Kashmir Facts to Dismantle Pakistani Disinformation

by Keshav Dev Sharma

People for United India represents over 800,000 persons of Indian origin living in the United States. Over 30 cultural and ethnic organizations have joined together to support the effort for bringing an end to terrorism and promote peace in Kashmir.

For further information about People For United India, please contact Dr. Ram Gehani at (301) 340-1385.

Facts At A Glance

* Kashmir is, and always has been, an integral part of India. Kashmir was never divided by the British. It acceded to India by an Instrument of Accession in 1947 which is recognized valid under international law.

* India is a secular democracy. India has more Muslims than Pakistan, and minorities in India enjoy incomparable privileges. Two of India's seven Presidents have been Muslims.

* Pakistan has behaved like a terrorist state. It sent tribal raiders into Kashmir in 1947 and occupied 1/3rd of the state. It again trained, armed, and infiltrated fundamentalist-terrorists in 1965, 1971 and in 1989-90.

* Pakistan never complied with UN resolution requiring it to withdraw from Kashmir and to hand over entire territory back to India which was a prerequisite to any plebiscite in Kashmir. Since then there have been several elections in the state of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of universal suffrage.

*Under the Simla Agreement of 1972, India and Pakistan are required to refrain from use of force and to sort out bilateral issues by negotiations and not by internationalization of the issue, and as such the UN has no jurisdiction on Kashmir. President Bush has also called for negotiations under Simla Agreement.

* The United States has identified JKLF and Hezbullah as terrorist organizations. These organizations have been engaging in arson, kidnappings, murders and rioting in Kashmir. As a result more than 140,000 Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims have fled Kashmir as refugees.

* Pakistan is using American arms meant for Afghani Mujahideens to train and arm terrorists. World media has reported that there are at least 63 terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

THE Kashmir issue in the last few months has disturbed all peace loving people around the world. Terrorist activities, kidnappings and killings of the innocents have virtually turned this beautiful valley into another seriously troubled spot.

U.S. citizens, who believe firmly in the principles of secularism and democracy and uphold the international law of sovereignty and integrity of nations, are especially shocked.

India is confronted with an unprecedented crisis of armed subversion by secessionists, terrorists and Islamic fundamentalist forces getting help from Pakistan with the declared object of secession of Kashmir from India. This is not only a grave threat to the territorial integrity of a country but an open challenge to the state authority and validity of the principles of democracy and secularism that we all cherish.

The root cause is the ongoing conspiracy of Pakistan to grab forcibly Jammu and Kashmir from India. Over the past many years, Pakistan has engaged in inciting religious frenzy among the Muslims in the Kashmir valley and supplying them with all sorts of sophisticated arms to wage a 'jihad' against India.

Their main targets of this armed insurgency are the security forces maintaining law and order in the state as also Hindus and other religious minorities. This has caused the greatest refugee migration in recent Indian history. More than 140,000 members of Hindus, Sikhs and other minority communities have fled the Kashmir valley.

The militants are running a campaign of terror in the valley by indulging in arson, kidnapping, bombings, murders and religious blandishment. This Pakistan- sponsored international terrorism has been targeting victims that include not only ordinary citizens but also top personalities in academic, journalistic and government echelons.

Since the United States provides military aid and sophisticated weapons to Pakistan, it is shocking to most U.S. citizens to learn how our hard earned tax money is being used to support the Pakistani government that sponsors and supports terrorism, preaches religious fundamentalism and is officially involved in drug trafficking. This is all the more agonizing when the elimination of drug trafficking, terrorism, and preaching of religious fundamentalism is top on the United States' agenda. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign military aid. This aid has been given to Pakistan for the ostensible purpose of deterring Soviet aggression. Since 1981 Pakistan has been provided with $1.5 billion in renewed aid and another $1.4 billion is scheduled for delivery by 1991, including 60 F-16 fighter aircrafts in addition to 40 already supplied. Nominally for use against Soviet forces, this weaponry has almost all been deployed along the Indian frontier.

Evidence obtained by American intelligence sources proves beyond any doubt that Pakistan has trained hundreds and thousands of terrorists and has smuggled them into the valley along with arms and ammunition including rockets and Kalashnikov rifles from the United States.

Kashmir is, and always has been, an integral part of India

Contrary to tendentious references in the Pakistani disinformation campaign, Jammu and Kashmir has historically been an integral part of India. Way back in the third century B.C., Emperor Asoka introduced Buddhism into Kashmir, and ever since whenever a major political force unified India, its sway always extended to Kashmir. For centuries, Kashmir has been a part of India's cultural mosaic and remains so.

When India became independent on August 15,1947, Kashmir was one of the princely states which had not acceded to either India or Pakistan. Under Partition Agreements, princely states were to accede, after the lapse of British Paramountcy, to one of the two Dominions of India and Pakistan by executing Instrument of Accession. In October 1947, the Pakistani Government aided and abetted a massive tribal invasion of the state. The ruler of Kashmir asked the Government of India for military aid and acceded to India on October 26, 1947; the Indian Government accepted the Instrument of Accession and dispatched troops to repel the invasion. The accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian Union in 1947 is valid, final and entirely consistent with the Partition Agreements. Its legality is beyond any dispute. It was also buttressed by popular support as evident from the fact that the main political party of the State, the National Conference led by Sheikh Abdullah, whole- heartedly supported the accession to India and in fact organized a Defense Army to fight along with the Indian forces.

Recorded evidence shows that the Indian leadership was always prepared to apply the same set of principles to Kashmir as it was advocating to other States at the time of partition of India by the British in 1947. The principle was: the ruler of the state should accede to one of the two dominions. Kashmir was never divided by the British and Lord Mountbatten, the-then British Governor General of India, had assured the Maharajah of Kashmir that if his choice were to be for Pakistan, the Indian Government would not object to accession of Kashmir to Pakistan. As reported by Rajendra Sareen in his book 'Pakistan: the India Factor' Pakistan's Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan immediately rejected this saying, "Have you gone out of your mind? Why should we leave a province larger than Punjab (referring to Nizam's Hyderabad) and settle for some mountain rocks?" Kashmir acceded to India - technically, legally, morally and under every known and acceptable tenets of international law.

Pakistani strategy to grab Kashmir by force

However, Pakistani strategy was to get Kashmir by trickery and force, even while attempting to support Nizam' s efforts to become independent and sovereign. It is no longer deniable that the Govemment of Pakistan initiated the attack on Kashmir in October 1947. Mr. Jinnah later offered to Lord Mountbatten to pull out the Pathans if the Indian troops were removed. Philip Ziegler's biography of Mountbatten (Mountbatten) and Stanley Wolpert's biography of Mr. Jinnah (Jinnah of Pakistan) record Mr. Jinnah admitting that on October 23,1947, trucks and jeeps of the Pakistani Army loaded with some 5,000 armed Pathan, Afridi, Waziri and Mahsur tribesmen of the Northwest Frontier crossed the Kashmir border.

That Pakistani Generals had been dreaming of seizing Kashmir is evident further from the conversations recorded between Professor Cohen of the University of Illinois and Pakistani officers during his visit to the country in 1980, and reported in his paper "Nuclear issues and security policy in Pakistan," presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Asian Studies, Washington, March 1980.

Why no plebiscite in Kashmir

Pakistan's tirade against India revolves around certain UN resolution concerning demilitarization and plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistanis have been propagating that India had failed to fulfill the UN resolution. The facts are quite to the contrary. It is Pakistan that has never fulfilled its obligations under the UN resolutions.

It was India which took the question of invasion of Kashmir to the UN Security Council, Deliberations in the Security Council led to the establishment of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP). The UNCIP resolution of August 13,1948, accepted by both Pakistan and India, provided for (I) a ceasefire; (II) a Truce Agreement which directed Pakistan to withdraw all its forces from the territory of State of Jammu and Kashmir, and (III) only thereafter ascertaining of the will of the people of the State in a peaceful manner. (See Appendix I for text of the UN resolution of August 13,1948).

The UN resolutions were accepted by India subject to assurances given by UNCIP, which, inter-alia, stipulated: a) plebiscite proposals would not be binding on India if Pakistan did not implement parts I and II of UNCIP resolution of August 13, 1948 (mandating ceasefire and withdrawal of Pakistani troops from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir); b) no recognition would be afforded to thc so-callcd Azad Kashmir Government; and c) the sovereignty of J & K Government would not be brought into question over territory vacated by Pakistani troops.

Though the ceasefire came into effect on January 1, 1949, Pakistan failed to implement part (II) of the UNCIP resolution. The failure to hold a plebiscite was entirely the result of Pakistan's default to carry out, within a reasonable time, the obligations imposed upon her by the UN resolutions, as conditions precedent for holding a plebiscite. Subsequently, the international context has changed completely. Accession of J & K to the Indian Union has been confirmed by an elected J & K Constituent Assembly. A number of elections have also been held at the national, state and local levels and the people of the State have repeatedly and freely exercised their democratic choice. Any talk of plebiscite is obviously meaningless. The only issue which remains to be settled is vacation by Pakistan of its illegal occupation of parts of J & K.

In other words, it is Pakistan which has been guilty of not carrying out its obligations under the first and basic resolution of the UN. The Chairman of the UNCIP in his letter dated 25th August 1948 to the Prime Minister of India clarified that evacuated territory in Part II A-3 of the resolution referred to those territories in the State of Jammu and Kashmir which were then under the effective control of the Pakistan High Command.

Justice Sir Owen Dixon (of Australia) in September 1950 came to the conclusion that a wholesale plebiscite was neither desirable nor possible. He recommended compartmental plebiscite which India was prepared to examine but which Pakistan rejected. Mr. Gunnar Jarring (of Sweden) in 1957 said in his report that one cannot hold India to the plebiscite promise after such a long delay caused mostly by Pakistan's unwillingness to implement Parts A and B of the UN resolution of August 1948.

India-Pakistan Simla Accord of 1972

The 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan stated with reference to Jammu and Kashmir: "In Jammu and Kashmir, the line of control resulting from the cease-fire of December 17, 1971 shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognized position of either side. Neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations. Both sides further undertake to refrain from the threat or the use of force in violation of this line."

The Simla Agreement does not permit taking any bilateral differences to international fora without mutual agreement. Despite this commitment, however, Pakistan has repeatedly sought to internationalize this issue.

UN has no jurisdiction on Kashmir

While even the very dubious case Pakistan makes out on Kashmir has no locus standi in the eyes of international law and civilized conduct, one can as well question whether the UN has any jurisdiction over the Kashmir issue. Pakistan in Simla in 1972 has already agreed to a line of control different from the one arrived at in 1949 as a result of UN mediation. The principle issue therefore today is only concerning the modalities of withdrawal of Pakistani forces from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and bringing the evacuated territory under the jurisdiction or Srinagar administration.

The sinister role of Pakistan

In the garb of projecting the human rights of the Muslims, Pakistan has launched a disinformation campaign on the Kashmir issue to confuse and mislead the people, Congressmen, Senators and government of the United States. However, it is not too difficult to see that Pakistani misrepresentation of the historical and legal facts in this matter is in reality a cover-up of Pakistan's own status as a belligerent terrorist state which supports international terrorism and facts about which are easily verifiable.

Although Pakistanis portray trouble in Kashmir as a local uprising and although they brazenly deny their involvement, there is plenty of evidence to prove that Pakistan has been meddling in the affairs of Kashmir, training and arming subversives, sending terrorists and raiders, and fomenting religious and communal disharmony in India. The following few examples, from Pakistan's track record as a terrorist state merit consideration to highlight Pakistan's unscrupulous and uncivilized conduct.

Air Marshal Asghar Khan, the former Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan and Mr. Altaf Gauhar, the former Secretary in Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, say in the book The First Round that "Operation Gibraltar" (the Pakistani raid in Kashmir in 1965) was deliberately planned by Pakistan. This is confirmed by General Mohamad Musa, then Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army in his book 'My Version'.

Having twice failed to achieve their purpose by sending in terrorists and raiders into Kashmir and calling them the sons of the soil Pakistan government is once again resorting to the same kind of tactics.

Pakistani modus operandi is consistent. When they think the Government of India is weak and indecisive, they send terrorists and raiders into Kashmir and deny it and allege that they are local people. In October 1947 they presumably thought that with a British Governor-General and British officers at the helm of affairs and beset with problems of refugees and integration of states, India would not react if they sent in raiders into Kashmir. In 1965 Field Marshal Ayub Khan perhaps felt that a puny Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was described as "prisoner of indecision" in the Indian Parliament and a demoralized Indian army in the wake of 1962 debacle in the Northeast would not strike back. Similarly in December 1970-March 1971 with a minority Indian Government preoccupied with elections and with a woman Prime Minister in charge, General Yahya Khan unleashed his genocide in East Bengal presumably hoping that India would not be able to act. In 1989-90 once again, with a minority government in charge in Delhi and India having difficult problems in Punjab, Pakistan is inducting terrorists and raiders in Kashmir.

Pakistan's training of terrorists

In an article entitled Sparks of War in Kashmir (The Washington Post, April 23, 1990) reputed international analyst Selig S. Harrison of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes that "Pakistan has precipitated the present war psychosis by escalating insurgent activity in Indian border areas." Mr. Harrison says, "Pakistani stimulation of the Punjab insulgency goes back to the beginnings of the Zia ul Haq regime in 1978. By 1984, the Pakistan Army's Field Intelligence Unit was helping to organize the Liberation Front in the Indian-held Kashmir Valley. By 1988, the Interservices Intelligence Directorate (ISI) in Islamabad had begun to set up training camps in Pakistani held Azad Kashmir manned by retired Pakistan Army officers. Evidence obtained in Pakistan as well as from Indian and American intelligence sources indicates that some 63 Pakistan-operated camps have been functioning at various times during the past two years, roughly half located in Azad Kashmir and half in Pakistan. At least l1 have operated continuously. Captured agents and guerrillas have provided detailed evidence showing that Pakistan has trained hundreds of guerrilla leaders and has smuggled more than 600 weapons into the valley, including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles from U.S.-supplied Afghan aid stockpiles. Some of the captured guerrillas include Afghans who are members of the ISI-sponsored Hezbe Islami."

Mr. Harrison adds, "Spearheaded by military hard-liners and Islamic fundamentalist groups, opponents of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are seeking to use the Kashmir issue to drive her from power. If she even questions ISI support for the insurgent, she is reviled as betraying Moslem freedom fighters. But if she joins the holy war chorus, as she has begun to do, she fans the fires of a war in which military leaders would quickly demand full control."

The 'Guardian' of London on May 1 and 2, 1990 in reports from Pakistan states that the president of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Sardar Abdul Qayyum, has accused the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front of containing "terrorist elements." "The accusation," says the Guardian, "would seem to put him in agreement with the Indian government." The Guardian points out that "three thousand young JKLF militants have crossed the border into Pakistan in recent months, and, according to reports shown on British and American television, established training camps in Pakistan's Azad Kashmir state. The organization has until now been well supported by the Pakistan government, which last week protested on learning the news that the US State Department planned to revoke the visa of Amanullah Khan, the leader of the JKLF, Mr. Khan is already banned from entering Britain." The Guardian also reports that the riverside town of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is the launching pad from which the terrorists conduct their activities against the Indian army. Says the Guardian reporter Kathy Evans, "One Kashmiri leader, Raja Muzaffar showed me crumpled receipts for 2.5 million rupees (30,000) for guns he bought a fortnight ago from arms dealers in Pakistan's tribal belt. The bill included 900 for transporting the weapons to Srinagar. The group appears to be providing basic military training to the fresh recruits who make their way each day through Indian army lines. Pakistani officials, as they have for the last 11 years in Afghanistan, deny any involvement in training and weapons procurement."

On April 30,1990 a BBC TV report from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir gave details of the supply of arms and training to those who have crossed from the Indian side of the border. Pakistan's role as a conduit for arms supply was highlighted, with one extremist showing the receipt for the purchase and transport of arms.

Details of Pakistan-operated training camps for both Khalistani and J&K Liberation Front terrorists have been repeatedly provided to the Government of Pakistan. In one instance in Punjab alone, Indian security forces recovered 28 rocket launchers, 229 rockets and missiles, 276 AK 47 rifles, 83 rifles, l84 double-barelled guns, 469 pistols, 166 revolvers, 300 hand-grenades, 103 bombs, 55 detonators,100 kgs of explosive materials, and 67,331 cartridges - all of Pakistani origin. But the Pakistanis brazenly deny their involvement. In view of the massive evidence available to the world community the Pakistani denial, however, has no credibility.

United States identifies JKLF as Pakistan-sponsored terrorist organization

The JKLF has been identified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State in its Country Report on Human Rights Practices for l989. The JKLF leader Amanullah Khan travels on Pakistani passport and operates from Pakistan. He had openly issued instructions during the terrorist operation involving the kidnapping of Dr. Rubiya Saeed, the daughter of the Indian Home Minister. He has admitted sending commandos into Kashmir. While in New York in April he used American soil to order execution of hostages taken by JKLF terrorists in Kashmir. On April 18, l990, the State Department revoked the US visa of Amanullah Khan because of "his support for terrorist acts." Khan, who is already banned from entering the United Kingdom, then fled the United States, back to Pakistan.

In recent months the JKLF and other terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir have stepped up their violent activities. More than 100 innocent people have been killed in terrorist violence and nearly 30,000 families have been forced to leave the Valley. The terrorists burst into the home of Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, a senior Kashmiri politician and a former minister, and shot him. On April 6, Prof. Mushir- ul-Haq, an eminent Islamic scholar and Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, his private secretary and General Manager of Hindustan Machine Tools ,were abducted by JKLF terrorists, who demanded release of three terrorists. As the Government refused to succumb to this demand, the three hostages were killed in cold blood. On April 13, at least six persons died in a bomb explosion in a bus in Delhi. JKLF claimed credit for this bomb blast. On April 11, Kashmiri terrorists planted a bomb on a Bombay commuter train, injuring over 40 persons. These terrorists have also targeted journalists. On February 13, Lassa Kaul, Head of Srinagar TeleYision was assassinated by JKLF terrorists. On April 29, the well-known Kashmiri poet and broadcaster Sarwanand Koul 'Premee' and his son were abducted by terrorists. Their bodies were found on May 2. JKLF and other Pakistan-controlled terrorist groups have unleashed a campaign of assassinations targeting moderate political figures and intimidation and killings directed against Hindus, Sikhs and nationalist Muslims. As a result over 30,000 Hindu, Sikh and Muslim families have been forced to flee the Valley and take refuge in Jammu and other parts of India. According to Reuters, a Pakistan-controlled terrorist group in Kashmir claimed credit for fires and other subversive activities which destroyed over 100 school buildings in Kashmir and India's premier conference center in New Delhi. Several security personnel have been killed in ambushes by these terrorists armed with sophisticated weapons supplied by Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister and the Punjab Chief Minister are vying with each other in raising funds to support the terrorists who have perpetrated the murders of Kashmir's TV Station Director Mr. Lassa Kaul, the former Member of Kashmir Legislative Assembly Mir Mustapha, the Vice Chancellor of Kashmir University, the General Manager of the Hindustan Machine Tools, and numerous others.

Pakistan is a terrorist state

By the standards set by the United States, Pakistan is a terrorist state. If India were to go by the norms adopted by the US and supported by Western European countries India has every right to retaliate against the bases of terrorism and the country that sponsors the terrorism.

Pakistan has 10 Noriegas officially drug trafficking

In addition to this "official" terrorist-state status, Pakistan is heavily involved in drug trafficking. The U.S. government, according to a report published in The Washington Post of May 13, 1990, has for several years received reports of heroin trafficking by Afghan guerrillas and Pakistani military officers. U.S. Assistant Secretary Levitsky found it necessary to warn the Pakistani officials about their drug trafficking operations. Officers of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) protect and participate in the trafficking, according to the sources interviewed by 'The Washington Post' in Pakistan and Washington. The Washington Post says, "The ISI runs laboratories in south-western Pakistan buying raw opium gum brought over the border from Afghanistan and cooking it down into morphine and then heroin. The heroin is smuggled out via Pakistani airports and ports - mostly those of the city of Karachi." Because of Pakistan's official sponsorship of drug trafficking the drug barons are able to flaunt their wealth and influence in Muslim Pakistan whereas severe penalties are imposed on drug traffickers in Muslim Iran. 'The Post' quotes Selig S. Harrison, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, saying that involvement in drug corruption extends beyond ISI and throughout the military structure, which rivals Bhutto for effective control in Pakistan. "You have about 10 Noriegas... very high up in the (Pakistani) military," says Mr. Harrison.

Pakistan misusing American weaponry

Unfortunately, this drug trafficking, sanctioning and export of terrorism is taking place at the expense of the American taxpayer. The arms supplied to Pakistan in support of our foreign policy objective to counter the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan have been diverted by Pakistan to cause instability in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan is not only misusing Americans' generosity but it is using American arms to unleash a reign of terror and violence and inflict pain and suffering upon innocent citizens in the Kashmir valley.

Mr. Selig Harrison in his April 23 article in The Washington Post points out that Pakistan has been misusing American weaponry supplied to Pakistan for use against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. "This weaponry," he writes, "has almost all been deployed along the Indian frontier."

Pakistan 's massacre of its own Muslim citizens

For strange and totally untenable reasons, Pakistan portrays itself as a champion of the Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. But after secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 Pakistan cannot claim that it represents or ever represented a homeland for Muslims. Today Bangladesh and India have more Muslims than Pakistan. Nobody has forgotten the genocide in East Bengal in which Pakistanis killed their fellow Muslim citizens with unprecedented ferocity. Moreover, by rejecting to take back the Bihari Muslims of Bangladesh who were Pakistani citizens, Pakistan has betrayed the trust of its own Muslim citizens.

Exemplary secular record of India and the US

India and the United States are recognized the world over not only as democracies worthy of emulation but also as truly secular nations. Like the United States, national elections take place in India periodically as provided under its Constitution with a large percentage of voter participation and the incumbent governments were replaced in 1977, 1979 and 1989 through parliamentary elections. Many state governments changed many times over through state assembly elections. In Kashmir, the most recent state elections were held in 1987 and parliamentary elections in 1989. Similarly and incontrovertibly, India, like the U.S., has the world's best record as a secular nation not only since gaining independence in 1947 but in its entire recorded history of over 8,000 years. Its history testifies that Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity (while being persecuted elsewhere) were welcomed to India with open arms and they have flourished in its system of religious freedom. Indian civilization is intrinsically secular and most Indians are born and raised in this tradition of plurality, secularism and broad-mindedness. Any charge of religious discrimination or violation of human rights on grounds of one's religious preference should, therefore, be dismissed as false and facetious since nowhere in the world religious minorities enjoy so much privilege and recognition as in India. In a country where more than 85 percent of its citizens are Hindus, out of a total of seven, two of India's presidents have been Muslims and one Sikh. The commander of Indian forces in Kashmir as also India's Home Minister and India's Ambassador to the United States are Muslims. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, a Christian, lives in India and she will testify that she commands respect of the people in a truly historical sense.

India has more Muslims than Pakistan. Unlike Pakistan, where Ahmadiyas, Hindus and Christians face discrimination and are object of harassment (U.S. Department of State Report, 1989), India treats its minorities equally and even provides them special privileges. A band of fundamentalist Muslims in Kashmir supported by Pakistan and other fundamentalist Islamic organizations spread across the world are bent upon threatening the territorial integrity of India and destroy its secular character. If fundamentalists succeed in achieving their goal, the country's unity will be threatened and a process of disintegration may start in the largest democracy of the world.

U.S. military aid to Pakistan does not make sense

President Bush has recently stated that "We continue to support the Simla Agreement of 1972 as the best framework for a peaceful resolution of the dispute, and we call on both India and Pakistan to begin bilateral talks without preconditions." India has stated more than once that it is willing to negotiate with Pakistan under the Simla Agreement. But Pakistan not only attempts to internationalize the dispute but it has openly talked about a "thousand-year war" and supported terrorism and violence in the Kashmir valley.

As long as the U.S. government supports Pakistan with generous military aid and Pakistan views its strategy of causing subversion and insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir working in its favor, it has no incentive to negotiate with India. Only the United States can, by discontinuing military aid, exert pressure on Pakistan for it to stop all aid and training to terrorists and to hold talks with India. Since the threat of Cold War is receding, as President Gorbachev has pointed out in his recent visit to the U.S., there is no need for continued support of Pakistan with arms supplies. While the administration and Congress are debating cutbacks in U.S. defense budget, it does not appear to make any sense to continue military aid to Pakistan.

Appeal to World Conscience

The PEOPLE FOR UNITED INDIA appeal to world conscience and to the people of the United States and particularly its government to come forward to India's assistance. It urges U.S. Congress to stop immediately military aid to Pakistan and save U.S. taxpayers' dollars. We appeal to all peace loving citizens around the world to exert their pressure on their elected representatives to take stern action against Pakistani terrorism so that peace in the South Asian subcontinent is not disturbed.

Appendix I

Text of United Nations Resolution of 13th August, 1948.

The first and the only UN resolution India accepted is the one adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) at its 40th meeting on 13th August 1948. Part II of the resolution reads as follows:

"l. 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."

Part II B .1 of the resolution lays down in following terms the total withdrawal of Pakistani forces from the State of Jammu and Kashmir and thereafter withdrawal of bulk but not all Indian forces from J&K.

" 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."

Media Assessment

The Washington Post, April 23, 1990

 "Pakistan has precipitated the present war psychosis by escalating insurgent activity in Indian border areas... Pakistani stimulation of insurgency goes back to the beginnings of the Zia Ul Haq regime in l978. By l984, the Pakistan Army's Field Intelligence Unit was helping lo organize the Liberation Front in the Indian-held Kashmlr Valley. By 1988, the Interservices Intelligence Directorate (ISI) in Islamabad had begun to set up training camps in Pakistani-held Azad Kashmir manned by retired Pakistan Army officers. Evidence obtained in Pakistan as well as from Indian and American intelligence sources indicates that some 63 Pakistan-operated camps have been functioning at various times during the past two years, roughly half located in Azad Kashmir and half in Pakistan. At least 11 have operated continuously. Captured agents and guerrillas have provided detailed evidence showing that Pakistan has trained hundreds of guerrilla leaders and has smuggled more than 600 weapons into the valley, including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov rifles from U.S.-supplied Afghan aid stockpiles."

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The Guardian, of London, May 1 & 2, 1990

"...three thousand young JKLF militants have crossed the border into Pakistan in recent months, and...established training camps in Pakistan's Azad Kashmir state. The organization has until now been well supported by the Pakistan government, which last week protested on learning the news that the US State Department planned to revoke the visa of Amanullah Khan, the leader of JKLF. Mr. Khan is already banned from entering Britain... ...One Kashmiri leader, Raja Muzaffar showed me crumpled receipts for 2.5 million rupees (30,000) for guns he bought a fortnight ago from arms dealers in Pakistan's tribal belt. The bill included 900 for transporting the weapons to Srinagar.

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BBC TV, April 30, 1990

broadcast a report from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir giving details of the supply of arms and training to those who have crossed from the Indian side of the border . Pakistan's role as a conduit for arms supply was highlighted, with one extremist showing the receipt for the purchase and transport of arms.