History’s Black Chapter The Truth Behind India’s Landing in Kashmir

History’s Black Chapter The Truth Behind India’s Landing in Kashmir

On certain dates, history does not only write it down on paper, but it carves into the hearts of nations. 27 Oct, 1947, is one such day to the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Not only the shifting of armies, a change in political pattern, but the moment when their destiny is snatched out of the hands of an entire people. India’s illegal annexation was framed as a legitimate acquisition and a necessary deployment of forces, an act that silenced the people’s voices, rights, and dignity for over seventy years. To them it is recalled in simple and painful memory as Black Day.


By Ilsa Azhar

The causes of this tragedy go back to the turbulent months of 1947. When the Britain left the sub-continent, princely states were left with the option either to join India or Pakistan, or in some conditions, to carry on as independent states. The state of Kashmir was a Muslim-majority state led by the Hindu ruling master Maharaja Hari Singh and it was at a crossroad.


The geographical set up, culture and the aspirations of the people of the state were natural inclination towards Pakistan, but the indecision of the Maharaja only enhanced the unrest. By October 1947, a widespread resistance had erupted against his autocratic rule. In panic and desperation, the Maharaja sought India’s military assistance, signing a controversial and widely contested “Instrument of Accession.” On 27 October, Indian forces were airlifted into Srinagar, marking the beginning of Kashmir’s long and disputed chapter under Indian control.


The so-called Instrument of Accession, invoked by India to justify its military presence in Kashmir, was an illegal and fabricated document signed without the consent of the Kashmiri people. No consultation or mandate was ever sought from them regarding their political future. The boots that landed in Srinagar on October 27, 1947, did not bring liberation, they marked the beginning of a people’s long struggle to reclaim their right to freedom.


The rest of the world was soon made aware of the crisis. The matter was presented to the United Nations Security Council that passed resolutions acknowledging Kashmir as disputed territory and that plebiscite should be organized in a free and fair manner. These resolutions have assured that Kashmiris will be allowed a choice at some point. Yet years have been wasted and those promises have not been met. India, in its turn, has consolidated its position in the valley and made it one of the most militarized zones in the world. The temporary landing of troops in 1947 has lasted this long.


That day has left a human toll till the present generation. Checkpoints, curfews, unlawful detentions and disappearances have almost become the norm. Whole families have been divided, children have been nurtured under the fear of guns and many voices have been quenched just to demand what was duly promised to them. October 27 does not mean anything in history books to Kashmiri’s it is a scar that never fades. It is commemorated every year with strikes, protests and activities of civil resistance, which preserves the spirit of self-determination in the face of huge odds.


Concern about the nature of the activities such as Black Day has become even more critical in recent years. On August 5, 2019, when India abrogated Article 370 and 35A, which took away autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir with restrictions, it was like the echoes of October 27 had once again struck in a new and a stronger way. Again, Kashmir was not informed in the decision making process of its future. Their voice was shut down once more. The betrayal that started in 1947 has only been enhanced by increased militarization, demographic anxieties and tilting of the rights violations since then.


On the 27th of October, the Black Day, Kashmiris do not just mourn but they remind themselves that they have not given up hope nor have they given up their struggle even after all these years. It is there to remind the world that the Conflict is not just a territorial dispute over two states but a debate of justice to a people denied access to their fundamental rights since more than seventy years. Black Day can be described as more than a day of grief because it is an ongoing reminder of what Kashmir has struggled to do all the years of being an ignored people demanding justice to reclaim their dignity, identity and right to self-determination.


Each year the 27th of October rolls around, and Kashmir is heard once more not through silence, but through defiance and not through despair, but through endurance. It is the roar of people who want to remind the world that the promises given to them cannot be forgotten, rights that are denied cannot be put under a blanket of force. It is the echo of a past that generations in spite of oppression preserved the light of freedom. Black Day, thus, is not only a reminder of what has been taken away, but a promise to what will have to be reclaimed in the future again- the right of Kashmiris to choose their own destiny in peace with dignity.

The author is a student of International Relations at International Islamic University Islamabad currently as intern at Kashmir Institute of International Relations.

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