As a young boy, when I had my thread ceremony, I heard the priest chant the words, Namaste Sharada Devi, Kashmira Puravasini. (We bow to Sharada Devi, resident of Kashmir)
Twenty years later, in 1963, when I first visited Srinagar as a public relations officer of the army following the India-China War, I saw from the army mess and the Shankaracharya Hill. I decided to walk up the Hill and expected to see the Sharada Temple there. I was told that Shankaracharya had come there, but the real Sharada Peeth was on the Pakistan side of Kashmir.
It was at Sharada Peeth that Shankaracharya or Adi Shankara, won the debates and returned to West Coast of southern India, which at that stage was ruled by Jain Kings. Shankara settled his followers at places along the coast. Standing atop the Shankaracharya Hill, I felt within myself that I would one day visit the Sharada Peeth in the Neelum Valley.
It was nice to see the photograph of Sharada Peeth in the book edited by K. Warikoo.
Warikoo points out that abutting the borders of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and India, and being situated in close proximity to Central Asia, the Karakoram Himalayan region has been the cradle from where ancient Indian culture, including Buddhism spread in different directions in Central Asia, East Asia and South East Asia.
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By the seventeenth century, Baltistan was completely Islamised. Today, Shias and Nurbakshshis make up 93 per cent of the total population of Baltistan.
In 1947, when the country was partitioned, the British rulers played their first hand in the 'Great Game'. Gilgit- Baltistan was under Brigadier Ghansara Singh, the Governor of Gilgit who used to report to Maharaja Hari Singh. However, Major Brown, the British Commander of Gilgit Scouts, organized and led a revolt and arrested Brigadier Ghansara Singh and on November 4, 1947, Major Brown hoisted the Pakistani flag at Gilgit and handed over the area to Pakistan.
At the conclusion of the first war between India and Pakistan, when cease fire was declared on January 1, l949, the Kashmir Valley , Jammu, Kargil and Ladakh were in India's possession, while Pakistan was in possession of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, comprising of Muzaffarabad, Mirpur Bagh Neelam, Sudhi , Rawalkot, Bhimber, Kotli and Gilgit- Baltistan. Pakistan established a direct control over Gilgit Baltistan and renamed it as Northern Areas.
Covering an area of about 28,000 square miles, which is five to six times more than that of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan comprises of seven districts. The area has been known for its historical importance, which has been on the Silk Route, and has been a confluence of cultures for centuries.
'Azad Kashmir' authorities were keen to have Gilgit Baltistan included in its area, and had filed a plea before the High Court of Azad Kashmir, that the 'Northern Areas' should be considered a part of 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court, gave its judgment in March 1992, declaring the Northern Areas to be legally a part of Kashmir and ordered the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government to assume administration of it.
Pakistan has never implemented the court judgement and is still in control of the region. It has also ceded a part of the territory to China.
K. Warikoo has pointed out that even though Kashmir has been the focus of national and international attention for the past 65 years, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan have eluded attention because of the 'iron curtain' imposed by Pakistan.
Various contributors to the book have pointed out how Pakistan has tried to change the demographic profile of the area, by settling Pushtuns, Baluchis and migrants from Sindh.
General Zia ul Haq had deputed then Brigadier Pervez Musharraf in 1988 to carry out a ruthless campaign assisted by Osama bin Laden which lynched and burnt Shias to death. Shaukat Kashmiri points out that the subsequent death in an air crash of President Zia-ul-Haq has been attributed to his pilot, a Shia from the Northern Areas.
Mansoor Hussain Parwana endorses this and says that Gilgit Baltistan became victim of religious extremism in 1988, when thousands of tribesmen and natives of NWFP called Lashkars carried out a genocide of Shia Muslims. No case was registered against them and when they returned to Islamabad, they were treated lavishly. "The invasion and killing of local people was kept secret from the world community."
Alok Bansal , in his contribution points out,that in 2009, after failing to create large scale divisions amongst the people, the Government of Pakistan announced certain concessions to locals in the form of Gilgit- Baltistan (Empowerment and Self Governance). The order has not been sincerely implemented.
Meanwhile, as Wilson John has pointed out, that there has been mounting evidence that Pakistan-based terrorist groups, running training camps for the Taliban and Al Qaida in Dir and Upper Dir. These camps have also hosted recruits from different parts of the world, including the United Kingdom. The latest announcement by Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri of the objectives of the Al Qaida should make the world more cautious.
The British and the Western world, who handed over the "Other Kashmir" to Pakistan in 1947, have to regret their decision for a long time.
Book Review: The Other Kashmir, Society, Culture and Politics in the Karakoram Himalayas, Edited by K. Warikoo, Pentagon Press, pages 341, price 1495.
Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer to the Government of India. He can be reached on his e-mail: raoramamohan@hotmol.com.
