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Kashmir: New Hopes and Aspirations; Is Self-Governance a means towards Self-Determination?

category southern asia | imperialism / war | opinion / analysis author Saturday October 28, 2006 03:13author by Amit Chakraborty Report this post to the editors

Demilitarization: First step towards setting a stage for settlement; and Kashmir: Human Rights Dimen

The need of the hour is to initiate the process of conflict resolution for just and sustainable peace. All the conflicting parties should realise that unending conflict, cross firing and belligerency will ultimately peril their interest only. The civil society movement in the subcontinent in should take care so that all the disputing parties in Kashmir come to reasoning and submit before the process of conflict resolution.
kashmircarta.jpg

“AAGAR FIRDAUS BAR RUYE ZAMINAST
YO HAMINAST,YO HAMINAST, YO HAMINAST
(If there be the paradise on earth / It is here, it is here, it is here.)

KASHMIR-the paradise! Whom does it belong to? Is it the people of Kashmir? Or the three neighbouring countries of south Asia — India, Pakistan and China? Whenever we talk about the cherished peace and tranquility to befall on Kashmir we speak in the main either from India or Pakistan’s perspective. China’s position is hardly touched upon. The position of the people of Kashmir is never given the prime importance, rather Kashmir is considered as an appendage of either India or Pakistan. Does Pakistan or India or China or any other super power or the world community have any legitimate right to decide about the geopolitical fate of the peoples of Kashmir on their behalf? No, never. It should be the peoples of Kashmir. They should have the prime and foremost authority.

14th or 15th August 1947 (the Day of transfer of political power by the British rulers) to 27th October, Kashmir was in effect an independent state. Aggression came from both India and Pakistan, and this behaviour has remained the hallmark of both the countries as far as their relation with Kashmir and Kashmiris concerned. In the year 1963, in consequence of a border conflict with India, China forcibly occupied Aksai Chin, considered to be a part of Kashmir much before Peoples’ Republic of China came into existence in the year 1949.
Presently Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People’s Republic of China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin) and the Trans-Karakoram Tract of erstwhile princely state of Kashmir. The Trans-Karakoram Tract is a small area that was transferred from the Pakistani-administered Northern Areas to China in 1963 by a border agreement with the proviso that the settlement was subject to the final solution of the Kashmir dispute. Interested persons expectably are aware of all historical developments regarding Kashmir dispute.

To be brief we refrain from referring to those historical facts further.

Whatever be the processes adopted by Govt. of India with respect to Kashmir annexed by it — be it military subjugation or political maneuver it is yet to win over the masses of the valley of Kashmir in its favour even after continued annexation for about 60 years over the region. And since 1989 when she was faced with armed revolt of Kashmiri Zehadis to get rid of Indian occupation in the valley India reacted with torture and violence, rape and molestation of women perpetrated by the security and armed forces, which caused a situation of death and destruction all over the valley.

Pakistan considers Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India as fraudulent and void ab-initio. Pakistan cries for the right of self-determination of the people of J & K whereas it has denied similar democratic right to the people of Northern Area. For all practical purposes Northern Area remains a part of Pakistan, but the people there do not even enjoy those rights made available to the people of Pakistan. People of this area yet to find any representation in the parliament of Pakistan and they are also being deprived of their basic human rights. Rumblings of revolt by the suffering and discriminated people are felt all over.

Azadi of ‘Azad Kashmir’ is anybody’s guess! For ‘Azad Kashmir’, self-determination, as inscribed in the constitution of ‘Azad Kashmir’, relates to the ultimate accession of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Part 2 of Section 7 of the ‘Azad Kashmir’ Constitution states: “No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan”. Under Section 5(2) (vii) of the ‘Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly Election Ordinance 1970’, a person would be disqualified for propagating any opinion or action in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, the ideology of State’s accession to Pakistan or the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan.

It is the considered opinion of Pakistan that given the scope, the Muslim majority people of Kashmir would have preferred merger with Pakistan under the pretext of self-determination. But this is far from the truth, at least in today’s perspective. How far China will remain true to its commitment to the proviso that the ‘settlement (with respect to Trans-Karakoram Tract) is subject to the final solution of the Kashmir dispute is yet to be seen. But its annexation of ‘Aksai Chin’ might be a chord of discordant between China and the people of Kashmir, if they ever attain the self-rule or independence.

K A S H M I R
Geographic and Demographic Division
Total Area (all the divisions included) 2, 22, 236 kilometers.

Geographically India Controls 48% of the area.
Pakistan Controls 37% of the area.
China Controls 15% of the area.

Area under control Population %Muslim %Hindu %Buddhists %Others
Pakistan Northern Areas 3 million 99% – – 1%
Azad Kashmir 1.98 Million. 99% – – 1%
India 10.07Million
Jammu 30% 66% – 4%
Ladakh 46% 1% 50% 3%
Kashmir Valley 95% 4% – 1%
Average 57% 23.70% 16.64% 2.66%
China Aksai Chin 0.16million – – 100% – Tibetan Origin Total 15.21 Million (All the Segments included)
The composition of the total population of Kashmir will be (all the divisions taken together) Muslims 10.66million; Hindus 2.39 million; Buddhists 1.83million and others (mainly Sikhs and Christians) 0.32 millions. So in whole of the Kashmir as against Muslim population of 10.67 millions there will be non-Muslim population 4.54 millions. The ratio of Muslim and non-Muslim population in Kashmir will be 2.35:1 approximately. In the part of Kashmir annexed by India it will be 1.32:1 respectively.

Steps towards Conflict resolution
In last few years many resolutions have been passed with the object to resolve the Kashmir Dispute in different forum in the world arena and the subcontinent. Of late Govt. of India and Pakistan also have come forward with set of confidence building measures to pave the way for resolution of Kashmir dispute between them. All such resolutions are repetitive in nature and in the main urge upon all the parties concerned to eschew violence and sit for negotiated settlement through bipartite and tripartite dialogues while ensuring civil and democratic rights of the people concerned.

But in no such resolution the views of the people of Kashmir as a whole was given primary importance as such. Rather they were referred as the third party and at best thought of getting their concurrence in the resolution or proposal designed for conflict resolution between two animus parties. So-called confidence building measures are yet to address the sentiment and the mental makeup of the people of whole of the Kashmir. Now the time demands to give responsibility to the people of Kashmir as a whole for the primary onus to resolve the issue of Kashmir dispute.

Views of the people Kashmir spreaded over all the divisions.
So far there have been no scope for the people of Kashmir of all the segments to develop a united stand about their future. It is mainly because of the division about which the people had no say whatsoever. Moreover the difference in social, cultural and political environment of each division has a great bearing in the mind setup of the people living there. It may be a section of Kashmiri people living in Gilgit - Baltistan, Muzaffarabad or the valley want to join Pakistan. But people of Jammu, Ladakh or even Kargil may not follow the suit. But it goes without saying that given the scope of exercising the other option i.e., the option of ‘self determination’ leading to independence, majority of the people of all the divisions of erstwhile princely state of Kashmir, as it exist today will definitely opt for ‘self-determination’.

Views of the valley need a special mention.

During the third and fourth phase Assembly election of Indian state of J & K, held in October 2002, I had the opportunity to be a watcher in the election arena. During my stay in Srinagar, for more than a week, I conducted a survey*** on the basis of random sampling spreaded over all the 10 constituencies of Srinagar district, commensurate with the demographic composition of the population of Srinagar district as per the 2001 Census. The result that I gathered is of immense relevance to the context.

Why the people are so averse to the election process? Of those interviewed for our survey, 89.84 per cent said the election was not the true process of choosing the representatives of peoples of Jammu & Kashmir. Only 6.78 per cent looked at the election in a positive manner and 5.08 per cent had some expectations from the electoral process.

Are not the people of Srinagar aware of the problems of Jammu & Kashmir? With the bruised heart and scar all over their body resulting from army and militants’ excesses how can they close their eyes away from the day-to-day realities! 25.42 per cent of the people interviewed felt it was the ‘authoritarian, undemocratic and oppressive role of the Indian Government’. Of the rest, 22.03 per cent feel that ‘it is the dispute between India and Pakistan over the possession of J&K’. Another 26.27 per cent feel that the root cause is the ‘contradiction between aspirations of the peoples of J&K and the possessive attitude of Indian government’ while 17.80 per cent thinks that ‘poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are the root cause of J&K problem’.

How do Kashmiris believe that ‘peace, prosperity and progress of J&K will be ensured and the democratic right of its people will be guaranteed’? Only 5.07 per cent consider merger with Pakistan as the solution, while 9.32 per cent believe the state should remain an integral part of India. But the vast majority — 83.90 per cent — look forward to sovereign and independent state of Jammu and Kashmir as the only solution. It should be noted here that from the mood and manners of the replies the author could well gather that if the option of ‘sovereign and independent state of Jammu and Kashmir as the only solution’, was removed from the question altogether than % acceptance for the option ‘merger with Pakistan as the solution’ would have been much higher. However, on the basis of the survey conducted in the Valley taken together with some other surveys (not very thorough) conducted with the people of Ladakh, Kargil and Jammu the author discerns that peoples’ acceptance for the only two options ‘merger with Pakistan’ and ‘merger with India’ will be around 60% and 40% respectively.
What do these people mean by independence or ‘Azadi’? A six-year-old boy from Safapora village in Baramulla district said, “Azadi is the situation where there will be no military or militants, where the houses are not burnt, people are not killed and the women are not molested”. But the infuriated young people of Danwhadpora village in Kokernag constituency in the district of Anantnag were chanting slogans right before us when we went there to observe polling: “Hum chahtehen Azadi, Kashmir banega Pakistan”.

The vast majority of the people (almost 90 per cent) are against partitioning Kashmir between India and Pakistan as per the actual Line of Control or of transferring Muslim majority areas to Pakistan while integrating the Hindu majority areas with India. An even larger segment — 91.53 percent — of the people interviewed abhors the path of militancy or war as a solution of the Kashmir problem.

They are in favour of a peaceful movement and dialogue and they feel that the dialogue should be between governments of India, Pakistan and the peoples of Jammu & Kashmir. But interestingly, 57.63 per cent of the people interviewed have no faith in any of the political organisations active in Kashmir including the Hurriyat Conference. Hurriyat Conference enjoys the support of 35.59% of Srinagar residents who were interviewed. The problem is that Hurriyat is not a single political entity but a conglomeration of 23 political entities. The political agenda of all these political outfits are not much particular and clear before the common people. When 83.90 per cent of the people are in favour of azadi, five of the seven executives of Hurriyat are in favour of merger with Pakistan. Though the people have some faith in Hurriyat but the people are confused about the political mission of Hurriyat and know little about the parties that it comprises.

For resolving the dispute through Third Party mediation majority were against the process. Only 23.73% favoured USA as the mediator and 30.50% made their preference clear for World Court of Justice under UNO.

Views of the peoples of India and Pakistan
For better assessment of the situation we should also have a look on the views of People of India and Pakistan. On the basis of another survey*** (conducted by a close aide of the author) the following views were ascertained:

Considering Kashmir issue the main point of conflict between India and Pakistan 47.5% Indian respondents’ offer for solution is to give whole of Kashmir to India; 32.5% Indian respondents’ offer for solution was for settling Loc as International boundary; War can solve the problem is the view of 12.5% Indian respondents. Whereas, 29.72% Pakistani respondents wanted to give whole of Kashmir to Pakistan; 54% was in favour of Plebiscite in Kashmir and 16.20 % thought of making Kashmir an independent state (Here Plebiscite has only two options -- Merger with Pakistan or India).

Whether other states or international organizations should act as arbitrators to resolve Kashmir conflict: 27.5% Indian respondents are in favour of the proposal; where as 100% of the Pakistani respondents are in support of the proposal.


Kashmir: New Hopes and Aspirations

Of late we observe some positive actions on the part of Govt. of India, Govt. of Pakistan and also the Zihadi militants for adopting measures to restore normalcy in Kashmir. Cessation of sporadic border conflicts between India and Pakistan; allowing divided families of Kashmir (though in a restricted manner) to cross over the Loc to meet their friends and relatives on the other side; adoption of some other confidence building measures by the two governments fruitfully responded by most of the Zihadi groups declaring ‘Cease-Fire’ have raised lot of hopes for a negotiated settlement to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Not to let the hope slip into despair any proceeding for negotiated settlement has to be viewed in proper perspective.

When there are two different socio-political forces, having some common point of angularity in between them (in the context of Kashmir problem it is-- ‘conflict resolution’), interact with each other the resultant force emerges in the shape of a negotiated settlement. But when such forces are more than two emergence of a negotiated settlement gets complicated. In such case there will be lot of complexity to reach at a negotiated settlement. For resolution of conflict in Kashmir it is the real picture.

First and most formidable force in the context of Kashmir dispute is the people of Kashmir spreaded over three geopolitical divisions controlled by Pakistan, India and China. It is a matter of concern that this formidable force is not a monolithic entity. They are not only divided geopolitically but also divided in religion, caste, creed, culture and values. However, in spite of all these divisions and differences there also exists a common angularity in between them and it is their desire for self-governance or self-determination.

But with respect to Kashmir Dispute the three other forces i.e., India, Pakistan and China have almost a monolithic stand. Their stand is to keep Kashmir or part of it under their occupation and possession. Here is the crux of the problem and it reasons for the failure of all the conflict resolution processes concerning Kashmir dispute initiated during the span of last sixty years including all the UNO resolutions adopted so far.
NOTE*** The article by the author based on the survey results was published In an Indian National Daily ‘The Statesman on 14.11.2002. The other survey***was also published in ‘The Statesman’. The Details of the surveys attached separately at the end of this article as annexure.

UNO resolutions on Kashmir

A special mention about the UNO resolutions with respect to Kashmir dispute won’t be out of context here. Very recently UNO Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan admitted that UNO resolutions concerning Kashmir question was never obligatory or mandatory in nature. If one reads in between the lines of those resolutions one can hardly differ with the views of Mr. Kofi Annan. Further that neither Pakistan nor India ever would come forward to satisfy the conditions for proper implementation of the UNO resolutions. Those resolutions demand of Pakistan to withdraw all her army and other armed personnel aided and abetted by her from Kashmir (meaning Northern Area and ‘Azad Kashmir’). Without taking into much cognizance of the ‘Instrument of Accession’, claimed by India to has been executed between the ruler of the princely state of Kashmir and Govt. of India, UNO resolutions also demand of India to withdraw its army from Kashmir, however it allows India to maintain necessary forces there to help the local administration to maintain law and order situation in Kashmir. ‘Plebiscite’ (here the choices are limited to either joining with Pakistan or with India and nothing else) was the main dispensation to decide the political fate of Kashmir as a whole in those resolutions of UNO from which the Govt. of Pakistan as on date seems to have shifted its confidence. It is quite likely. If Pakistan conforms to the prerequisites of holding ‘Plebiscite’ in Kashmir they might run the risk of loosing control over Northern Areas and ‘Azad Kashmir’ presently under their occupation. And India, which is treating Kashmir as one of its several states, can never agree to the proposal for obvious reasons.

The people of Kashmir can never agree upon other proposal like Division of Kashmir between India and Pakistan along the existing Line of Control. To both, India and Pakistan, establishing total control over whole of Kashmir tantamount to the triumph of their patriotism and respective national chauvinism. Whoever in power tends to sacrifice it for the sake of a negotiated settlement might run the risk of loosing the confidence of voting populace of their respective countries whom both of them have been oxidising in this context for last sixty years.

Remembering the examples of division of Punjab and Bengal during so called independence of the subcontinent, as the history illustrates--a catastrophic experience ridden with slaughtering, displacement, riot, loot, arson of a large section of the populace and rape, molestation of a significant women section of unfortunate populace brought on, how can the people of Kashmir may agree to such proposal.

South Asian Stability Post President Bush’s Visit

Because of Washington’s role in the world arena under the leadership of President Bush to fulfill its imperialist role, the public sentiment in the subcontinent will never approve of Washington’s role as a mediator in the Kashmir problem. Moreover the track record of Washington as a mediator is not at all inspiring. And Washington has a declared policy against terrorism of Islamic fundamentalists. The Zihadi militants will never prefer Washington’s role as a mediator. The role of Washington as a mediator even after the well-trumpeted recent visit of President Bush in India and Pakistan have a potential of backfiring and thus may farther jeopardize the whole situation. Subsequent developments after the visit of Bush have proved without suspicion that Washington is more interested in the imperialist form of business and trade in the potential market of the subcontinent.

Looking beyond conventional ways of solution of Kashmir problem

In spite of all the complexities, serious and sincere efforts must have to be taken to resolve the issue by all the parties concerned. ‘Blood-haunting situation’ in Kashmir has to be diffused first. India, Pakistan and the Zihadi militant groups have the most vital role to play to eschew violence. They all should realise that none of them could advance single inch in their mission in an environment of turmoil, war, devastation, human right abuses, murder, rape and molestation over a land of unorthodox, simple, peace loving poor people needing concerted effort of immediate human development. Most likely such a situation continuing for so long a period has no parallel in the history of the world.

Eschewing of violence shall have to be followed by initiating the process so as to arrive at a position where the people of Kashmir spreaded over all the three geopolitical divisions can air their views and voices jointly and severally and give it a representative character.

The process might take a few more years and it has to be allowed by all the parties concerned. To facilitate the process during the said period:

Measures to be taken to ensure return of normalcy in the disputed and trouble-torn areas;
Right of expression, right to information and right of association to be guaranteed;

Political prisoners in all the parts of Kashmir shall have to be released;
Safe and honourable return of all the persons displaced from their respective places in Kashmir has to be organised;

Any encouragement for emigration of settlers in Kashmir from outside areas has to be stopped forthwith;

Proper and just rehabilitation of all the victimised persons irrespective of class, caste, area gender and religion have to be arranged for;

All hurdles to free travel across the Loc between the locals of all three parts of erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir have to be removed; but vigil should be there to thwart entry and exit of people with ulterior motive;

To maintain law and order situation in all the parts Role of Army, whatever is the nomenclature has to be done away with, Demilitarization is a must. Since the warlike situation will not be there reduction of armed forces from the Loc and other related areas should follow as a viable possibility;

Civil Society organisations, press and media should have free and unfettered right to monitor and report any breach of foregoing propositions and when any such breach is reported the administrative authorities in the concerned area should come forward for redress the same. Judiciary in all the divisions as it exists now should be allowed to play judicious democratic role.

How to ensure effective role of the People

As a part of the process of developing peoples’ initiative and to frame it in a representative character village and mahalla level committees in rural and urban areas respectively shall have to be formed, say after one year from the day when this new dispensation in search of peace become effective. It can be decided that these committees will be of similar nature in all the three geopolitical divisions and the representatives to these committee will be directly elected by the people of the respective areas with the right to recall. To start with, these committees will look after local administration, welfare and human development, under the direct supervision of the people there. The state authorities in different political divisions will help these committees to bloom full-fledged with requisite fund and other necessaries.

The next and final step in this regard will be, say after three years of free association, communication, exchange of views, exposure of ideas belief etc., to elect general representatives of the people in all the three administrative divisions of Kashmir. Representatives so elected will be assigned the task of deciding the fate of whole of Kashmir. If the representatives so elected arrive at a consensus decision they can well negotiate the matter with India, Pakistan and China to arrive at a final decision.

But if there is no consensus among the people of Kashmir or no decision follows from the negotiation between representatives of Kashmir, India, Pakistan and China-- the dispute should be settled through arbitration. ‘International Court of Justice ‘, more commonly known as ‘World Court’, at Hague may be approached for arbitration. International Court of Justice ‘, World court is the highest legal authority in the organisational set up of the United Nations. All the parties related to the dispute can raise their viewpoints there and wait for the decision.

The need of the hour is to initiate the process of conflict resolution for just and sustainable peace. All the conflicting parties should realise that unending conflict, cross firing and belligerency will ultimately peril their interest only. The civil society movement in the subcontinent in should take care so that all the disputing parties in Kashmir come to reasoning and submit before the process of conflict resolution.







Annexure -- 1
(Only for Reference and not a part of the main Article)
PROBLEMS OF J&K -- VIEWS OF THE J&K PEOPLE,
A STATISTICAL SURVEY
Response from peoples of Srinagar District.
By Amit Chakraborty
Total Population of Jammu & Kashmir 10069917. Population of Srinagar District 1183493. Male - 633360, Female - 550133. Urban - 930136 , Rural - 253357. Urban Male - 501727, Urban Female - 428409. Rural Male - 131633 , Rural Female - 121724. General rate of literacy in J&K for Male - 65.75% and for Female - 41.82%. Persons selected for Interview 1000 (1 for every 10,000 of the population in J&K). All the figures are based on Census of India 2001. It should be noted here that rate of literacy in J&K is much higher than the general average for India. And rate of unemloyment and poverty level is much below than the general average.

For Srinagar district no. of persons interviewed were 118. They were selected on random sampling basis maintaining the % divide of urban/rural, male/female, literate /illiterate, and worker/non-worker and cultivator/non-cultivator ratio. 95% of the Persons interviewed were Muslims, 4.24% were Hindu and 0.76% were Sikh. At present minority population in Srinagar will be hardly 3.5%.

In Srinagar, out of 118 persons interviewed, urban congregation was 92 and rural congregation was 26. Of which 63 were males and 55 were females and 64 were literates, 54 were illiterates. They were selected from all the 10 constituencies maintaining the demographic composition mentioned earlier. These 10 constituencies are Kangan, Ganderbal, Hazratbal , Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar, Habakadal, Amirakadal, Sonawar, and Batmallo. Out of these 10 constituencies Kangan and Ganderbal are the rural constituencies and Hazratbal is a semi-urban constituency.

Since persons aged 18+ can only vote in the general election as per Constitution of India persons interviewed were selected from the age group of 18 to 60+. They were also selected in a way so as to represent peoples of different income groups.

The total % basis response of the persons interviewed as per the set UESTIONNAIREsupplied to them is given below vis-a vis the options to the questions.

1. What do you feel the root cause of the problems in J&K
a) Dispute between India and Pakistan over the possession of J&K 22.03%
b) Authoritarian, undemocratic and oppressive role of Govt. of India in J&K 25.42%
c) Subversive activities being perpetrated at the behest of Pakistan. 2.54%
d) Contradiction between aspirations of peoples of J&K and the possessive
attitude of Govt. of India 26.27%
e) Contradiction between aspirations of peoples of J&K and the
possessive attitude of Govt. of Pakistan. 0.85%
f) Contradiction between aspirations of peoples of J&K and the
possessive attitude of Govt. of India and Govt. of Pakistan combined . 0.85%
g) Poverty, unemployment, illiteracy 17.80%

2. Peace, Prosperity and Progress and the democratic right of its people will
only be ensured if J&K
a) Remains as an integral part of India. 9.32%
b) Merges with Pakistan. 5.07%
c) Becomes a sovereign and independent state. 83.90%

3. To resolve the problem of J&K should it be partitioned between India and Pakistan on
the basis of actual control wielded by India and Pakistan respectively over J&K.
Yes 11.00%
No 89.00%
4. To resolve the problem of J&K should it be partitioned between India?
And Pakistan on the basis of Muslim majority area of J&K being given to
Pakistan and Hindu majority area is retained by India?
Yes 7.63%
No 91.53%
5. How should J&K problem be resolved?
a) Through war and terrorist activities. 1.69%
b) Through peaceful movement and dialogue. 91.53%

6. To resolve J&K problem who should enter into dialogue?
a) Govt. of India and Govt. of Pakistan. 3.37%
b) Govt. of India and peoples of J&K. 4.24%
c) Govt. of India, Govt. of Pakistan and the peoples of J&K. 89.84%

7. Was the recently held election in J&K a true process of choosing the
Representatives of peoples of J&K
Yes 6.78%
No 88.14%
Expected 5.08%

8. Which political party can represent the peoples of J&K best?
a) National Conference 2.54%
b) People’s Conference 0.85%
c) PDP 0.85%
d) Congress 1.70%
e) BJP 0.00%
f) The left parties 0.85%
g) Huriyat Conference 35.59%
h) None 57.63%

9) As you know the Huriyat Conference is an umbrella organisation of different groups and political bodies active in J&K -- can you name a particular group or political body that may represent the peoples of J&K in the best possible manner?
The Name Muslim League 1.70%
Jamat - E - Islam 0.85%
Mirwaiz Omar Farook 0.85%
[ * This question was asked when Huriyat Conference was mentioned as the answer to the previous question. Interestingly only four could give their choice. Others have no idea about the composition of Hurriyat Conference.]

10. Since none of the parties involved in J&K problem could make any headway
in resolving the problem till date do you think the problem be resolved through
Third party mediation or the problem be referred to World Court of Justice under
UNO for solution.
a) Third Party Mediation 23.73%
b) World Court of Justice 30.50%

( Please note the when % figure just not total to 100% the balance of the % has to be read as NO ANSWER)

Annexure -- 2
(Only for Reference and not a part of the main Article)

Rahul Mukherjee from India and Shafique Ahmed Khan from Pakistan are students of International Relations Departments, Webster University, USA, Thailand Campus. They conducted a random outline survey through e-mails to find out what the youth of India and Pakistan think of their present, past and future and of course on Kashmir question. Total respondents were 78 – 40 from India, 37 from Pakistan and 1 from Azad Kashmir (Pakistan occupied part of Kashmir). The participant from Azad Kashmir declined to fill in the survey form as he claimed himself to be neither a Pakistani nor an Indian but a Kashmiri.

The conductors of the survey do not claim their effort to be a very exhaustive one to give a general view of the youths of India and Pakistan as the participants were very small in number and were limited to cities and towns and having access to e-mails. However, when the elders of the two countries are busy these days in hair splitting analyses and discussions on all relevant issues keeping theirs eyes open to the possible outcome of the ensuing summit to be held between the head of the states of India and Pakistan, it is interesting to note the views of the youth of India and Pakistan even if it appears as a fractional view.

The detailed result of the survey was published in The Statesman, in their Kolkata edition of 10th July, 2001. In stead of reproducing the total survey we are restricting ourselves to the views related to Kashmir question only. And we have converted the figures to percentage basis for better understanding.



1. Considering Kashmir issue the main point of conflict between India and Pakistan
47.5% Indian respondents’ offer for solution was to give whole of Kashmir to India,
32.5% Indian respondents’ offer for solution was for settling LoC as International boundary,
War can solve the problem is the view of 12.5% Indian respondents,
5% Indian respondents thought of Plebiscite in Kashmir to be the only solution.
Whereas, 29.72% Pakistani respondents wanted to give whole of Kashmir to Pakistan ,
54% was in favour of Plebiscite in Kashmir and 16.20 % thought of making
Kashmir an independent state.
All the respondents considered that their offer for solution will be acceptable to both India and Pakistan.

2. What are the possible developments with respect to Kashmir dispute in foreseeable future:
Positive - 20% Indian respondents,
Negative - 55% Indian respondents and 56.75% Pakistani respondents,
Kashmir to India – 25% Indian respondents,
Kashmir to Pakistan – 43.24% Pakistani respondents.

3. Whether other states or international organizations should act as arbitrators to resolve Kashmir conflict:
27.5% Indian respondents are in favour of the proposal and 72.5% are against it.
100% Pakistani respondents are in favour of the proposal

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