Thankfully, getting prompter in logging my daily entry.
Still in Mirpur at in-laws.
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We were clear that there were no snake bite vaccines in any health centre/hospital throughout AJK (even dog bite vaccines were rare if at all available). What we were not aware of was that these vaccines were present in Pakistani army camps. One such example emerged from Dawarandi Pakistani Army Camp today.
19 year old Bilal Nayazi s/o Abdus Sattar Nayazi of village Sehr Kohali was taken to the above mentioned army camp this morning after being bitten by a snake. However, the army there said they could not provide the vaccine without permission from their superiors, which it appears they were not ready to obtain. Hence, Bilal was then rushed to the tehsil headquarter hospital in Hajeera before being further referred to the district headquarter hospital in Rawalakot. Here, he has been given some other injections (not a vaccine against snake bites) and it is possible that he may survive the ordeal.
As one can gauge these are life or death scenarios and despite the elapse of 78 years, even basic services such as snake or even dog bite vaccines cannot be made available to the public here.
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The following questions were put to me by an academic in the UK on the 24th of July (last month). Given my commitments I had to delay my response till this morning.
Questions:
I’m trying to apply the theory of internal colonialism to AK, with the help of the following questions:
Pakistan in Azad Kashmir
1. How did Pakistan first enter Azad Kashmir?
2. How has Pakistan impacted on the culture and social organization - indigenous values, orientations, and ways of life - of Azad Kashmir?
3. How does Pakistan and its agents or representatives administer Azad Kashmir?
4. Are there any principles - of superiority and inferiority - utilised for social domination by Pakistan of Azad Kashmir?
5. Anything else?
Answers:
1) How did Pakistan first enter Azad Kashmir?
Initially, it entered in accordance with the Standstill Agreement (within the Indian Independence Act framework) post agreement on the 15th of August 1947 (having been offered to both India and Pakistan on the 12th of August, whereby the former deliberately stalled on deciding as subsequent events would reveal why). Although only a general announcement of this Standstill Agreement was published, indicating that some essential food items (salt), energy related oils (paraffin, petrol, diesel etc.) and postal services were to continue being sent/delivered to the State of Jammu & Kashmir (J & K for short here on), as they were during the British colonial era.
Within a few weeks Pakistan began dishonouring this agreement by stalling essential supplies, incidents of people being robbed enroute to or from Pakistan and J & K gradually became a regular occurrence. Pakistan also began quietly fomenting a rebellion (supplying arms and logistics) to the people of Poonch in particular. They also sent their own citizens to foment instability in the southern parts of what became AJK, in areas such as what constitute districts Mirpur and Bhimber today.
What were essentially a series of measures to destabilise what became the territory of AJK, gradually led to the execution of ‘Operation Gulmarg’ whereby thousands of tribal Pathan raiders (closely but subtly led and aided by Pakistan’s military which of course like the Indian army was led by the British) entered the State of J & K in the early hours of the morning on the 22nd of October 1947.
With this invasion, the Standstill Agreement had now categorically ended and Pakistan’s presence in what is today c. 35% of the State of J & K continues.
2) How has Pakistan impacted on the culture and social organization - indigenous values, orientations, and ways of life - of Azad Kashmir?
In every sense. There is no aspect of life from Security, Governance, Economy & Culture that Pakistan has not adversely affected. My own estimate is that we are losing c. $20 billion (US) dollars a year on account of their presence here in AJK (I’m not including the territory of Gilgit Baltistan in this estimate). Perhaps most critical is that they claim a monopoly on all forms of public narrative in the territory (including the past, present & future).
Geographically, we have become isolated from all directions (including Gilgit Baltistan) except where we are adjacent to the territory of Pakistan. Our access to the outside world is also only via Pakistan. In such circumstances, there is almost zero choice for the people of this territory to not adopt all aspects of life and administration, as are prevalent in the adjacent areas of Pakistan.
3) How does Pakistan and its agents or representatives administer Azad Kashmir?
They infiltrate into each and every aspect of life here and try to manipulate or influence anything that is of potential economic benefit to them, or what they perceive to be harmful to the suffocating monopoly of their imposed public narrative, which is essentially designed to keep people ignorant or complicit in their corruption.
If they can’t affect you in public spaces (by manipulating your access to economic opportunities or by marginalising you through use of targeted propaganda to defame you) they will try and influence somebody close to you in your family and create disruption, misunderstanding or fear in close members of your family, to ensure their ‘interests’ are not harmed.
4) Are there any principles - of superiority and inferiority - utilised for social domination by Pakistan of Azad Kashmir?
Pakistan’s main theme is Muslim/Non-Muslim (especially Hindus, then Jews and then Christians) presenting themselves as protectors of Muslims globally and especially in the region vis a vis India. It is a hate driven formula which ensures that no Non Muslim can possibly sustainably live in AJK.
They do pander to the historically dominant ruling tribes/clans of the region and try to ensure their complicity in whatever they do here. However, their major distinction of superior/inferior is based on who follows their narrative and who doesn’t. Whoever follows can expect to gain favour and whoever doesn’t will inevitably face their wrath.
5) Anything else?
To understand how Pakistan behaves in AJK or for that matter, how they operated in Bangladesh (although in this specific case they tried to use race and language to impose their advantage or supposed superiority), in Gilgit Baltistan or how they deal with Balochistan, Sindh, KPK or even areas in Southern Punjab; it is important to understand that Pakistan is essentially a country designed by Britain to be a conflict economy facilitator (Korean War 1950s, Afghanistan 1980s and 2000s) and not to develop indigenously as a self sufficient economy, utilising its abundant natural resources for its people which - if human capital were its priority – would have made Pakistan one of the most lucrative markets in the world.
The elite in Pakistan is primarily made up of those families which not only facilitated British colonialism but also facilitated all previous powers too. Thus, comprising of the core of Western Punjab (essentially) it lies on the route between Kabul and Delhi, whereby most pre British powers who ruled the region, used this route to conquer Delhi, the seat of power for the past 1,000 years or so. These people have developed a genetic knack of assessing (usually correctly) whether the prevalent ruler in Delhi is stronger than the next power entering from the Khyber Pass.
In summary, complicity with larger powers is what has been in practice for at least a 1,000 years (Ranjeet Singh of the Punjab was an aberration in this regard), in the region where the Pakistani elite has its power base. This is also the modus operandi since 1947 viz. operate under the umbrella of larger powers (scratching their back so to speak) and dominate peripheral areas to extract resources to the maximum and base your public narrative in and around these realities. What may be a distinguishing factor in this era is the way religion and religious identity has been exploited. It is perhaps unprecedented in Islamic history, even from its inception c. 1,400 years ago.
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