Author:
Publication: Sify.com
Date: August 15, 2007
URL: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14510842
The Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Gen. S
K Sinha, has said it was a pity that India "has been apologetic and defensive
about its position on Kashmir" since 1947.
Speaking at the launch of a book on Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, on August
13, 2007 General Sinha asserted that all of Kashmir, including the 'Northern
Areas' and 'Azad Kashmir' were an integral part of India, and that this position
was justified both morally as well as legally.
It was legally a part of India because its
ruler signed the Instrument of Accession, he said, noting that Pakistan's
founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, had himself stated that the paramountcy in the
case of States would rest with the rulers, as he expected Hyderabad - a State
of the size of France - to accede to Pakistan.
The Instrument of Accession which the Maharaja signed was exactly the same
as that signed by 500 other Princely States, and had no mention of a referendum,
he said. Even the UN resolution which called for ascertaining the will of
the people had to be implemented in three phases: A ceasefire was to be implemented
in the First Phase, all Pakistani raiders and soldiers were to be withdrawn
in the next phase, and only then were the people's views to be ascertained.
Edited by IDSA Deputy Director Virendra Gupta
and Commander Alok Bansal, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: The Untold Story, deals
with the circumstances prevailing during Pakistan's occupation of the territory,
its current legal status and the reasons behind the growing popular discontent,
particularly in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Addressing the gathering comprising senior
government and defence officials and the media, General Sinha said he was
happy that the book was edited by a defence officer and an officer of the
foreign service, because he has always believed that defence and diplomacy
were two sides of the same coin, and one of the lasting lessons of the 1962
war with China was that the two had to move in tandem.
General Sinha also talked of Pakistani attempts
to change the demography in 'Northern Areas' by facilitating the migration
of outsiders to the region.
He said that he was a strong proponent of
starting Kargil-Skardu bus service, not for any political reasons but on humanitarian
grounds, because it would unite more divided families than any other bus service
connecting Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Noting that whenever any Pakistani dignitaries
visited New Delhi, separatist leaders from the Kashmir Valley would come and
visit them at the Pakistani Embassy, he argued that Indian leaders visiting
Islamabad and the Indian High Commission should also be allowed to interact
with leaders from the 'Northern Areas.'
According to him, democracy had been derailed
in Pakistan, throttled in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and never existed in
the 'Northern Areas', the 'last surviving colony in the world.'
The function, chaired by the Centre's Special
Interlocutor on Kashmir, N N Vohra, was also attended by Shafqat Inqalabi,
the spokesperson of Balwaristan National Front from the 'Northern Areas' of
Kashmir, who has contributed a chapter to the book on the economic exploitation
of Gilgit-Balistan.
