Political Debacles

Abstract

Subsequent to the awakening of Kashmiri nationalism; pride in the unique cultural ethos; institution of a populist government headed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in Indian-administered J & K; bolstering of an alternative epistemology in the form of “Kashmiriyat”; and legitimization of progressive socialist measures in Indian-administered J & K; India agreed to hold a free and impartial plebiscite in the state. (After tremendous reluctance to accede to either the dominion of India or Pakistan, it became a hobson’s choice for the maharajah to sign the “Instrument of Accession” enabling the provisional accession of J & K to India. See Appendix A, 175–178). Initially, the prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, in tandem with the prime minister of Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, conceded the inviolable right of the people of J & K to chart their own political course At a mass public rally in Srinagar in 1948, Nehru, with the towering Abdullah by his side, solemnly promised to hold a plebiscite under United Nations auspices.

The works of Tariq Ali, Prem Nath Bazaz, Sumantra Bose, Jyoti Bhusan Dasgupta, Balraj Puri, and Victoria Schofield have influenced my conceptualization of the complexity of the Kashmir issue.