Letters:

Pakistani claim invalid

A news feature ("Kashmiris demand improved relations," July 15, page 5) contained a box which purported to give the background of the "rivalry" between Pakistan and India regarding Kashmir. It was not factually correct, however.

Before relinquishing power on Aug. 15, 1947, the British decided to partition the territories formerly under their rule to create the Muslim majority state of Pakistan. Millions of Hindus, Sikhs and others crossed over from Pakistan to India and Pakistan became an overwhelmingly Islamic country. Though several million Muslims went to Pakistan, they represented only a small proportion of the overall Muslim population of India. India opted to be a multi-religious, secular country.

Fifty-four percent of the territory of the geographical subcontinent of India had been ruled by the British and the remaining 46 percent consisted of 564 "princely states" with their own maharajahs/nawabs/rulers.

These states had treaty relationships with the British and technically would have become independent on Aug. 15, but the British had advised them to join either India or Pakistan. The maharaja of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, however, perhaps secretly hoping for independence, was delaying a decision to join either Pakistan or India.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir had a multi-religious population, with Muslims concentrated in the Kashmir Valley and areas contiguous to the new Pakistan, and significant Hindu and Buddhist populations in other areas, though, overall, Muslims constituted the majority. The maharaja was Hindu. There was no provision for partitioning the princely states on the basis of religion.

The main communication arteries into Jammu and Kashmir were from Pakistan. In order to pressurize the ruler, Pakistan imposed an economic blockade. On Oct. 20, 1947, several thousand heavily armed Pakistanis invaded Kashmir and the Maharaja's troops were no match for them. In a few days they were on the outskirts of the capital, Srinagar. It was at this stage, on Oct. 26, that the ruler decided that the state would be a part of India. Indian troops were flown in on Oct. 27 and started pushing the invaders back. The maharaja's decision that the state would be a part of India was fully supported by the main political party of Kashmir -- the National Conference (which had a predominantly Muslim membership); indeed, its president, Sheikh Abdullah, a Muslim, had de-manded such a decision even earlier.

The Indian prime minister had visited Lahore for a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in an effort to work out a negotiated settlement but this did not succeed and, finally, on Jan. 1, 1948, India took the issue to the UN Security Council.

The council has adopted many resolutions on the Kashmir issue. The first key resolution was adopted on April 21, 1948, establishing a ceasefire (leaving Pakistan in control of the one-third of the state which was occupied by its troops). The second key resolution was adopted on Aug. 13, 1948, and concerned implementation of the ceasefire and included a call for a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people of the state regarding their future.

The operative provisions of this resolution were that: Pakistan agree to withdraw its military forces from the state; Pakistan agree to ensure the withdrawal of non-regular combatants and non-residents of Jammu and Kashmir; all efforts be made to ensure that normality be restored to the state, and India was to maintain its military presence to help ensure this; and once normality had been restored, a plebiscite would be held for a final decision on whether the state would be integrated with India or Pakistan.