Across the Divide:
Part 2: The Pakistani model of freedom

Sultan Shahin, Asia Times
December 17, 2004

Part 1: Lifting the veil

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan-administered Kashmir - "If the freedom Kashmiris enjoy in Azad [Free] Kashmir is the model Pakistan has in mind for all Kashmiris, we would be better off under Indian occupation, though of course our demand is for independence from both," said a functionary of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Yasin Malik) group who greeted Indian journalists as soon as they entered Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). From here on, the journey was basically a discovery of how free the Pakistani model of Azad Kashmir really is.

The constitution of Pakistan maintains that the relationship of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan will be determined by the wishes of the people of the state. AJK thus is neither a province of Pakistan nor an independent entity. The AJK government headed by a prime minister has limited executive powers. The government of Pakistan maintains complete hold through the AJK Council. The prime minister of Pakistan chairs the 13-member council. The president of AJK is the vice chairman and the prime minister of AJK is a mere member of the council. Islamabad nominates six members to the council, who are either Pakistani federal ministers or members of the Pakistan National Assembly. The chairman, along with these six federal nominees, gives the government of Pakistan a majority in the council.

It is this council dominated by the prime minister of Pakistan that controls all development funds, while the AJK government's powers are limited to utilization of local revenue generated within the territory itself. The council's decisions are final and not subject to judicial review, either by the judiciary of Pakistan or by that of AJK. Power, however, still rests with the officials of Pakistan, and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad, with regard to all legislation and appointments, questions of general policy, budget, internal security and matters relating to civil supplies. The bureaucracy in AJK is on deputation from the federal government.

Although there is much political talk of the Kashmiris' right to self-determination, the slogan Kashmir banega Pakistan (Kashmir will become Pakistan) is written everywhere. Indeed, Part 2 of Section 7 of the constitution states, "No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to the ideology of the state's accession to Pakistan."

One of the biggest complaints in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, voiced by nationalist elements both in AJK and the Northern Areas (NA) [1], is the lack of political rights given to the people. Some console themselves with the thought that Pakistani people themselves have seldom had any political rights, as most of the time since independence in 1947 Pakistan has been ruled by military dictators. Pakistani Kashmiris were completely denied the franchise until 1960, as no elections were held until then. Indirect elections were then held between 1960 and 1975 through the system of so-called "basic democracies" propounded by then ruler General Ayub Khan.

There is a consensus among Kashmiri nationalist politicians and intellectuals that despite the nomenclature of Azad Kashmir, in effect it is governed through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs in Islamabad and through a chief adviser of the rank of joint secretary. The ministerial post has often been given to non-Kashmiri politicians from different areas of Pakistan with no knowledge or experience of administration in Kashmir. Pakistani officials have always dominated the Kashmir Council and occupied key decision-making positions. The chief secretary, the inspector general of police and the accountant general and finance secretary all come from Pakistan. Many in AJK believe the general officer commanding the Pakistani army at Murree has a big say in their affairs.

Limited political activity

JKLF leader Amanullah Khan points out that though there are seven or eight pro-independence parties in AJK, the state's constitution and election laws bar those who subscribe to the idea of an independent state. In the 1996 and 2001 elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK), parties and candidates who wished to participate on the platform of independence and refused to sign a declaration calling PAK's accession to Pakistan an article of faith were denied the right to field candidates.

The residents of PAK are given limited rights in Pakistan - they may neither vote in Pakistan's general elections nor hold any public office there, and they cannot take their grievances to the Pakistani Supreme Court. They do not have any rights on the Pakistani national budget.

One major complaint in both AJK and the NA is against the September issue of identity cards. These cards omitted a reference to their status as citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. The J&K National Students Federation and the All Parties National Alliance held a meeting at the Muzaffarabad Press Club on September 8 to protest against the issue of the cards. The outfits planned mass burning of the cards and mobilizing of people.

Though there has been no action so far on the question of the cards, AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat announced in reply to a question from Indian journalists that his ruling All-Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference party would amend the territory's constitution to abolish the clause requiring would-be legislators to pledge their belief in accession to Pakistan before contesting elections.

"We will abolish this restriction in the future," he said about the clause in Act 1974, or the interim constitution, that barred such candidates from election to the 48-seat legislative assembly who refused to make a pledge in their nomination papers about their belief in the accession of the Jammu and Kashmir state to Pakistan.

None of the top politicians the Indian journalists met could give us a coherent answer to the persistent question about the degree of autonomy that the so-called prime ministers, presidents and local administration officials enjoyed. We met PAK Premier Khan, President Major-General (retired) Anwar Khan and Speaker of the PAK assembly Sardar Sayyab Khalid. Each of them concentrated on the brutality with which the Indian army treats Kashmiris in the parts Delhi administers, but none could give a satisfactory answer to the question of why Pakistan was not able to create a model for a genuinely free Kashmir, even after 57 years of administration.

Their stock answer was that with Kashmir being a disputed territory, its affairs were in a state of flux; meaning that India was responsible for the lack of autonomy and development, even in the Pakistan-administered state.

Pakistani Kashmiris are clearly not prepared to buy these arguments. A host of nationalist organizations have started working in both AJK and the NA of PAK. Some of these are the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, the J&K Nationalist Liberation Front, the All Parties National Alliance, the Gilgit-Baltistan National Alliance, the Balawaristan National Front, the Karakoram National Movement and the Gilgit-Baltistan Thinkers Forum. Some of the major leaders of these groups, Shaukat Kashmiri of the United Kashmir Peoples National Front, for instance, live in exile after having faced harassment, torture and detention at the hands of the military establishment that actually rules these areas, particularly the NA. But Kashmiri's followers in both AJK and the NA appeared quite active and courageous enough to meet Indian journalists in both parts of PAK.

Note [1] Pakistan has divided the parts of Kashmir under its control into two administrative units: Azad (Free) Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) of 5,703 square kilometers and the Northern Areas (NA) of 72,496 square kilometers. (The total area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is 222,236 square kilometers. Pakistan controls approximately 78,000 square kilometers of the state.)

AJK, with an estimated population of 2.5 million, comprises six districts of Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Poonch, Bagh and Bhimber. The NA consist of the northwestern part of the erstwhile J&K state wedged between Afghanistan, North West Frontier Province in Pakistan and Xinjiang in China. It has a population of 2.8 million and has been divided administratively into the five districts of Gilgit, Shardu, Diamir, Ghizer and Ghanche.

The NA are described as a kaleidoscope of ethnic groups (Baltis, Shins, Yashkuns, Mughals, Kashmiris, Pathans, Ladakhis and Turks), of languages (Balti, Shina, Burushashki, Khowar, Wakhi, Turki, Tibeti, Pusto and Urdu) and sects (Shi'ites, Sunnis, Ismailis and Nurbakshis). Shi'ites constitute about 55% of the population, Sunnis 25%, Ismailis 15% and Nurbakhshis 5%.

AJK has always claimed the NA a part of the territory controlled by it in 1947. The NA have, however, been annexed by Pakistan and are under its administration, described by dissidents as "colonial and repressive". Regardless of their distinct cultural and historical identities, the dissidents point out, sub-units such as Nagar and Yasin have been unilaterally integrated within new district boundaries.

Many people in Pakistan and AJK have urged that the NA be treated as part of AJK. When the interim constitution of Azad Kashmir was proclaimed in 1947, the Muzaffarabad government took the line that the Karachi Agreement, which had temporarily placed the NA under the control of Pakistan, had lapsed and that this region should de jure and de facto revert to Azad Kashmir, to which it legitimately belonged. The federal government of Pakistan resisted that effort and has maintained that the NA are an integral part of Pakistan.

Pakistan maintains an ambivalent stand over the status of the NA in the context of its demand for the resolution of the "Kashmir issue" through a plebiscite as per United Nations resolutions of 1948. It has never clearly defined the constitutional status of the NA. Pakistan clearly desires to integrate the NA into Pakistan, distinguishing it from AJK. It seeks to differentiate between the NA and Kashmir in the expectation that, in case such a plebiscite is ever held, the NA would vote for Pakistan.

Nothing could make Pakistani intentions regarding Kashmir clearer than the ambiguity about the NA. Pakistan would clearly like to keep this mountainous portion of the state in its own control, even in the event of Kashmiris exercising their third option of independence, the other two options being accession to India or Pakistan.

Frustrated over the years with the stonewalling tactics of the government of Pakistan over granting autonomy to the NA, three public representatives of the NA, Malik Maskeen, Hajij Ameer Jan and Sheikh Abdul Aziz filed a write petition under Section 44 of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) Interim Constitution Act of 1974 with the POK high court on October 16, 1990. In its verdict on March 8, 1993, the full bench of the Azad Kashmir High Court declared the NA to be a part of the territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

The chief justice of the High Court who delivered this judgment, now-retired justice Majeed Malik, heads a political party in AJK, demanding independence from both India and Pakistan. He gave visiting Indian journalists a copy of his historic judgment published in the form of a book. This book has become a kind of Bible for independence-loving Kashmiris in Pakistan. People quote chapter and verse from the book to prove that the NA belongs to Kashmir and not to Pakistan. This is a point to which even pro-establishment politicians have to show allegiance. It is difficult to find anyone in AJK or the NA who doesn't agree with the High Court judgment.

Regardless of the wishes of the Kashmiri people, however, the people of the NA are ruled directly from Islamabad through what is called the Northern Areas Council, which is headed by Pakistan's minister for Kashmir affairs. A chief executive, normally a retired Pakistani army officer, appointed by Islamabad, is the local administrative head. The council is headed by the minister of Kashmir and Northern Areas and meets only when the minister convenes it.

Complicating the Kashmir tangle further, Pakistan unilaterally ceded a part of the state to China. They concluded a "Boundary Agreement" in March 1963 under which Pakistan handed over more than 5,180 square kilometers of territory under its occupation to China, ignoring India's objections. Pakistan gave away the entire area belonging to Hunza, south of the Mintaka Pass, to China. India challenged the locus standi of both parties to negotiate and conclude an agreement in respect of the territory of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, over which India had sovereign rights. India protested to both China and Pakistan, indicating that it would not recognize the illegal transfer of territory forming part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

Part 3: Gilgit Valley searches for identity

Sultan Shahin is a New Delhi-based writer.