Military deployment in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir

Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza

One of the major false and immensely negative propaganda that Pakistan has conducted against its neighbour India for the past 74 years is about an imaginary one million strong Indian military presence in the Kashmir Valley.

Before I go any further let me remind my noble reader that after Pakistan had invaded the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 22, 1947, a commission was set up by the UN Security Council (UNSC) in January 1948 that adopted resolution 39. The Commission was called the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP).

In its report dated April 21, 1948 the Council instructed the government of Pakistan "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" (read Pakistan Army).

The UNSC instructed India "to progressively...minimise strength required for the support of the civil power in the maintenance of law and order".

Did Pakistan withdraw its non-resident military personal from the territories it has since occupied? No.

Did India "progressively minimize (military) strength required for the support of the civil power in the maintenance of law and order?" No.

Here is why India has not been able to "progressively minimize" its (military) strength in the Vale of Kashmir.

Since 1947, Pakistan has never halted its interference and acts of sabotage to counter attempts made by the Indian government to bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir.

In order to instigate an uprising in Kashmir, Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar by infiltrating Pakistan army soldiers in plain clothes disguised as locals. This attempt failed miserably and led to the war of 1965.

Pakistan created proxies like the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and supplied them with arms to conduct acts of individual terrorism in the valley. In the 1970s, Pakistan proxy Maqbool Bhat was given the task to hijack an Indian airliner and force it to land at Lahore airport.

During the 1980s, Pakistan switched to jihadi terrorism and a new breed of proxies quickly replaced the JKLF.

In 1990, Pakistan-sponsored terrorist jihadi groups began a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits that led to the genocide of the Hindi minority living in the valley for centuries. And then Kargil happened in 1999.

Hence, two prerequisites set by the UNSC for India to "progressively minimize" her "strength" were never met. On the contrary, with each passing decade India was forced to increase its "strength" in the Valley "for the support of the civil power in the maintenance of law and order".

So what is the difference between Pakistan having its military presence in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir and India maintaining military "strength" in the valley? Well, the former is and remains an aggressor and an occupier, whilst the latter is the liberator and present in Kashmir "for the support of the civil power in the maintenance of law and order".

Unless Pakistan withdraws its military and non-residents from the occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, India is obliged by the dictates of the UNSC resolution number 47 to continue to provide "support of the civil power in the maintenance of law and order".

Currently, Pakistan has 1 AK brigade, 75 Brigade and 5AK Brigade in total three army brigades stationed in Muzaffarabad alone. The 2 AK brigade is stationed in Rawalakot, 6 and 88 two Brigades are stationed in Bagh and 32 AK brigade in Khel.

What is the purpose of these brigades? Apart from keeping us subjugated they supervise the launching pads for terrorist infiltration in the valley.

The recent attack on a bus caring policemen in which three policemen were killed and 11 wounded was not conducted from Delhi but Muzaffarabad, allegedly, under the supervision of the Lt General Sahir Shamshad Corps commander of 10 Corps who has earn himself the nickname "Butcher of Kashmir".

It is therefore crucial for bringing peace to the region that Pakistani army should be forced to withdraw and all terrorist jihadi training camps either be dismantled or blown to pieces by surgical strikes conducted by our air force.

Until that happens there could be no hope for our Jammu and Kashmir to return to peace.

(Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He currently lives in exile in the UK.)

Source: IANS