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    Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan: The Cause of Freedom

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    Liaquat Ali Khan provides the Pakistani narrative on the situation in Kashmir in 1947. He maintains that Kashmiris were revolting not just for freedom but survival, as they faced extermination of Muslims in the region. He outlines the history of oppression of Kashmiris under Dogra rule for 100 years. By October 1947, atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir had increased, with thousands fleeing as refugees to Pakistan. Kashmiris turned on their oppressors in desperation. The choice for Kashmiris now, according to Liaquat Ali Khan, is freedom or death, as their enemies plan to exterminate them as Muslims had been in other parts of India.

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    Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan: The Cause of Freedom

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    safa g
    39 views3 pages
    Liaquat Ali Khan provides the Pakistani narrative on the situation in Kashmir in 1947. He maintains that Kashmiris were revolting not just for freedom but survival, as they faced extermination of Muslims in the region. He outlines the history of oppression of Kashmiris under Dogra rule for 100 years. By October 1947, atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir had increased, with thousands fleeing as refugees to Pakistan. Kashmiris turned on their oppressors in desperation. The choice for Kashmiris now, according to Liaquat Ali Khan, is freedom or death, as their enemies plan to exterminate them as Muslims had been in other parts of India.

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    Kasmir issue

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    K (1)

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    Liaquat Ali Khan provides the Pakistani narrative on the situation in Kashmir in 1947. He maintains that Kashmiris were revolting not just for freedom but survival, as they faced extermination of Muslims in the region. He outlines the history of oppression of Kashmiris under Dogra rule for 100 years. By October 1947, atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir had increased, with thousands fleeing as refugees to Pakistan. Kashmiris turned on their oppressors in desperation. The choice for Kashmiris now, according to Liaquat Ali Khan, is freedom or death, as their enemies plan to exterminate them as Muslims had been in other parts of India.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    39 views3 pages

    Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan: The Cause of Freedom

    Uploaded by

    safa g
    Liaquat Ali Khan provides the Pakistani narrative on the situation in Kashmir in 1947. He maintains that Kashmiris were revolting not just for freedom but survival, as they faced extermination of Muslims in the region. He outlines the history of oppression of Kashmiris under Dogra rule for 100 years. By October 1947, atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir had increased, with thousands fleeing as refugees to Pakistan. Kashmiris turned on their oppressors in desperation. The choice for Kashmiris now, according to Liaquat Ali Khan, is freedom or death, as their enemies plan to exterminate them as Muslims had been in other parts of India.

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    Pr im e M in ist e r L iaqua t A l i K h a n :

    T h e C au se o f F r e e d o m
    Liaquat Ali Khan provides the official Pakistani narrative of how a section of the Mus-
    lims revolted against the ruler of Kashmir; Kashmiris, he maintains, were fighting not
    only for their freedom but also for their existence.

    I am speaking to you tonight from my sick-bed. I wish to talk to you about Kash-
    mir, because the affairs of Kashmir have reached a critical phase and have now
    Pakistan, 1947 and After 777

    assumed international importance and because I know that Kashmir is upper-


    most in your mind as it is in mine.
    In the exhilaration of self-styled gallantry and valour, some erstwhile sym-
    pathisers of the oppressed people of Kashmir seem to have forgotten the history
    of this beautiful land. Let us, therefore, briefly recall it for their benefit.
    This piece of God’s earth along with the human beings inhabiting its hills
    and valleys, was, under the infamous Amritsar Treaty, sold by the British to a
    Dogra chieftain for the paltry sum of Rs. 75,00,000. The present Maharaja in-
    herits the people of Kashmir as though they were so much cattle.
    During the past 100 years of Dogra rule, this highly gifted and most attrac-
    tive race of Kashmiris has been dragged down to the lowest depths of misery. In
    recent years, they have made many attempts to fight for their freedom. Time
    and again they have been thwarted but time and again they have risen to defy
    tyranny.
    The fight is not yet at an end. But I would like my listeners to know that to-
    day the people of Kashmir are fighting not only for their freedom but also for
    their very existence, for their misfortunes have, in recent months, taken on a
    darker shade. They have been caught in the meshes of a widespread plan of the
    extermination of Muslims. This plan has succeeded in Alwar, in Bharatpur, in
    Patiala, in Faridkot, and in Kapurthala. And all these you will note are States
    that have acceded to the Indian Union.
    In the beginning of October, news of the bestial deeds perpetrated on the
    innocent people of Kashmir began to trickle through. In a short time, the
    trickle became a torrent. Burning villages could be seen from the Murree hills.
    Thousands of terror-stricken refugees poured into Pakistan.
    It was at this stage that the people of Kashmir in sheer desperation turned
    on their oppressors. Kashmiris, and specially the inhabitants of Poonch, have
    many relatives in Hazara and in the West Punjab. Consequently feelings in
    certain parts of Pakistan rose very high and some people from the N.W.F.P.
    and the Tribal Areas, stirred by the atrocities in Kashmir, rushed to the aid of
    their brethren.
    It is the oppressed, enslaved and entrapped people of Kashmir struggling for
    their freedom (and now for their lives) and their sympathisers, whom the Indian
    Government is helping to wipe out. The declared object of the Indian Govern-
    ment is to strengthen the Maharaja’s hands. How blood-stained these hands are
    is quite well-known to the leaders of India, even though they may choose to
    forget this fact now. . . .
    For the choice before [the Kashmiris] now is freedom or death. If the plans
    of their enemies succeed, they will be exterminated, as Muslims in various
    other parts of India have been exterminated. It is presumably after such exter-
    mination that the Indian Government proposed a referendum should be held.
    What use is a referendum after the voters have been driven away from their
    homes, or silenced in death? The world knows how we have consistently and
    778 Pa k is ta n , 19 4 7 a n d A fte r

    repeatedly tried to reach a better understanding with the Kashmir Govern-


    ment. The Kashmir Government has ignored or rejected all these approaches.
    [Liaquat Ali Khan, “Freedom or Death: Choice Before Kashmiri Muslims.”
    Radio address on Nov. 4, 1947, in Speeches and Statements of Quaid-i-Millat
    Liaquat Ali Khan, 1941–51, ed. M. Rafique Afzal(Lahore:
    Research Society of Pakistan, University of the Punjab, 1967), 131–136.]

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