolong the present struggle.

 

 

In its complaint India also made it clear that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir is legitimate and the biggest political party of the principality, National Conference has also supported the accession.

 

 

In the beginning of January 1948 the debate started in the Security Council on the complaint made by India, which lasted for many days. While responding to the allegations of India, the representative of Pakistan Zafar Ullah Khan accepted that the tribal are going to Jammu and Kashmir via Pakistan but he also claimed that the government is trying to stop them. He flatly denied the role and participation of the Pakistani army in the attacks. But on 5th July 1948 when the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, (UNCIP) visited Karachi and when they met the foreign minister Zafar Ullah Khan the condition was completely different. One of the members of the five members committee, Dr. Joseph Corble wrote, “Sir Zafar Ullah Khan told the commission that since the month of May the Pakistani army has deployed three brigades in Kashmir. When the commission asked, whether Pakistan had inform the security council about this, his response was in negative,” (32). “This was the same Zafar Ullah Khan, who had refused to accept any kind of aid or support from Pakistan to the attackers. However Now since the commission was present in the affected area to witness the situation, he had no other alternative but to accept the role of Pakistani army in the attack,” (33)

 

 

 

 

After hearing the arguments of both India and Pakistan the Security Council passed two important resolutions, one on 13th August 1948 and the other on 5th January 1949. The resolution passed on 13th August 1948 had three parts:

 

 

 

A) The Governments of India and Pakistan agree that their respective High Commands will issue separately and simultaneously a cease-fire order to apply to all forces under their control and in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as of the earliest practicable date or dates to be mutually agreed upon within four days after these proposals have been accepted by both Governments.

 

 

B) The High Commands of the Indian and Pakistani forces agree to refrain from taking any measures that might augment the military potential of the forces under their control in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. (For the purpose of these proposals forces under their control shall be considered to include all forces, organized and unorganized, fighting or participating in hostilities on their respective sides.

 

 

C) The Commanders-in-Chief of the forces of India and Pakistan shall promptly confer regarding any necessary local changes in present dispositions which may facilitate the cease-fire.

 

 

D) In its discretion and as the Commission may find practicable, the Commission will appoint military observers who, under the authority of the Commission and with the co-operation of both Commands, will supervise the observance of the cease-fire order.

 

 

E) The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan agree to appeal to their respective peoples to assist in creating and maintaining an atmosphere favorable to the promotion of further negotiations.

 

 

 

 

Simultaneously with the acceptance of the proposal for the immediate cessation of hostilities as outlined in Part I, both the Governments accept the following principles as a basis for the formulation of a truce agreement, the details of which shall be worked out in discussion between their representatives and the Commission.

A)

 

 

1. As the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.

 

 

2. The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavor to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.

 

 

3. Pending a final solution, the territory evacuated by the Pakistani troops will be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the commission.

 

 

B)

1.When the commission shall have notified the Government of India that the tribesmen and Pakistani nationals referred to in Part II, A, 2, hereof have withdrawn, thereby terminating the situation which was represented by the Government of India to the Security Council as having occasioned the presence of Indian forces in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and further, that the Pakistani forces are being withdrawn from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India agrees to begin to withdraw the bulk of its forces from that State in stages to be agreed upon with the Commission.

 

 

2. Pending the acceptance of the conditions for a final settlement of the situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Government will maintain within the lines existing at the moment of the cease-fire the minimum strength of its forces which in agreement with the commission are considered necessary to assist local authorities in the observance of law and order. The Commission will have observers stationed where it deems necessary.

 

 

3. The Government of India will undertake to ensure that the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will take all measures within its powers to make it publicly known that peace, law and order will be safeguarded and that all human political rights will be granted.

 

 

4. Upon signature, the full text of the truce agreement or a communiqué containing the principles thereof as agreed upon between the two Governments and the Commission, will be made public.

 

 

 

 

The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people and to that end, upon acceptance of the truce agreement, both Governments agree to enter into consultations with the Commission to determine fair and equitable conditions whereby such free expression will be assured.

 

 

In order to classify the resolutions passed by the Security Council on 13th August 1948 and 5th January 1949 a number of assurances and clarifications were given to the Government of India by Security Council. The UNICP assurances pertaining to the resolution of 13th August 1948 and 5th January 1949 -

 

1. Responsibility for the security of the state of Jammu and Kashmir solely rests with the Govt of India.

 

 

2. The sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir Government over the entire territory of the state cannot be challenged.

 

 

3. There shall be no recognition of Azad Kashmir Government will not be recognized.

 

 

4. The territory occupied by Pakistan will not to be consolidated to the disadvantage of the state.

 

 

5. Pakistan will have no part in the proposed plebiscite.

 

 

6. The administration of the evacuated areas of Northern Kashmir shall revert to the government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its defense to the govt of India, who will, if necessary, maintain garrison for preventing the intrusion of tribesmen and for guarding the main trade routes.

 

 

7. Plebiscite proposal shall not be binding on India if Pakistan does not comply with Part I and Part II of the Resolution of 13th August 1948.

 

 

8. The Commission will first explore the possibility of a plebiscite. If a plebiscite is found impossible for technical or practical reasons, the commission could then suggest alternative solutions. (35)

 

1.3.3 Pakistan avoiding the execution of the resolution

 

 

It is evident that despite various efforts of India, Pakistan did not implement the second part of the resolution passed by Security Council on 13th August 1948. On 1st January 1949 although Pakistan accepted the ceasefire it did not evacuate the occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Till Pakistan did not implement the first and second part of the resolution it was not possible for India to execute the third part of the resolution.