Simmering Kashmir E-Book

Jamal Qaiser

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 116

Beschreibung

For generations, the Kashmir conflict has not only preoccupied the people living there, but also world politics. A solution seems impossible, doesn't it? This book talks about the history of the subcontinent from the 16th century and the British invasion, the division of the subcontinent and the political games after the division. The book tries to shed some light on the connection between the British invasion and Hindu-Muslim segregation, followed by hatred, division of the region, the Kashmiri conflict and a lack of trust between two states. The authors point out what went wrong on both sides and give recommendations on what can be done to end this conflict.

Leseprobe

About the Authors

Jamal Qaiser

The German-Pakistani entrepreneur, writer, Peace Activist and Social Potential Advisor Jamal Qaiser, is an OPM Graduate of the prestigious Harvard Business School, Post-Graduate of The Globe Business College Munich and has completed a course in "Transition to Leadership" from Oxford University.

Jamal Qaiser advises various companies and political parties, NGOs, humanist organizations and governmental apparatus. Since 2016 he has advised as UN-Commissioner for UN-Affairs for the Diplomatic Council the economic and UN Social Council - one think tank at the United Nations has the highest consultative status, i.e. the Economic and Social Council of the UN. His book published in 2016: "Der fremde Erfolgsfaktor – Why we urgently need immigrants in Germany", attracted a great deal of attention both nationally and internationally. In the same year he won the international getAbstract Book Award with his work from a selection of over 10,000 non-fiction books. Jamal Qaiser also supports Ubiquity University in transformative education for social impact as Special Liaison to the United Nations.

As a published academic and renowned business and social-political consultant, Mr. Qaiser’s contributions to global organizations such as the United Nations, The WTO, The German Federal Ministry of Commerce and ASEAN have been significant. He has also worked tirelessly as an entrepreneur and an innovator, driving multi-million-dollar business ventures as the CEO of Qaiser Equity Investments. Perhaps most telling are his life-changing contributions to humanitarian and philanthropic efforts in Pakistan and around the world through the charity “Humanity First.”

Sadaf Taimur

Sadaf is a Doctoral Scholar at University of Tokyo and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow. She has 6 years of experience in education and development sector, during which she has: (a) Worked as member of Silver Oaks Schools & College System; (b) Managed Communications, Advocacy & Youth Mobilization at Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)-Center of Education & Consciousness; (c) Worked as Executive Director at Youth General Assembly (a social movement, to train & mobilize youth to work on UN’s Sustainable Development Agenda, which she co-founded) & (d) Worked as an Advisory Mentor for Queen’s Young Leaders Program (UK).

As G20 Global Changer, she was involved in proposing recommendations, on education for sustainable development, for G20 leaders which were presented at G20 Summit, 2017 (Germany). Sadaf sits on Advisory Board of “Global Education Conference”, U.S.A. and serve as an SDG expert at Digital Human Library (dHL), Canada.

She is also involved in the Education for Global Peace Project under University of California Irvine (UCI), as a researcher, on peace education. Sadaf won GESS (Global Education Supplies & Solutions) Outstanding Contribution in Education for Sustainable Development Award, 2016 (Dubai). She got selected as Dalai Lama Fellow (U.S.A) to implement “compassion in action project”. She represented Pakistan: as Youth Delegate UNESCO-MGIEP at “UNESCO week for peace & sustainable development: role of education” (Canada) and as Youth Champion at Rise Up’s Youth Champions Initiative Incubator (U.S.A.).

Contents

Preamble

Chapter 1 – The British Rule in the Sub-Continent

An Unfair Charter

From a Company to an Administrative Body

The Indian Rebellion Leading to British Raj

The Civilizing Mission

The Political Struggles

Chapter II – Hindu-Muslim-Conflict

Division between Hindus and Muslims

The Exit of Britain

Chapter III – Independence and the Bloody Partition

The Partition

The Period of Violence

Chapter IV – Princely States

A New Battleground

The Autonomy of Princely States

Chapter V– Kashmir

Demography and Composition

The Agitation

Kashmir’s Geographic Placement

Maharaja and his People

Chapter VI – The Game

The Revolt

A Flashpoint between Pakistan and India

United Nations’ Intervention & Plebiscite

The Blame Game & Continuous Tensions

Chapter VII – The War Propaganda and Media

Warmongering

Media for Hate or for Education?

Chapter VIII – Towards Resolution

The relationship between Kashmir and India

Three-tiered approach

Chapter IX – Let’s Reflect

COVID-19

References

Preamble

Kashmir is a long-standing conflict between India and Pakistan and we are aware that resolving it or even talking about this is a daunting task. But this is certainly not impossible!

Jamal Qaiser (author), as Diplomatic Council’ Commissioner for UNO Affairs, gave a statement on Kashmir at the United Nations, last year and talked about potential threats related to Kashmir conflict and proposed solutions as well. Just after his speech, he met the Indian delegation at the United Nations and discussed the economic repercussions of Kashmir conflict. While talking to the delegation, Jamal Qaiser highlighted that for countries to flourish economically resolving Kashmir issue is crucial and urgent. Indian delegation agreed to what he was saying but mentioned that we can only agree to this off the record as we have a policy and we have to comply to that. The delegation appreciated how Jamal Qaiser presented the solution to the long-standing Kashmir issue. At this point he decided to write a book on this issue.

We understand that region cannot achieve stability economically or socially until the Kashmir conflict is resolved but on the other hand many Kashmiris are also deprived of their basic rights. In the modern civilized world, now, the Kashmir issue should not be about how much land a country is going to get but it should be about justice and prosperity in the region.

This book talks about the history of sub-continent starting from 16th century and discusses the British invasion, partition of the sub-continent and political games after the partition as well. The book tried to throw some light on the connection between the British invasion and Hindu-Muslim segregation followed by hatred, partition of the region, Kashmir conflict and lack of trust between two states. We also tried to underlie what went wrong on both sides and what can be done to.

Sadaf Taimur (author), being a researcher and member of Education for Global Peace, University of California-Irvine, is a strong advocate of peacebuilding and emphasize on how peace is connected to all other sustainability challenges. In February 2019, when she planned her visit to Pakistan with an accompanying Japanese colleague, her colleague got really anxious regarding visiting Pakistan because of the on-going Pakistan-India conflict. She even showed some hesitation and fear as the international media was reporting the fear of nuclear war in the region. Sadaf Taimur had to deliver a workshop to young people (as a Chair at Youth General Assembly) regarding education for peacebuilding. Because of the ongoing circumstances she incorporated the Kashmir resolution segment in her workshop. This segment was highly appreciated by the young people participating in the workshop and all of them gave very positive responses regarding its resolution. At that time, she felt that there is a need to talk about Kashmir resolution and engage more people. During the same visit, Sadaf Taimur met Jamal Qaiser for some official purpose and at that point this book was formally conceptualized.

This book presents the point of views, first and foremost as DC Commissioner for UN Affairs, in the attempt to portray this complex situation as a neutral observer. One of the authors, Jamal Qaiser, has been representing the Diplomatic Council as UN-Commissioner for UN-Affairs since 2016. The Diplomatic Council is a global think tank that sees itself as a bridge between diplomacy, on the one hand, and business and society on the other. It is a UN-accredited organization with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Jamal Qaiser‘s statement regarding Kashmir at the United Nations and the following conversation with the Indian delegation led to this book, and we have written it for those readers who seek a peaceful solution to the Kashmir conflict, who crave world peace, who have the foresight not to be influenced by war propaganda in politics and the media.

In spite of the difficult situation, we trust that this conflict will be resolved peacefully and that our next generations will also live in peace. For us to succeed, we must all make our contribution. No-one can evade this responsibility.

Yours

Jamal Qaiser & Sadaf Taimur

Chapter 1 – The British Rule in the Sub-Continent

After Spanish Armada’s defeat, in 1588, the merchants of London presented a petition to the Queen Elizabeth 1: asking her permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. In 1591, on The Queen’s permission, three ships sailed from Torbay to the Arabian Sea. This was one of the earliest, English, overseas Indian missions. Three more ships sailed towards Arabian Sea in the year 1596 but all of them were lost in the sea and never reached their destination. Another group of merchants, with an intention to sail to the East Indies, applied for the Queen’s support in 1599. Failed in the initial attempt, the group tried again a year later and succeeded. These merchants were eventually known as ‘Adventurers’.

An Unfair Charter

After their success in 1600, a Royal Charted to “George, Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses” was granted by the Queen under the name ‘Governor and Company of Merchants’ of London trading with the East Indies. In the light of this charter, the newly formed company exercised monopoly for 15 years with all the countries of the west of the Straits of Magellan and the Cape of Good Hope. All the people who wanted to trade were supposed to obtain a license from a company and anyone who traded in a way to breach the charter was liable of penalty on their cargo and ships (half of which went to the company and a half to the royal palace); along with imprisonment at the “royal pleasure”.

Clearly, the charter was not fair, as it was intentionally created to serve the royal palace and create disparities in the region.

During the years 1601 and 1608, four expeditions took Britain to East Indies in order to establish trade. The company, also known as East India Company (EIC), struggled with the trade of spice because they had to compete with well-established Dutch Company. On the first voyage, EIC opened a factory in Bantam. For 20 years pepper imports from Java remained an important part of company’s trade. Afterwards, EIC established its first company in Bengal, South India. Upon landing in India, EIC reported high profits which convinced King James I to grant subsidiary licenses to other trading companies in England. King James I renewed the charter given to EIC for an indefinite period. However, a clause was included in the charter stating that the charter would cease if there is no profit from trade for three consecutive years. Several conflicts occurred between the English traders and their Portuguese and Dutch counterparts in the Indian Ocean.

EIC decided to exploit the opportunity and get a foothold in mainland India with official permission of Mughal Empire and Britain. For this purpose, they requested the Crown to launch a diplomatic mission to India. Instructed by King James 1, in 1612, Sir Thomas Roe visited the Mughal Emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir to arrange for a commercial treaty. This treaty was to provide the company with the rights to establish factories and reside in Surat and other areas. EIC, in return, promised to provide Mughal Emperor with the rarities and goods from European market. This mission was remarkably successful, as the greed for goods and material was not one-sided.

From a Company to an Administrative Body

On being provided with imperial support, the company expanded its operations regarding commercial trade and took the lead over the Portuguese company which had bases in Bombay, Goa and Chittagong. These bases were ceded to England by Portugal. By 1647, EIC ended up having 90 employees and 23 factories in India. The Portuguese and Spanish influence in the region reduced, leaving intense competition between Dutch East India Company and EIC. This extreme competition led to Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17th and 18th centuries.

With an aim to strengthen the power of the EIC, King Charles II granted EIC the permission to autonomously acquire command forts, territory, money, and troop and to form alliances. EIC was also allowed to make peace and war and to exercise criminal and civil jurisdictions over the acquired territories. So, the intentions of trade converted into the intentions to rule; and EIC was converted from a trading company to a de facto administrative agent demonstrating strong powers granted by the British government.

The affluence of the EIC officers not only allowed them to return to Britain but obtain political power by establishing businesses and properties. Later, EIC developed a lobby in the English parliament under the pressure from the company associates and tradesmen who wanted to establish private companies in India. This led to a deregulating act that was passed in 1694. This act terminated the charter, which was in order for around 100 years, and allowed English firms to trade with India (unless specifically prohibited by the parliament). Another act was passed in 1698 which allowed the establishment of another “parallel” East India Company (officially known as English Company Trading to East Indies). The two companies wrestled with each other for an overriding share in trade, both in India and England. After some time, it became clear that it was difficult to compete with the original company. Hence, in 1708, the two companies merged and became: The United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.

The advent of the industrial revolution put Britain far ahead of its rivals in Europe. The level of production, demand, growth, and success made Britain popular in overseas trade. EIC’s private army was prepared to facilitate the company with skills required to assert its interests in the new regions of India without any hindrance from other colonial powers. However, local rulers continuously showed resistance towards EIC.