Strife in Azad Kashmir

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

والصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

The recent flareup in Azad Kashmir is an example of fitna among the Muslims stirred by our enemy, in this case, the Republic of India.

Kashmir is a critical region in the north of the Indian Subcontinent. The Muslims of that region suffered immensely during Dogra Hindu rule, which by the grace of Allah came to an end in 1947 with the establishment of Pakistan. The Dogra princely state encompassed many territories which together composed this sensitive and beautiful region, including the Kashmir Valley, Jammu, Ladakh, the Hunza Valley, Gilgit, and Chitral. As such, the region was and continues to be religiously, ethnically and linguistically diverse. 

Sunni Muslims are the majority in the Kashmir Valley, while Ladakh is predominantly Tibetan Buddhist, Jammu is majority Hindu, the Hunza Valley and parts of Gilgit are majority Ismaili (worshipers of the Aga Khan), and the region known as Baltistan is mostly Twelver Shia.

While Kashmiris are perhaps the most important ethnic group, there are other ethnic groups, including the Shina who are also Sunni Muslims, Potohari and Gojri communities that predominate in today’s Azad Kashmir, likewise Sunni Muslim, the Baltis who are Twelver Shia, Dogras who tend to be Hindu, Ladakhi Buddhists, and the Wakhi, Kho, and Burusho ethnic groups which are Ismaili. 

The region is hotly contested between Islamic Pakistan and Hindu India, with the latter tragically in control of the Kashmir Valley and the capital city of Srinagar, a region that is almost entirely Muslim. Both nations have fought three major wars (1947-1948, 1965, 1971) and many skirmishes for control of the region after the Dogra Maharaja, Hari Singh, treacherously acceded his princely state to India instead of Pakistan.

Qaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, may Allah have mercy on his soul, famously and rightly stated that Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein. While some weak-minded and cowardly people argue that Pakistan should surrender its claim to Kashmir and recognize India’s sovereignty over it in the interest of peace and, according to them, because the Kashmir Valley is not a strategically important location, the founder of Pakistan knew better and was endowed with both wisdom and honor when he proclaimed that Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein. Indeed, the very name Pakistan, based on an acronym, has its K to represent the province of Kashmir. Pakistan is therefore incomplete without the entirely of Kashmir being within its borders.

But as for those regions, though historically part of the Dogra ruled princely state of Kashmir, such as Ladakh and the area of Jammu, it is not that vital for Pakistan to gain control of them because these are majority non-Muslim areas.

Ladakh is mostly Buddhist, but there is a significant Balti Shia community present there. The problem is these Shia in Ladakh are totally loyal to the Republic of India, even more so than the Buddhists! It confirms my thesis that non-Sunni schismatics can never be trusted, they lack loyalty to the Ummah and often serve as an instrument of the external enemies of Islam and Muslims to sabotage us from within.

Wanting to replicate its apparently effective strategy in making dissension in Baluchistan, India’s RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) is surely involved in encouraging the current strife in Azad Kashmir.

The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) is the face of this friction in Azad Kashmir. Along with demands for relief in the soaring price of wheat and electricity, the JAAC has also riled up some of the people to express their stern opposition to Azad Kashmir’s legislature having twelve out of the fifty-three seats reserved for the refugees and diaspora communities that entered Pakistan from Kashmir Valley and Jammu. Six of those seats are for the ethnic Kashmiri refugees and the other six are for the Muslim refugees of Jammu.

The JAAC says that reserving twelve seats for the refugees is unjust and hugely disproportional to their actual numbers in Azad Kashmir. It is true that much of the Kashmiri diaspora do not live in Azad Kashmir proper but moved on to the larger urban centers elsewhere in Pakistan.

But the JAAC is making needless trouble on this issue given that the Kashmiri refugees and diaspora in Pakistan broadly have the same interests and political sense as the rest of the population. One can even argue that as people who actively chose to leave their homes behind in order to live in Pakistan they are even more loyal to Pakistan, and less likely to prioritize narrow ethnic concerns in electoral politics.

These twelve reserved seats are protected by the Constitution, and part of their rationale is to serve as a gesture of goodwill, to illustrate to the Kashmiri Muslims presently oppressed under Indian military occupation that Pakistan cares for them and will treat them with brotherly preference if they should ever become part of Pakistan.

This reflects the spirit of the warm welcome, fraternity and favor the Ansar of Medina showed the Muhajirin who emigrated to Medina from Mecca along with the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Rather than express discontent over such a minor issue as the number of reserved seats for Kashmiri refugees in the Azad Kashmir legislature, the Potohari, Gojri and other locals of Azad Kashmir should adopt the same attitude as the blessed Ansar of Medina, may Allah be pleased with them.

Presently, the State in Pakistan is struggling to overcome many gigantic problems facing the country, especially economic problems and the increasing aggression of a fascist, Hinduized India. Despite legitimate economic and political grievances, Pakistanis must patiently endure and steer clear of any political agitation that will doubtlessly be exploited by India and her RAW to weaken Pakistan from within.