Message of Rifah Party to the People of J& K by Usman Khalid

India having gone back on its agreement to hold a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, has conceded that the people would vote for Pakistan. Rifah Party would contend that India has conceded defeat and accept the decision of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to join Pakistan. We would like to amend the Constitution of Pakistan to include the state of Jammu and Kashmir and campaign to secure international support for it

 

It gives me great pleasure to address this seminar on the subject of the "Role of pro-freedom leaders vis a vis the Kashmir Issue".

I joined the Pakistan Army in 1951 as a young lad just over 16 years of age. I stood first in the Matriculation Examination of the Punjab University in 1950. I was looking forward to years more of intensive academic study but in 1951 India threatened to invade Pakistan because it thought it must punish Pakistan for its temerity to challenge Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. People of my age remember the clenched fist photograph of Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan that symbolised a resolute response from Pakistan if India invaded. The threatened invasion did not materialise but it induced me to think that the proper thing for a young man in such a situation was to fight, not just to study.

I learnt more as a soldier than I would have in any university. I am what I am because of 28 years of service in the Pakistan Army. To carry a gun for one's country is a profound privilege which has sadly been denied to my brothers in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. When they raise slogans for 'Azadi' and get gunned down for it, I feel how lucky I have been to be able to use my gun for the defence of my country and to protect fellow Pakistanis. I also got the opportunity to represent Pakistan in CENTO from 1966 to 1970 to argue the case for Jammu and Kashmir. On the battlefield as well as in diplomacy, I found that the Pakistanis were often unequal to the task. It is possible to argue that India is bigger and has more stamina to fight a long war, but we have been on the right and that must give us much more stamina to continue the fight.

Now that I am 75 years old, I believe that we indeed have more stamina to continue the struggle for liberation than India has to continue its oppression and occupation. Three generations of Kashmiris have been engaged in the fight and they have not relented. Few struggles for liberation have been as protracted as that of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. But successful conclusion of the struggle is not even in sight. I am from the same generation as Syed Ali Geelani. Like me he is surely wondering how can we do better. I believe we can. After all, India is not more powerful than the erstwhile Soviet Union or America and the Kashmiris are not as friendless as the resistance in Afghanistan. If the Afghans can succeed, so can we! I believe our Achilles' Heel has been the political leadership of Pakistan.

A year ago I learnt that I was suffering from cancer. I have since been operated upon and I do not know how much time I have; but it cannot be too long. I have been thinking long and hard what can be done. I have consulted friends in Pakistan and overseas and reached the conclusion that there is a need for a new political party in Pakistan. I have decided to form a political party - Rifah Party. A party with that name was founded in Turkey by Necmettin Erbakan. He won the elections under its flag and became the Prime Minister of Turkey. But the party and its founder were banned from politics by the Supreme Court of Turkey for not being 'secular enough'. Before that, Mr. Erbakan as Acting Prime Minister when Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was out of the country, ordered the invasion of Cyprus. The rest is history. We want the blessing of a leader like him. Mr. Erbakan is still alive and active; we want him to be the patron of Rifah Party of Pakistan. He is willing.

India having gone back on its agreement to hold a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, has conceded that the people would vote for Pakistan. Rifah Party would contend that India has conceded defeat and accept the decision of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to join Pakistan. We would like to amend the Constitution of Pakistan to include the state of Jammu and Kashmir and campaign to secure international support for it. Surely more states would support Pakistan on the issue than those who support Turkish presence in Cyprus. A diplomatic war would inevitably result. But given that the nuclear deterrent of Pakistan is in place and the people of Jammu and Kashmir are with Pakistan, the war would remain confined to Kashmir. And if India did invade Pakistan courting the risk of a nuclear war, it is my professional judgment that India would be defeated even in a conventional war. Unlike most politicians who say there can be no military solution to the imbroglio of Jammu and Kashmir, Rifah Party believes that India would concede the right of self-determination of Kashmiris if it fears defeat in war.

The liberation of Jammu and Kashmir has been the prime national objective of Pakistan since 1948. But Pakistan had not developed the doctrine, tactics and skills to wage a successful asymmetrical war in which the side on the right always wins. Now we have the wherewithal of fighting a successful asymmetrical war. All that we lack is political will. That is why it is necessary to have a political party that furnishes the requisite will and can mobilise public support. As a symbol of our resolve to liberate Jammu and Kashmir we would like to declare now that Syed Ali Geelani would be the President of Pakistan in a coalition in which Rifah party is a part. Since the constituency of the Rifah Party overlaps that of the Muslim League, it is not a vain hope. We hope Syed Ali Geelani would accept the office of the President of Pakistan in a government in which Rifah Party is a coalition partner.

May Allah SWT guide us and bless our efforts. Ameen