• WITH reference to Sunil Kumar Pal’s letter (There’s more to the history of Kashmir and Jammu, September 26), first and foremost Jammu and Kashmir is a state comprising four regions and Kashmir represents all of them.

Second, the vast majority of the people of Jammu Kashmir want independence regardless of their different ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

Third, Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus lived together in harmony for centuries.

When the Kashmir people launched their independence movement in 1988 it was secular in nature, something that both Pakistan and India have sought to undermine by doing their utmost to inflame religious sensibilities, particularly with regard to Kashmiri Pandits, many of whom were driven out in 1992. This was our darkest hour.

I would like to stress that as indigenous Kashmiris they have as much right to live in Kashmir as their fellow Muslims.

Fourth, Jammu Kashmir ruler Mahraja Hari Singh did not intend to join India or Pakistan in 1947 but opted for independence – Jammu Kashmir was a princely state and not part of British India.

But Pakistan sent its tribals to capture Kashmir, prompting the Mahraja to seek Indian intervention. India said it would only do so if the Mahraja acceded to it, which he did.

That is how the war over Kashmir began, resulting in my homeland becoming a divided and occupied state.

Since 1948 the UN has supported the demand for a plebiscite to determine the will of the people, but India and Pakistan have made sure that this has never taken place.

As protesters daily amass on both sides of the “line of control” (military border) following India’s armed lock-down in August, it is clear that the struggle for self-determination continues.

AFTAB AHMED
Camden Town