The division of India in 1947 in the name of religion was the greatest tragedy in the history of the sub-continent and the Kashmir problem is its outcome. After the first Kashmir war in 1947-48, the State stands  divided in two parts by  a ceasefire line which was renamed “Line  of  Control” after  Indo-Pak war of  1971. It has disintegrated the State and its people beyond any explanation. The people of the State are facing  unending miseries from the day ceasefire line was   drawn on 1st January, 1949.
Before this  tragedy, the people of the State were fighting for their rights which were usurped some 400 years back from the day when 3rd Mughal emperor of India Jalal-ud-Din Mohammad Akbar annexed Kashmir with his Mughal Kingdom in 1587 by treacherous means and methods.
After  Indian independence in August 1947 and creation of Pakistan on   14th August, 1947, the political leaders of both the countries  wanted  to see Jammu & Kashmir State  becoming  the part of their country. India wanted to have Kashmir  for it being a bastion of  true secularism, and  Pakistan  wanted  to have it for being a Muslim majority area, while as  people of the State were fighting for  restoration  of their own rights within the precincts  of  Jammu & Kashmir State. They  were in no case party to the partition of India which was the making and creation of the political leaders of Indian subcontinent who divided their home of their own.
Presently our State and its  people have  been engulfed  and caught in a whirlpool caused by political and ideological differences of two countries. The people of this state are suffering for no fault of theirs. The best way for coming out  from  this  vortex  is that  the people of the State shall have to tread on  the path of peace and unity among themselves.
The best solution of this problem is that, the divided State  be reunited as it stood on 15th August 1947 during  last Maharajas’  time. It should be treated as a “Neutral Zone” as a free country with a democratic, progressive political system with religious freedom for all who inhabit this land, in a federal system of government with regional autonomy for all the four regions of  Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Gilgat Baltistan; with a single parliament  for representing the people of the entire  State of Jammu Kashmir which is its official name for its entity and unity. 
This Neutral Zone as a free country shall have to establish friendly relations with all its neighbouring countries touching the borders of the State. As they are equally the members of the United Nations Organization, they shall have to guarantee the neutrality of Jammu and Kashmir State through United Nations Organization where the case of Kashmir is yet pending for last 66 years for the settlement of the fate and future of the State and its people. The State need not to have any membership of UNO. Geographically, the State of Jammu & Kashmir has been a part and parcel of the Indian Sub-continent from thousands of years. The State and its people shall have to play a role by becoming a bridge between India and Pakistan and they shall have to keep brotherly relation with both of them.
 We the people of Jammu & Kashmir State want to see India and Pakistan as friend, not enemies. Once that is guaranteed, the rest will follow.

(Prof. A Rashid is a researcher. He has been working on the Problem of Kashmir for the last 44 years)
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Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
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