Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 327
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 327 wishes of the people of the State. This was acceptable to Pakistan. When, however, the Security Council framed a resolution which would ensure a free expression of their wishes by the people of Kashmir on the question of the accession of the State to India or to Pakistan, India embarked upon a course of subterfuge, chicanery and quibbling, against which the Security Council, and the Commission appointed by it, felt helpless. The Commission did succeed in persuad- ing the two governments to accept two resolutions proposed by it with the object of ascertaining the wishes of the people of the State on the question of accession, and in consequence to agree to a ceasefire on 1January 1949. A ceasefire line was setded and demarcated on the ground, and there the matter has stuck for nearly thirty years, so that now the Government of India pretends that there is no longer any dispute over the question of the accession of the State as India has unilaterally carried out its original design of making the State of Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of its dominions. The question is still formally on the agenda of the Security Council, but no one knows how to move it towards a solution that would be acceptable, not only to Pakistan and India, but also the people of Kashmir, whose interests are vitally involved. Despite all that has happened and all the efforts that India has made towards winning the goodwill of the people of Kashmir, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that if the wishes of the people of the valley were ascertained under conditions and in a manner that would guarantee their free expression, there would still be near unanimity in favour of the accession of the State to Pakistan, rather than to India. From the moment of his arrival in Lahore at the end of August 1947, the Khalifatul Masih had been at pains to point out that the accession of the State of Jammu 'and Kashmir to Pakistan was vital, not only from the point of view of the defence and security of Pakistan, but also for the commercial and industrial development both of Pakistan and of Kashmir itself. He also urged that the question of the accession of Kashmir to Pakistan or to India must be approached keeping