Book Review [130] : Kishtwar Cauldron - The Struggle Against ISI's Ethnic Cleansing

When Pakistan sponsored terrorists planned to ethnically cleanse Doda-Kishtwar region by massacring minority community (mainly Dogras) in large numbers in late 90s and early 2000s, basically It was a plan to replicate the-successful-ethnic-cleansing-of-Kashmiri-Pundits from valley model of 1990-91 in Doda-Kisthwar region, the Indian Army and the people gave Pakistan a fitting reply by exterminating the terrorists.

'Kishtwar Cauldron' by Major General (retd) G D Baskshi is very fine record of his tenure in Doda-Kishtwar region and it helps in great details to understand the designs of Paksitan.

The story that the electoral malpractices of the 1988 elections in J&K were the root cause of the insurgency is a kind of a cruel joke. Pakistan cleverly planned its master plan of Kashmir much earlier. It was the plan of President Zia ul Haq to use Afghanistan Mujahideen kind of extremists in Kashmir. As Pakistan was helping/assisting US so it thought US would not opposed it.

ISI sent few thousands agents/trained people to provide an extreme interpretation of Islam and to twist it for Pakistan’s political advantage. The JKLF started as Pakistan sponsored organization but ISI did not like its pro-Independence stance and ISI helped Hizbul Mujahideen to wipe out JKLF by 1995. Indian forces made full use of this fratricidal struggle.  Indian Army checked the rise of terrorism and infiltration and elections were conducted in 1996 (both Assembly and Parliamentary). The fencing on LOC started in 2003 and completed by 2005. This drastically reduced the infiltration. 

The story of Doda-Kishtwar region is bit different. Doda before its division used to be a huge district with more than 11,000 sq kms. Now it has an area of 2300 sq km and Kishtwar district has about 7800 sq km. It has rugged and snow peaked mountains. In south it touches HP, in east it touches Kargil district and in west it is bounded by Pir Panjal range. Kashmiri terrorists first came to Doda in 1991 to escape the pressure of Indian Army. Doda region did not have any army presence that time. Soon ISI realized the importance of this region. Terrorists started using its high pastures as safe haven and often found shelters with Gujjar and Bakarwal communities.  In 1993 the terrorists carried out the massacre of 14 Hindus in a bus near Hasti near Kishtwar. By 1994 the civilian administration was fully paralyzed and terrorism reached its peak in Doda. 800 Dogra families migrated to HP. Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF were allocated to his region. To prevent mass migration of the Dogra minority, the Village Defence Committee (VDC) was revived and some 330 villages were brought under the protection of VDCs by issuing weapons (mainly archaic but sturdy 303 rifle) to local Hindu youths and the ex servicemen of these villages. The massacres of Dogras resumed after some lull in 1995 and 1996. In July 1998 about 64 Dogras were massacred at three places. There was a kind of cat and mouse game between government and terrorists and Dogras were caught in between. The massacres continued unabated and about 50 Dogras were killed in 2000. From 1993-2001 a total of 229 Dogras were systematically massacred in this region in order to cause ethnic cleansing of this region. The Human Rights body did not utter a single word on this brutal attempt of ethnic cleansing.

Major General (retd) G D Bakshi was appointed sector commander of this region in Oct 2000. He immediately brought situation under control. The tide turned in 2001. 13 Hindus (Dogras) including women and children were mercilessly killed by the terrorists in August 2001 in Kishtwar. General Bakshi took it very seriously and used all the forces under his disposal to track down the terrorists and by September 2001 all the terrorists involved in this massacre were extirpated. There was no massacre of minorities after Sept 2001 in this region.

Its a very good book to understand the brutal designs of Pakistan and home grown terrorists and their sympathizers from this state. Its a common saying that if you can see your enemy you can kill it but if you cant understand your enemy then you cant defeat it.

Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Review [129] : Kashmir - The unwritten history

Every civilization has a love that warms its heart, for India it is Kashmir. There are large number of books available on Kashmir crisis and i have had read many - The Meadow, War and Diplomacy in Kashmir (1947-48) etc. 'Kashmir : The unwritten history' by Christopher Snedden claims that his history of Kashmir is the unwritten history. This book implicates India and erstwhile Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh for falsely accusing the Pakhtuns for invading Kashmir and ignoring the uprising of Poonchi Muslims against the 'repressive' regime of Maharaja. 

This book blames highly polarized communal environment in Jammu province, in the midst of bloody partition of India, for the Kashmir crisis. The author accuses Maharaja of Kashmir for carrying out or passively supporting the massacre of Muslims in eastern part of Jammu province but he does not give any evidence for this alleged massacre. According to him and his political sources more than 200,000 Muslims were killed in eastern part of Jammu. He also accepts that non-Muslims were also killed in western part of Jammu in equal numbers - in region around Poonch, Mirpur etc, and there are more than solid proofs about this massacre. Hindu and Sikh Men were killed and their women were taken as booties and sold in the market for few hundred rupees. The best proof lies in the current demographic profile of these regions. Eastern Jammu and the PoK have absolutely negligible non-Muslims while western Jammu (or the Jammu Province) of India has more than 25% Muslims.
The author gives in details the demographic profile of Jammu province as per the 1941 census. Muslims in Jammu (that included Poonch, Mirpur etc) were about 61% and were about 77% of the total population of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu was the largest province in terms of population in 1941. The alleged 'repressive' regime of Maharaja as well as the pro Pakistan sentiments were the main reasons behind the uprising of Poonchi Muslims against the Maharaja regime. This uprising began in Sept 1947 and it declared the formation of Azad Kashmir government on 24th Oct 1947. The Pakhtun raiders started their invasion of Kashmir on 22nd Oct and by 26th Oct Kashmir was in precarious situation. The state forces were poorly equipped and thinly stretched to defend Kashmir and were fighting a losing battle. In the end Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession on 26th October and Indian forces started their movement on 27th Oct and this checked the progress of the raiders. Had India not gone to United Nations our forces would have certainly liberated the entire PoK. The author accuses India for unfairly accusing the raiders and ignoring totally the uprising led by the natives of Kashmir.
After this the book talks in detail about the politics of Azad Kashmir and its government. Till 1970 it did not have even proto autonomy, the 1970 Act gave this region a kind of legislative assembly and a President. Despite of all the political experiments this region never experienced the kind of democracy its Indian counter part experiences.
This book is full of repetitions and redundancies and Author has failed to do justice with the topic. Its a good read only for Pakistani propagandists and their supporters in India. For an Indian this book should be used as an important tool in the arsenal to counter any Pakistan propaganda.
Recommended (6/10)

Book Review [106] : War and Diplomacy in Kashmir (1947-48)

C. Dasgupta is a highly reputed former Indian Foreign Service Officer. He has had a highly distinguished career including two very important assignments - Ambassador to China (1993-93) and EU (1996-2000). 'War and Diplomacy in Kashmir (1947-48)' is a work of meticulous research and understanding of the Geo-politics of the 1947-48. We often blame Pundit Nehru for the Kashmir mess without understanding the intricacies and complexities of the Kashmir problem. This book provides indepth details about the military leadership of the subcontinent and the role played by the British High Commissioners based in India and Pakistan and the British Ministers based in Britain and UN. 

The first Chief of Indian Army (after Independence), General Rob Lockhart,  was not serious about his responsibilites towards India, he was loyal only to the British interests. He betrayed the cause of India and that cost India some vital advantage in Kashmir. This quisling had the prior information about the tribal invasion of Kashmir but he remained silent. He was sacked by Pundit Nehru when he became aware of his betrayal. Lord Mountbatten also played his part in defending British interests in the subcontinent instead of defending Indian interests. It was so sad to learn that the very important Defence Committee of the Indian cabinet was headed by Lord Mountbatten instead of Indian PM. Lord Mountbatten effectively used this position to slow and check Indian advances in Jammu and Kashmir. This effectively gave serious edge to Pakistan. Indian leadership tried hard to expel invaders from Jammu and Kahsmir but was betrayed at every occasion by the British officials of Independent India. 

Britain was more interested in securing the good will of Muslim world which she thought was getting hostile to her in the wake of Palestine crisis. The second important aspect of Britain tilt towards Pakistan was the location of Pakistan with respect to USSR and oil deposits of middle east. Britain and her allies effectively negated India's position in the UN Security Council though USA to a certain extent remained neutral and China bit pro India. This book is a must read book.

In the last i would like to pay my respects to our great soldiers and people of Kashmir who fought the invaders and sacrificed their everything. We shall never forget their sacrifices and the sacrifice of Brigadier Rajinder Singh (the savior of Kashmir), Lt. Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai (who secured the valley), General Cariappa and General Thimayya who led the Indian counter attack, Major Somnath Sharma who sacrificed his life defending Kashmir and numerous others. 

Highly Recommended (8/10)