GAW KADAL MASSACRE-KILLING EVEN INJURED-  AND THEY CALL THEMSELVES BRAVE

(By Abdul Majid Zargar)

The Killing of January 21^st 1990 at Gaw Kadal bridge, in Srinagar Qualifies as the first major & worst slaughter of Kashmiri Muslims by trigger-happy  Indian forces. In this incident the number of Killed varies from 52 to 100-Some by direct firing & others by drowning after they jumped into the river, a tributary of river Jehlum, out of fear. In that respect it bears resemblance to massacre at Jallianwallah Bagh where many protestors  died by jumping into the nearby well.

The firing on the peaceful protestors  , who were protesting  unauthorized searches, massive arrests &  molestation of women committed on the previous day during a search & cordon operation by the Indian security forces, was directed by CRPF-an Indian Para Military police force,   under the guidance & direction of a local police Officer- Allah Baksh  who later inherited a sobriquet name “General Dyer”-the officer who ordered indiscriminate firing on innocent Indian protestors at Amritsar’s Jallianwallah Bagh. Says Khurram, the award winning human rights activist, whose grandfather was also killed in this incident “I was 14 years of age then, and the man behind that massacre (Allah Baksh) lived next door. It was a torture to see him every day. As a young boy, I had decided to take revenge on him, but then, as I grew up, I realized that the greatest revenge would be fighting for justice,”. Allah Baksh died a year ago.

Writes Balraj Puri, a Jammu based political activist, in his book, “Kashmir Insurgency and After on page 65, “Soon after the imposition of Governor’s Rule, the people in Kashmir were administered a severe shock. At 5 a.m. on 20 January 1990, security forces cracked down on a part of Srinagar city, conducted a house-to-house search and rounded up over three hundred persons, most of whom were, however, released later.”
Recalling his meeting with various effected families immediately after the incident puri says “People also complained that most of those arrested were beaten up or dragged out of their houses. In some cases, they were not even allowed to wear shoes and taken barefooted. The next day people were on the streets, defying curfew, to protest against the alleged excessive and use of force in the search operation and ill-treatment of women. Groups of demonstrators started from different parts of the city. They were not stopped en route but fired upon when most of them converged around Gaw Kadal.”

Writes Famous historian & Travel Writer William Dalrymple -“When I got to Srinagar the following day, I went straight to the city hospital. Every bed there was occupied and the overflow lined the corridors. One man, an educated and urbane city engineer named Farooq Ahmed, described how after the firing, the CRPF walked slowly forward across the bridge, finishing off those who were lying wounded on the ground. When the shooting began, Ahmed had fallen flat on his face and managed to escape completely unhurt. “Just as I was about to get up,” he told me, “I saw soldiers coming forward, shooting anyone who was injured. Someone pointed at me and shouted, ‘that man is alive,’ and a soldier began firing at me with a machine gun. I was hit four times in the back and twice in the arms.” Seeing that he was still alive, another soldier raised his gun, but the officer told him not to waste ammunition. “The man said I would anyway die soon.” –Brave Indian Soldiers indeed!

This incident also triggered the migration of Pandiths from Kashmir. The rumors were  strife that Jagmohan had advised them, through few select leaders, to leave Kashmir temporarily to Jammu so that Muslims could be dealt effectively. As Puri recalls “ During our  visit to Srinagar we also formed a joint committee of Kashmiri Muslims—former Chief Justice Mufti Bahauddin Farooqi and a leading advocate Ghulam Nabi Hagroo—and Kashmiri Pandit leader H N Jatoo to allay the apprehensions of Kashmiri Pandits about threat to their lives. We also were able to persuade some other Muslims leaders and priests to issue appeal to the Pandits not to migrate. Somehow our efforts did not succeed in preventing the mass migrations of the Pandits as contrary forces proved more effective.”

The biggest tribute to Gaw Kadal martyrs is the adoption of word “Gaw Kadal” by the “Urban dictionary” to mean “massacre of  a protesting crowd  with no means of escape”. It is now upto writers, both in Urdu & English to popularize its usage.

(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. Feed back at abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com)

MOUNTBATTEN, NEHRU & GURDASPUR

(By Abdul Majid Zargar)

This write-up is in response to Mr. B.R.Singh’s article “Kashmir, Gurdaspur, Nehru”

 which appeared in daily “Greater Kashmir” of 20^th April 2014.The author has suggested that in the partition of 1947,Mountbattan & Nehru had no hand in awarding Gurdaspur district to India.

Much of the meaningful information on the subject is contained in two books- One-“Time only to look forward”  written by Mountbatten himself and the other “Two Nations & Kashmir” by Lord Birdwood. The author is either not aware of these books or has wilfuly ignored them to promote a particular colored  discourse. Therefore, a point by point response is necessary & given hereunder:  

1.According to author, Out of four tehsils of Gurdaspur district, namely  Shakargarh, Gurdaspur,  Batala  & Pathankot, only one tehsil Shakargarh was Muslim Majority area. He is factually wrong .Infact only one Tehsil , namely Pathankot was predominantly Hindu while the other three districts were predominantly Muslim. Overall Gurdaspur district was predominantly Muslim with a 51.14% Majority as against 50.6% stated by the author. The difference  may not mean much-but such edgy figures have a psychological effect. A figure of 50.6% means more or less an even distribution while 51.14% means a clear majority.

 2. The author has referred to the draft wavel plan of 1946  in which District Gurdaspur was proposed to be granted to India.  True- but he has conveniently omitted to mention  that the said proposal was rejected in London after  protracted discussions & Gurdaspur bestowed  to Pakistan and hence included  in the award attached to the first Schedule of the Indian Independence Act 1947.This was a law to be followed meticulously by one & all  but unfortunately was not.

3. Once Indian Independence Act 1947 & its schedule became known to Indian leaders, they realized the major constraint of absence of land access corridor to Kashmir. Accordingly V.P. Menon, acting as  Constitutional advisor to Mountbatten, sent him a note which reads as  “It (Kashmir) does not lie in the bosom of Pakistan and it can claim an exit to India, especially if a portion of Gurdaspur district goes to India”. (see Vol XII of ‘The Transfer of Power’ series of documents. 151-p 214).

4.At his press conference on 4^th June , in answer to a question regarding provisional & final demarcations, Mountbatten, without any mandate or authority  announced  that the Boundary Commission would unlikely award the whole of Gurdaspur to Pakistan. (Time only to look forward- by Mountbatten –p.30).  This was a clear hint/direction  to Sir Cyril Redcliffe  of  what to do. In fact Ch. Muhammad Ali , one of the two joint secretaries on the Partition Council  vehemently protested this highly improper interference in Commission’s work.

5. After the award of three districts of Gurdaspur to India in flagrant violation to agreed norms of partition & principles of fair play, the reason given for changing the original award attached to Indian Independence Act, was because  of the location of  headwaters  of the Canals which irrigate the adjacent Amritsar District,  in the Gurdaspur district .This was a specious argument because the head-works of the “Upper Bari  Doab”  canal which irrigated much of the Lahore district was also located in the same Gurdaspur district.

6. According to Indian Journalist & now a BJP Spokesperson M.J.Akbar, Nehru would  continuously prod & persuade   Mountbatten  in private meetings to leave Gurdaspur in Indian hands . (Behind the Vale-Page 98). As official biographer of Nehru ( He wrote-Nehru-the making of India) Akbar  is  privy to much of the inside information. It is also an open secret that Nehru often exploited  his romantic  relations  with  Edwina Mountbatten  to influence her husband  Mountbatten to earn  favors, otherwise not due. According to latest research based on Archival Material in London, one of the reasons for Mountbatten to advance the date of Partition from June 1948 to August 1947 was to wean away her spouse from Nehru’s influence. Imagine more than a million innocent souls would have been saved on both sides of the border, by proper planning & deployment of Army,  had Nehru been more circumspect & discreet  in his conduct & not compelled Mountbatten to fast forward  the partition programme.

7. Last but not least, the author has referred to a meeting between Redcliffe  & Kuldip Nayyar, in which the former is reported to have denied  any kind of pressure from Mountbatten. And the same Redcliffe, when queried by Professor Zaidi of Pakistan four years earlier in 1967, says that he has destroyed all his papers pertaining to partition to keep validity of the award (Kashmir in conflict-by Victoria schofield –p 38).If redcliffe was so much concerned about the sanctity of the award, how come he reveals vital information to Nayyar?

(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. Email: abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com)

SARDAR PATEL- A MONSTER OR A MESSIAH

(By Abdul Majid Zargar)

The ruling  political party   at centre, Congress is in a mad race  with BJP to own & appropriate the legacy of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Independent  India’s first Home Minster also referred to as Iron Man of India. BJP’s Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi has even promised to collect iron from five hundred villages of India to erect a large Statue of Patel, to which Congress’s spokesman has satirically retorted. “First they(BJP) promised us a Ram Mandir. Then they sold bricks (referring to shilanyas). Now they will sell iron”.

If Congress had lived to its ideals of secularism & democracy propagated before & at the time of partition of sub-continent, then it should  be  ashamed of having in it’s fold a person like Sardar patel. But alas history has been distorted to convert a communal monster into a messiah.

Patel’s communal mindset & hatred against Indian Muslims can be measured from a debate in constituent assembly. Replying to a demand of  reservations for Muslims in India made by a member  Naziruddin Ahmed, Patel replied “You have got what you wanted. And remember, you are the people who are responsible for Pakistan, and not those who live in Pakistan. You led the agitation. What is it you want now? We do not want the country to be divided again” (Times of India, 29 August 1947).The sarcastic tone of this reply tells you all. Instead of being obliged to Muslims who preferred to stay back against heavy odds and made this country a truly secular one, Patel blames them for partition. He easily forgot his own role along with Nehru & Gandhi in repudiating  cabinet Mission plan which finally became a Raison d'etre for partition of the sub-continent.

 Immediately after Independence when Congress was at the helm, there was talk of a classified circular which directed that no Muslim be appointed to senior-level positions in the defence forces. (The Hindu- 19^th August 2009).  This circular was issued at the behest of  Patel as Deputy Prime  Minister . He also instituted a policy whereby government officers were expected to report Muslim personnel who were thought to be of "questionable patriotic value". This created  such a fear psychosis among  Muslim officers that many were  forced to leave India. Those left behind always thought of being under continuous surveillance, a syndrome they are still inflicted with. If you observe the behavior of some  top Indian Muslim bureaucrats posted  in Kashmir- you will notice the effects of this syndrome compelling them to overdo things which leads one to  feel that Hindu officers are better than Muslim ones.

Patel is credited with integration of  five hundred sixty two  princely states with the Indian union. But his means of doing so were coercive, undemocratic & foul . To obtain an instrument of merger from an unwilling  Raja of Alwar, Tej Singh Prabakar, Patel arrested  and falsely implicated him in an assassination plot of Mahtama Gandhi until he fell in line. Other Mahraja’s took the hint & made a beeline for mergers.  Once during the Kashmir debate in Constituent Assembly, Sheikh Abdullah in a mood of exasperation, walked out of parliament. Patel noticed it and sent Abdullah a message that he could walk out of Parliament but not be able to leave Delhi. Abdullah took the message & returned (Thematic Volumes on Patel-page 17).

Indian textbooks  show Sardar Patel as demi-god who created a unified India. The truth is more sordid. You will not find any mention of massacre of Muslims in Hyderabad & Jammu   in any standard history book. The window dressing of Patel’s misdeeds is complete. In respect of Hyderabad, which had declared independence instead of accession with India, Patel through his infamous police action is  directly responsible for  slaughter of around two lac Hyderabadi Muslims. The  Sunderlal commission enquiry report in this regard, which is believed to have  strongly  indicted  Patel, has not been made public till date. Writes  famous writer William Dalrymple In  his  book-The Age of Kali, “the Sunderlal report has been leaked and published abroad, and estimates that as many as 200,000 Hyderabadi Muslims were slaughtered.” Similar views have been expressed by Prof Cantwell Smith, in The Middle Eastern Journal, in 1950.

Being a willing partner with Dogra rulers  in massacre of Muslims in Jammu in 1947 to enforce a demographic change, Patel’s visit to Jammu was meant to  fastrack the pogrom. Writes Abdullah in his  book Aatish Chinar at Page 312 “On November 4 1947, Patel along with Mahraja of Patiala & Defence Minster Baldev Singh visited Jammu and had a  talk with Mahraja. On 5^th November a proclamation was made in the city informing the Muslims desiring to go to Pakistan to assemble at police lines. In response men, women & children came in large numbers. They were herded in  around forty trucks with each truck holding  around sixty  people. On reaching  a hill side near Samba, the young women were abducted while the rest were mowed down by  machine Guns already set up there”. Patel has   even been accused of allowing diversion of Govt. Arms & ammunition to RSS thugs who played a havoc with such arms (see Nehru’s letter to Patel dated 30^th December 1947).

Regarding treatment meted out to Muslims, Patel had few tiffs with  Abul Kalam Azad. The first such tiff occurred at Patel’s refusal to replace Delhi’s Sikh Police Commissioner, when he was clearly seen siding with  marauders  killing Muslim men & raping their women. On another occasion, Patel ignored Azad’s request to allot properties of departing Muslims to those  Muslims who had been dispossessed in other states but instead allotted these to incoming Hindu refugees.

Notwithstanding his many statements exhorting Hindu-Muslim unity, rights of minorities etc. which were all hog-wash meant for   public consumption, Patel In actual life was a proverbial wolf in lamb’s clothing.  Congress leaders need to revisit history before vying with BJP to own & appropriate his legacy.

(This article is dedicated to the memory of those innocents who were killed in Jammu in 1947 for no fault of theirs-Feed back at abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com)