KASHMIR SITUATION

NC: Views of Farooq Abdullah

We have lived in isolation for too long. We have maintained our identity and within that identity we have to be part of the nation. We have to be part of the federal structure that is coining. Even if there is a BIP Government in New Delhi. We will join hands with it.

Joining the UF does not mean that we are giving up what west and for that is autonomy. We are not going to give up fight for autonomy. And the Gowda Government’s own Common Minimum Programme (CMP) has unilaterally promised autonomy to the stale.

Granting autonomy is the only sensible way to wean the Kashmiris without further bloodshed.

I know full well (UF's) commitment to a federal lndia. We are going to start right from the time of accession up till the 1975Indira-Sheikh accord. We will examine the entire gamut and formulate our case within one year to take it up with the Centre.

The Karan Singh Committee will identify the features that we want back. And. I have to restore the honour of my people. Even before the Centre acts, my government would provide internal autonomy to all three regions of the state within a year. Unless we do it, we cannot back our claims on federalism.(I have) a mandate for autonomy.

MEA: S.G. G.S. Bajpai's Letter to Chairman of UNICEP on Plebiscite,

23 December, 1948

On the basis of the explanation given by you of the Commission’s Plebiscite proposals and the understanding arrived at in the course of the conversations between you and the Prime Minister, the Government of India, animated by a sincere desire for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir

dispute and by their willingness to assist the United Nations Commission in achieving this objective, have decided to accept the proposals.

As you yourself said; the appointment of a Plebiscite Administrator will take some time. The Government of India have no objection to the preliminaries of choosing a person of high international standing and commanding general confidence being started, but they would prefer the proceedings to be kept confidential for the time being. No public announcement of the name of the person selected should be made without prior consultation with them.

My Government would be glad to be informed, if necessary confidentially of the reply of the Government of Pakistan to the Commission's proposals. That Government should not be informed of the Government of India’s acceptance until after it has communicated its reply

to Your Excellency.

How Much Autonomy? Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 28 Nov., 96

The demand for more autonomy not only figures high on the National Conference manifesto in the recent elections. but also has been the focus of a growing consensus among most political parties. What was at issue. However. Was the quantum of autonomy and its constitutional fall-out. On this, there exists a fair amount of differences of perception and interpretation. The challenge... is in coming up with an autonomy package that satisfies the local aspirations without harming the complex texture of the relationship between the State and the Indian Union. Dr. Karan Singh. Should be able to steer the course of the committee through the various anomalies and pitfalls that mark the uneven landscape of the autonomy debate..

The terms of reference require it to go through the whole gamut of Kashmir's evolving relationship with the Centre beginning with the Instrument of Accession. The Chief Minister has already appointed another panel to suggest the framework for greater autonomy to the three regions. The recommendations of the two panels will have to be seen in their complementarities In that sense, the two panels might eventually have to work in tandem.

Fragile, Handle With Care Editorial, The Pioneer, 28 November, 1996

What is at stake is not just the relations between one state and the rest of the country, but also the future of our federal polity with States increasingly clamouring for political and financial autonomy. Unfortunately, despite their wide acceptability, the recommendations of the

Sarkaria Commission continues to gather dust further fuelling the distrust between the Centre and states. The Karan Singh panel thus has an onerous responsibility. It has the paradoxical potential of finding a lasting peace and opening a Pandora's Box. Hopefully it will take a

Comprehensive view.

The Karan Singh panel will do a great service to the nation if it buries once and for all the ghost of the past.

Gandhiji on Kashmir Situation, 1947 2 November, 1947

"I could not escape the conclusion that the Pakistan Government was directly or indirectly encouraging the raid. The Prime Minister was reported openly to have encouraged the raid and even appealed to the Islamic world for help. Then he had seen in the press that Pandit Nehru

Government was accused of fraud in that assistance was being sent to Kashmir and that accession was being plotted for some time. He was amazed at such reckless charges made by a Pakistan Minister against the Government of a sister dominion.