Kashmir: Trapped in a Blind Alley?' by Sukla Sen
 Written Feb 2024. Published in Special issue of New Appraoch  "J&K: Faultlines and Way Ahead."

Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
                     Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.1
                       (If there is a paradise on earth,
                   It is this, it is this, it is this.)
Amir Khusro (1253 - 1325), a famous Sufi musician, poet and scholar from India.
This couplet serves as a popular epithet for Kashmir, for centuries.

Doodh mango ge to kheer denge, Kashmir mango ge to chir denge!2
(If you ask for milk, will offer you pudding, ask for Kashmir and will just tear you apart!)
           An oft-repeated RSS slogan, rather war cry, on Kashmir.

Intro
In South Asia, the two most powerful neighbours, armed with nuclear weapons along with all the three – land, air and subsea, launching platforms, are constantly bickering.
So much so that this region is considered one of the most threatening global nuclear flashpoints.3
One of the major, perhaps the most major, issues of dispute is Kashmir. 4
And a war between India and Pakistan, if degenerates into a nuclear one – quite a possibility5, may, as a consequence, even wipe out human civilisation from the face of the globe.6
That itself is reason enough to make exploration of “peace” for Kashmir a worthwhile venture, in fact, an urgent existential imperative.

In the following, an attempt has been made, taking off from a brief description of Kashmir’s geography/topography/demography, recount of its past and, then, more recent developments - of which the “dispute” is the centrepiece, in some greater details.

Before proceeding further, it is, however, necessary to clarify that “Kashmir”, as used by an Indian, may denote either of the two: (i) the Kashmir Valley and (ii) the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
In order to locate it appropriately, it has to be read in the specific given context.

Geography, Topography and Demography
Kashmir, a 222,236 sq km region in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, is surrounded by China in the northeast, the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in the south, by Pakistan in the west, and by Afghanistan in the northwest. The region has been dubbed "disputed territory" between India and Pakistan since the partition of India in 1947. The southern and southeastern parts of the region make up the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, while the northern and western parts are controlled by Pakistan. A border, called the Line of Control (agreed to in 1972) divides the two parts. The eastern area of Kashmir, comprising the northeastern part of the region (Aksai Chin) has been under the control of China since 1962. The predominant religion in the Jammu area is Hinduism in the east and Islam in the west. Islam is also the main religion in the Kashmir valley and in the Pakistan-controlled parts.7

The Kashmir region is predominantly mountainous, with deep, narrow valleys and high, barren plateaus. The relatively low-lying Jammu and Punch (Poonch) plains in the southwest are separated by the thickly forested Himalayan foothills and the Pir Panjal Range of the Lesser Himalayas from the larger, more fertile, and more heavily populated Vale of Kashmir to the north. The vale, situated at an elevation of about 5,300 feet (1,600 metres), constitutes the basin of the upper Jhelum River and contains the city of Srinagar. Jammu and the vale lie in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, while the Punch lowlands are largely in Azad Kashmir.8

A princely state during the British colonial period, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) was created by the British in 1846 with a Hindu Maharaja, Gulab Singh, ruling over a Muslim majority population. It consisted of three religiously and linguistically diverse regions: the Kashmir Valley with a largely Muslim population; the Jammu region with a Hindu majority; and the population of the Ladakh region which was half Buddhist, half Muslim.9

Past History in Brief
According to legend, an ascetic named Kashyapa reclaimed the land now comprising Kashmir from a vast lake. That land came to be known as Kashyapamar and, later, Kashmir. Buddhism was introduced by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, and from the 9th to the 12th century CE the region appears to have achieved considerable prominence as a centre of Hindu culture. A succession of Hindu dynasties ruled Kashmir until 1346, when it came under Muslim rule. The Muslim period lasted nearly five centuries, ending when Kashmir was annexed to the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab in 1819 and then to the Dogra kingdom of Jammu in 1846.
Thus, the Kashmir region in its contemporary form dates from 1846, when, by the treaties of Lahore and Amritsar at the conclusion of the First Sikh War, Raja Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu, was created maharaja (ruling prince) of an extensive but somewhat ill-defined Himalayan kingdom “to the eastward of the River Indus and westward of the River Ravi.” The creation of this princely state helped the British safeguard their northern flank in their advance to the Indus and beyond during the latter part of the 19th century. The state thus formed part of a complex political buffer zone interposed by the British between their Indian empire and the empires of Russia and China to the north. For Gulab Singh, confirmation of title to these mountain territories marked the culmination of almost a quarter century of campaigning and diplomatic negotiation among the petty hill kingdoms along the northern borderlands of the Sikh empire of the Punjab.10

The “Dispute”: The Larger Background
It is commonly perceived that the “dispute” arose (between Pakistan and India) on account of the subcontinent gaining independence – on August 14-15 1947, throwing off the shackles of British colonial rule as the successful culmination of the long drawn out epic freedom struggle, with the Indian National Congress in the lead, combined with the changed scenario emerging post WW II - both globally and within Britain itself. Or more specifically, the traumatic “Partition” of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan – meant to be an exclusive homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent as demanded by the Muslim League, which, by then, came to represent the voices of large sections of Muslims.11
But the roots of the “dispute” are, actually, older than that and have, rather expectedly, features unique to Kashmir.

Kashmir, as per the oldest, and subsequent, available historical accounts, used to be ruled by succession of dynastic rulers, following some form of Hinduism 12 – dominated by Brahmans.
Buddhism would appear on the scene during the reign of emperor Ashoka (304–232 BCE) and Kashmir became a part of the Maurya Empire. Buddhism, apparently, remained a major presence till early sixth century.13
Kashmir’s encounter with Islam, via invasions from the west, commenced in early eleventh century.14 The first Sultanate came into being with a Ladakhi Buddhist ascending the throne in 1320 and converting to Islam.15
In the 14th century, Islam gradually became the dominant religion in Kashmir. With the fall of Kashmir, a premier center of Sanskrit literary creativity, Sanskrit literature there disappeared. Islamic preacher Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, who is traditionally revered by Hindus as Nund Rishi, combined elements of Kashmir Shaivism with Sufi mysticism in his discourses.16
Direct Mughal rule, under emperor Akbar, came to be established in late sixteenth century.17
After four centuries of rule by successive Muslim rulers, Kashmir fell to the conquering armies of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of Punjab in the 1820s. The Sikh rule had a pronounced anti-Muslim edge.18
(T)he Kashmir region in its contemporary form dates from 1846, when, by the treaties of Lahore and Amritsar at the conclusion of the First Sikh War, Raja Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu [an erstwhile servitor of the Sikh empire], was [by the victorious British] created maharaja (ruling prince) [for a consideration of Rupees 7.5 million] of an extensive but somewhat ill-defined Himalayan kingdom “to the eastward of the River Indus and westward of the River Ravi.” The creation of this princely state helped the British safeguard their northern flank in their advance to the Indus and beyond during the latter part of the 19th century. The state thus formed part of a complex political buffer zone interposed by the British between their Indian empire and the empires of Russia and China to the north. For Gulab Singh, confirmation of title to these mountain territories marked the culmination of almost a quarter century of campaigning and diplomatic negotiation among the petty hill kingdoms along the northern borderlands of the Sikh empire of the Punjab.19
The Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it was then called) was constituted between 1820 and 1858 and was "somewhat artificial in composition and it did not develop a fully coherent identity, partly as a result of its disparate origins and partly as a result of the autocratic rule which it experienced on the fringes of Empire." It combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; in the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority, the Kashmiri brahmins or pandits; to the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to Ladakh, but which practised Shi'a Islam; to the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency, was an area of diverse, mostly Shi'a groups; and, to the west, Punch was Muslim, but of different ethnicity than the Kashmir valley.20

Apart from the patchwork nature of the state thus created, no less significant was the fact that the Dogra kings, aided by their Kashmiri Pandit (i.e. Brahman), and Punjabi, administrative stuff, were very harsh with the vast impoverished Muslim masses of the Valley – mostly peasantry, artisans and workers. 21
This would leave its marked imprint on the subsequent history of Kashmir.22

One noteworthy aspect of the Dogra rule over Kashmir is that as distinct from Mughals, Afghans and  Sikhs, whose rules had preceded that of the Dogras, Kashmir was only peripheral to their empires, and, consequently, would rule the region through proxies while remaining primarily engaged with the concerns of their larger empires, for the Dogras, Kashmir itself was the empire – their primary concer.23

The Immediate Backdrop
With dissentions and anger simmering against the repressive Dogra rule – subordinate to the British colonial rulers, there was a blanket ban on the publication of newspapers until 1932 and no overt political activities or organisations were permitted.24

Regardless, the gathering resentments exploded in public, in July 1931, in the form of first massive protest against the Dogra regime by the Muslims of the Valley, backed by the ulama.25
On June 21 (or 25?), in a public meeting, first of its kind, before the gathered Muslim protestors, one Abdul Qadeer Khan delivered a rousing speech and gave a call to arms.  He would soon be arrested and put on trial.26
During one of the trial sessions, on July 13, thousands of protestors would gather and attack – presumably after some of them being arrested, the Central Jail, the trial venue. They would be fired upon. Some protestors got killed. Thereafter, violence broke out in the main city of Srinagar. Hindus would be attacked and some of their houses looted. Again the mob would be fired upon causing deaths. Perhaps a few (3?) Hindus also got killed in the violence directed against them. Total toll on the Muslim side was reportedly 22 (or 21?).
But, July 13, thereafter, came to be observed as the Martyrs’ Day (Youm-e-Shuhada-e-Kashmir) by Kashmiri Muslims.
Versions of the whole episode, however, widely vary, depending on the source.27
At any rate, while July 13 1931 stands out as a watershed moment in the history of Kashmir “dispute”, it also, in a way, busts the myth of a harmonious past28 of Kashmiri people.
At the most obvious level, July 13 stands for the first burst of open rebellion against Kashmir’s Hindu Dogra ruler by its alienated Muslim subjects and its suppression by the armed might of the state.
At another, the Hindu subjects of Kashmir got identified with their co-religionist ruler, in the eyes of both the overwhelming majority Muslim and minority Hindu subjects.29
Thus while the Kashmiri Muslims, by and large, view July 13 1931 as the launching event of their (unfinished?) freedom struggle against the then oppressive Hindu Dogra rulers, the Hindus, or the Kashmiri Pandits, to be more specific, imagine it as the first occasion of large-scale atrocities by the (far more numerous) Muslims of the Valley directed against them.
That is pretty much significant in making sense of the subsequent developments.

At any rate, under the impact of July 31 and at the prodding of the British, Maharajah Hari Singh, the then ruler, would introduce limited democracy to the state, which would permit, for the first time, formation of political groups.30
Taking advantage of the relative political freedom thus gained and spurred by continuing political turbulence the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC), an open political organisation of the Muslims of the Jammu and Kashmir state – the first of its kind, was brought into being in a convention held in Srinagar from 14 to 16 October, 1932.
Interestingly, a speaker at the flag hoisting ceremony observed: Today, the hoisting of the green flag with crescent [a very obvious and explicit symbol of Islam] opens a new chapter in the history of Kashmir. As such, it is the duty of the Kashmiris to see that it remains hoisted always. This flag of the conference is the harbinger of love, peace and brotherhood among all the communities living in the State and it is the guarantor of peace, progress and happiness for all subjects of the Maharaja.
That is clearly indicative of intertwining of two conflicting urges: (I) marching as the flag-bearer of Islam and (ii) to champion the cause of love, peace and brotherhood among all the communities living in the State [and, thereby, a composite Kashmiri nationhood].31
The implications of this self-contradiction would unfold in the coming days.
In any case, (i)n a special session in June 1939 the Muslim Conference was converted into the All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference to represent all Kashmiris regardless of religion. This move brought the National Conference closer to the Indian National Congress which also favored a secular and non-communal approach to politics. This move towards secularizing the movement was apparently reinforced by the advice of Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew, an eminent member of the Kashmiri diaspora in the Punjab, to Sheikh Abdullah.14
Despite the towering stature of Sheikh Abdullah, the National Conference would formally split in 1941 and the earlier buried AJKMC was revived on June 13 1941.32
So, here, one would find a broadly three-way tensions/conflicts emerging among the subjects of the repressive Dogra rule with three major players making appearance on the stage: (i) Hindus, spearheaded by the small but influential Kashmiri Pandits of the Valley, (ii) Muslims standing for composite Kashmiri nationalism and (iii) Muslims for Islamic solidarity – a natural ally of the Muslim League.

Be that as it may, in 1944, the National Conference, the most influential popular political outfit, led by Sheikh Abdullah issued a manifesto, Naya Kashmir (A New Kashmir), notionally addressed, and also presented, to the Dogra ruler, charting out a new roadmap for Kashmir’s polity. It had two parts: political and economic. It envisaged a democratic polity for Kashmir with the Dogra ruler as the nominal head. It was radical and socialistic in terms of its contents. it was very pro-women,  called for universal franchise, freedom of expression, freedom of press, land to the tiller, state ownership of the industry, ending agrarian debt, ability of women to work in all trades and professions.33
In its annual session in 1945, it passed a resolution espousing Indian unity, Indian independence and self-determination for India's cultural nationalities.34 This is all the more significant considering the fact that the All-India Muslim League, in 1940, in Lahore had adopted the “Pakistan resolution”35 calling for separate homeland(s) for Indian Muslims (without, however, specifying any particular name) and Mohammad Ali Jinnah had articulated and put forward his “two-nation theory”36, in justification of the demand.
Consequently, when Jinnah visited Kashmir during the summer of 1944, he, reportedly, indicated his support for the Muslim Conference, led by Muslim leaders from the districts of Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Mirpur who had supported the "Pakistan Resolution", in preference over the National Conference.37
In May 1946, Sheikh Abdullah launched the Quit Kashmir - an echo of the Quit India call issued by the Indian National Congress, directed at the British colonial rulers earlier in 194238, agitation directed against the Dogra rule and got arrested, being booked on sedition charge. Jawaharlal Nehru tried to go to Srinagar, to defend Sheikh in the court, but would be arrested and sent back.39
The “three-way tensions/conflicts”, that had been referred to above, kept sharpening.
More so, under the impact of the evolving political scenario in India under direct British rule, particularly since the conclusion of the WW II and the transfer of baton in Britain itself from the diehard Conservative Winston Churchill to the Labour leader Clement Attlee, in July 194540 – in keen anticipation of the impending transfer of power and cessation of the British rule over the subcontinent.

The “Dispute” Arises
On February 20 1947, Attlee, the British Prime Minister, told the House of Commons that his government intended to hand India over to the Indians not later than June, 1948 and Lord Louis Mountbatten was named the new Viceroy to accomplish this task.41
Prior to that, the Muslim League leader Jinnah had called upon the Indian Muslims to observe August 16 1946 as the Direct Action Day in order to realise its demand for separate homeland for the Muslims. As a consequence, Calcutta, the capital of the Bengal province, with a Muslim League Chief Minister then, had witnessed the Great Calcutta Killings on that day. Violence would, in time, spread to various other corners of India.42
Apparently, intimidated by the prospect of the bearing the responsibility for failing to contain spreading violence and bloodshed, the newly appointed Viceroy advanced the day of transfer of power to August 15 1947 and delayed the announcement of the award of Partition to two days later.43
In the event, in the run-up to and, even more than that, aftermath of the Partition, the subcontinent would encounter perhaps the most horrific episode of violence during that century perpetrated, and suffered, by civilian populations – in this case, involving the followers of three major religions in the region: Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam.44 The state of Jammu and Kashmir was also not unaffected.45
What, however, is more germane, in the current context, that the Partition left open the issue of the princely states, under British paramountcy  – numbering over 560, of which the J&K was one of the two largest. The rulers had, at least hypothetically, three options: either merge with the Dominion of India or of Pakistan or remain independent.46
That gave rise to the “dispute”, involving both India and Pakistan and also the J&K state – its ruler and the (medley47 of) subjects.
The initial dilly-dallying48 on the part of the then Dogra ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, the geographical location of the state - bordering both the newly emergent Dominions, and the fact of Muslim majority population - with its own internal divisions, lorded over by a Hindu ruler – all these factors went to complicate things and contributed to the making of the “dispute”.

The “Dispute” Unfolds
It would be necessary to keep in mind that this point onward, “history” itself will be highly controversial. “Facts” would be hotly contested and divergent narratives would be dished out by the bitterly feuding parties.49
An objective and conscientious student would have to willy-nilly take one’s own pick by applying one’s best judgement and carefully scanning those narratives.

The main trouble erupted on October 22 1947, in the form of waves of armed Pukhtoon intruders coming from Pakistan. However, things had already turned unsettled at least in the Poonch area, in Jammu. There were, as per one reading, three significant developments:
The first was a pro-Pakistan, anti-Maharaja uprising by Muslim Poonchis in western Jammu that ‘liberated’ large parts of this area from the Maharaja’s control. The second was major inter-religious violence in the province that caused upheaval and death, including a possible massacre of Muslims. The third was the creation of the Provisional Azad (Free) Government in areas liberated or ‘freed’ by the Poonch uprising. This region soon popularly became known as ‘Azad Kashmir’. These three actions all occurred during the ten-week interregnum between the creation of India and Pakistan on 15 August 1947.50
To be sure, there are conflicting versions.
What, however, is undeniable that things came to a boil on October 22.

Before proceeding further ahead, it would be in fitness of things to recall, in passing, that till the very eve of Independence the princely states of Hyderabad and Junagadh – both Hindu majority states with Muslim rulers, and Jammu & Kashmir – a Muslim majority state with a Hindu ruler, remained undecided on their options on joining either of the two Dominions or stay independent.51
Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, on August 1947, would propose Standstill Agreements to both the Dominions. Pakistan would accept it on August 15; India would ask for further negotiations.52

On September 18 1947, in violation of the Standstill Agreement, Pakistan cut off supply of essential items to the state.53
On October 22, despite talks being in progress54 between the state and Pakistan – regardless of steady infiltrations from across the border, huge number of tribesmen, equipped with modern weapons, invaded Muzaffarabad from the side of Abbottabad. There were, reportedly, large-scale atrocities against the locals and a large number of Kashmiris including Muslim, Hindus and Sikhs were killed by, apparently Pakistan sponsored, tribal invaders.55

Instrument of Accession, Raging Battle, Military Stalemate and Eventual Ceasefire
On October 26, the exasperated ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, out of sheer desperation, finally decided to prostrate before the Dominion of India, confirming his readiness to surrender, albeit with important riders, only to make best of the miserable situation he was faced with.
He sent a letter recording his offer56 to accede to India accompanied with the Instrument of Accession57, which would duly be accepted by Lord Mountbatten as the Governor-General of the Indian Dominion, the next day – October 27. The same day, the first batch of the Indian armed forces, still under the overall command of British generals, as was very much the case with its Pakistani counterparts, landed in Srinagar, being airborne.58
As would be expected, this climaxed the crucial and intense negotiations between the concerned parties, not excluding Sheikh Abdullah – freed from Maharaja’s jail, quite possibly facilitated by the prodding of the Indian National Congress leaders, Nehru, and Gandhi, in particular, only on September 2959, in the brief intervening period, in continuation with the chain of earlier rounds.
A very telling sign was a particular commitment by the Maharaja at the tail end of his “offer” letter:
I may also inform your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Shaikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister.   

Now, the battle would rage on.
With the balance of forces significantly upended.60 Notwithstanding the fact that Muslim-majority Gilgit would also, like its predecessor Poonch, stage a successful uprising against the Dogra rule, and, eventually, in favour of Pakistan “on or around 3 November 1947”61.
The harsh winter, accompanied with heavy snowfalls, won’t, however, be too late to make its entry on the scene. This worked much more to the disadvantage of the Indian forces, drawn from the plains, than the raiders – mountain tribes.62
Even then, a better trained and equipped army was able to push back the invading militias, reportedly indulging in severe large-scale atrocities against local civilians – not excluding Muslims63, to a significant extent. However, the raiders could hold on to the territories on the west and the north, with considerable local support.
Pakistan, in response, gradually started increasing the presence of its regular forces. In the spring of 1948 regular army battalions, later entire brigades and artillery regiments participated in operations. The battle intensified.64
Between May and December 1948, the Indian forces could, however, score some critical incremental gains.
There, however, arose, apparently, a situation of military stalemate on the ground.65
On top of that, both the feuding states were still Dominions, with their armed forces under the commands of British generals.66
In September 1948, India would initiate military operations to annex the princely state of Hyderabad.67

As regards the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India, prodded by its Governor-General – Lord Mountbatten, had lodged a complaint with the United Nations Security Council on January 1 1948, in response to which Pakistan would lodge a countercomplaint, on the following January 15th, bringing in also the issue of India’s annexation of Junagadh, overriding its ruler’s move to accede to Pakistan, by signing the Instrument of Accession.68
Eventually, through the interventions of the UN Security Council, a cease fire became operative on January 1 1949.69
It would be useful to recall here that while India had based its case on its claimed legality, anchored in the “accession”, further buttressed by a pledge to honour popular choice – to be determined via a “plebiscite”; Pakistan challenged the authenticity of the “accession” and the ruler’s competence to do that, apart from highlighting the religious demography of the state in support of its claim over the territory.70

Kashmir: Divided into two
At any rate, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir now effectively split into two parts – along the Line of Control (LoC), regardless of the, hotly contested, “legal” positions
Pakistan got to retain a large chunk in the north – Northern Areas or Gilgit-Baltistan, and a rather thin slice in the west – Azad Kashmir.
In 1947, most of these areas had seen popular revolts against Maharaja Hari Singh and, eventually, in favour of Pakistan.
India got the rest.
In other words, Punjabi speaking areas of Poonch, Mirpur, and Muzaffarabad, along with Gilgit and Baltistan came to be under control by Pakistan, while the most part of Jammu region and Ladakh and the entire Kashmir Valley came to India.71
One of the major (assessed) reasons why the Indian forces could clear the Valley of the invading Pukhtoons is the cooperation by the locals under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah.72

While the developments, in this region, this point onwards would become a focus of international attention and a major, arguably the most major, source of violent – both low-level and highly intense, clashes between neighbouring India and Pakistan, the area under the control of Pakistan has, reportedly, no problem in terms of its relation with Pakistan, nor, for that matter, Jammu and Ladakh with India.
Undoubtedly, the Valley is the hotspot.
As a consequence, it is primarily this area which would be the focal point of the following discussions, in the process of exploring a resolution of the “problem” or “dispute”.

Since Accession (October 1947) till Rise of Insurgency (1989-90)
The limited war, accession, capped by the UN mediated ceasefire, however, led to no “solution” of the “dispute”.
While, in the eyes of the UN, India and Pakistan were the two disputants, the peoples of Kashmir – subjected to divergent pulls were/are no less so.

It would, however, be in the fitness of things to briefly review the various critical UNSC resolutions, as regards the “dispute” and its “resolution”, in the given context.
On January 20 1948, Resolution 39 was passed establishing a three-member Commission to investigate the complaints by both the disputants. This had been preceded by the Resolution 38, passed on January 17. The Commission, as envisaged in Resolution 39, did not come into fruition until May 1948. Meanwhile, the Security Council continued its deliberations and the war too continued.
On April 21 1948, the (three-part) Resolution 47 was adopted. It laid down the ground rules for holding the “plebiscite”. Pakistan was asked to use its "best endeavours" to secure the withdrawal of all tribesmen and Pakistani nationals, putting an end to the fighting in the state. India was asked to "progressively reduce" its forces to the minimum level required for keeping law and order and, subsequently, appoint a Plebiscite Administrator nominated by the United Nations, who would oversee a free and impartial plebiscite
The Resolution was recommendatory, not mandatory, in nature.73
While a ceasefire would come into force on January 1 1949, neither Pakistan nor India made any move towards fulfilling the laid down conditions for holding the “plebiscite” and it would never be held.
The UNSC, however, would continue to pass resolutions, with progressively decreasing frequency, the last one being: Resolution 307, adopted on December 21, 1971.74

The initial Indian pledge, to the UN, to hold a referendum was very much in tandem with the traditional position taken by the Indian National Congress, the ruling party, in respect of the future of the princely states in British India. Also its stand in alignment with its stand in case of Junagadh and Hyderabad.75 But, far more importantly – as would become evident with the passage of time, its confidence that with Sheikh Abdullah, the tallest political leader from the Valley, by its side – having been appointed  the Head of the Emergency Administration on 30 October 1947 and also leading a volunteer force locally raised to fight the invaders and, then, on March 17 194876, the Prime Minister of the state under Indian control, it will not be difficult to have a favourable opinion.76
But, soon, the relations would start souring and, consequently, Sheikh would be dismissed from his office on August 8 1953 and then thrown behind the bars suspecting his commitment to the “Accession”.78
As a result, would evaporate the confidence.
Thus, India would finally rescind from the pledge in 1954, on the ostensible ground of Pakistan joining a military alliance with the USA and, thereby, altering the basic parameters as had hitherto existed.79
Conversely, Pakistan, which was rather unenthusiastic about the plebiscite, initially, started demanding it more and more loudly.80

The seeds of the growing tussle between India/Nehru and Nehru’s one-time close associate81 Sheikh Abdullah, who, virtually, was the very personification of the Valley, or at least Valley Muslims82, lay in their vastly different readings of the implications of Kashmir’s accession to India.83
Though Sheikh played a pivotal role in the process of Kashmir’s accession to India – under extraordinary circumstances, it appears that for him it was the second best option – to be a part of “secular” India, enjoying a large degree of autonomy and with himself at the helm. The best, however, would have been an independent Kashmir (Valley)84, neutral between India and Pakistan – both, however, keenly desirous of annexing Kashmir, the, most likely, prime consideration being its assessed geo-political salience.
Indian leaders, including Nehru – hard-nosed politicians as they were, could very well sense that Sheikh’s ambitions were in flagrant conflict with their own design, even while acknowledging his very considerable political utility.
Sheikh, cognizant of his weakness vis-à-vis the Indian state, started flirting with foreign powers.
That turned out to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back.85
Consequently, Sheikh was just not dethroned but also thrown behind the bars.
That, in process, seriously ruptured the bond between the Indian state and the people of the Valley.
The Indian state was, of course, only too aware of that.
The three major elements in the armoury of the Indian state to tackle the Kashmir issue, henceforth would be political manoeuvring, combined with the selective use of carrot and stick – more stick than carrot.

Before being dismissed, the National Conference government led by Sheikh, unencumbered by the Indian legal system, had implemented a fairly comprehensive, despite some significant conceptual and implementational glitches, land reforms – evidently, the first and, perhaps, the most radical in India.86
This will be further followed up in the late ‘70s, again under Sheikh.87
This was in alignment with the spirit of the 1944 manifesto, Naya Kashmir88 (New Kashmir) – its Article 26, in particular, adopted by the National Conference, under his leadership.

Sheikh, as the Prime Minister, was succeeded by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, another National Conference leader.
With Sheikh behind the bars, his followers, led by Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beg, would, in August 1955, found the All Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front or Plebiscite Front to act as the main opposition force, without eliciting much tangible success.89
However, by the end of 1963, the pent up frustrations of the people burst out in the open over the theft of holy relic from the Hazratbal Shrine. The relic would soon be recovered.90
But, under its impact, Sheikh would soon be released from jail.91
In 1975, at the end of a period stretching over twenty one odd years with many ups and downs, there would be an accord92 between the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and Sheikh, in February 1975, paving the path for his assuming the office of Chief Minister, soon thereafter93.
The most salient point of the Accord was Sheikh giving up the demand for plebiscite.
Since January 64 till Sheikh taking up the reign again in February ’75, there were three Prime/Chief Ministers.
Sheikh, ‘Sher-e-Kashmir‘ (the ‘Lion of Kashmir’), would die in harness, on September 8 198294, re-inaugurating a phase of political uncertainties.
Along with Sheikh, the most robust ballast restraining the prospect of Kashmiri nationalism turning towards extremism also disappeared.

Amid political turbulence, in the ‘80s, extremism kept gathering momentum – the ongoing Jihad in neighbouring Afghanistan and the Islamic revolution in Iran also playing their roles.95

In February 1984, the execution of Kashmir Liberation Front militant Maqbool Bhat96 would spark off widespread public protests.97
In July 1984, the dismissal of the popular Farooq Abdullah government by Governor Jagmohan, acting as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s hatchet man, through thoroughly questionable machinations, added further fat to the slow fire.98

The year 1987 would prove to be a major turning point.99
An alliance of Islamic parties, the Muslim United Front (MUF), was formed to contest the 1987 state elections and emerged as a major player, the first time in the state – post-Accession, for an Islamic political outfit.
However, when the poll results came out, they were victorious in only 4 of the contested 43 seats.
This was, as is widely acknowledged, the outcome of a massive rigging by the ruling National Conference in alliance with the Congress.100.
Rigging of polls was nothing new – it is commonly held that only ’77 and ’83 polls were not rigged.101
But the scale of rigging this time provided a strong tailwind to the sprouting militancy in the state.102

Insurgency Arrives
The new phase103 would, sort of, be inaugurated with the assassination, on November 4 1989, of Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo104, by the JKLF militants, who had delivered capital punishment to Maqbool Bhat. It had been preceded by the murder of a BJP leader, Tikka Lal Taploo, on September 14 1989.105
The first political assassination had taken place with a National Conference block president, Md. Yusuf Halwai, having been shot dead in Srinagar on August 21 1989.106
Its first eruptions had, however, started appearing in 1988107 itself.
In the second half of 1989 the alleged assassinations of the Indian spies and political collaborators by JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) was intensified. Over six months more than a hundred officials were killed to paralyse government's administrative and intelligence apparatus. The daughter of then interior affairs minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was kidnapped in December and four terrorists had to be released for her release. This event led to mass celebrations all over the valley.108

This would soon be followed by exodus of panic-stricken Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, mainly Srinagar.
Rather intriguingly, a very large number fled on a single night of January 19 1990, the very day the newly appointed Governor Jagmohan, for the second time, had taken over the reins of the state, with the Chief Minister resigning, in protest.109
The exodus, of course, would continue for a while, with the overwhelming bulk of the Pandits migrating.110
The estimates of how many, however, widely vary.  
Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016.111

The appointment of Jagmohan as the Governor, as a sort of a BJP nominee, with his earlier track record of dismissing Farooq Abdullah government at the behest of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, by the V P Singh government was bound to be disastrous112 and so it almost immediately turned out to be.
On January 21, a protest march, against atrocities by security forces on the previous day, was indiscriminately fired upon and 35, the highest till then, lives were reportedly extinguished.113
Things kept happening, at a rather feverish pitch, and 1990 proved to be the major turning point since 1987.
1990 was also the first year when the when the head of the state failed to hoist the national flag on Republic Day. It was a period when the Indian state exposed not only its ugliest face but also its most helpless form.114
What is worth noting here that a deliberate purely strong-arm policy just not only radically worsened the situation but also showed up the weakness of the Indian state.
Jagmohan would, eventually, be packed off115, following another round of atrocious mass killing by the security forces on May 21.116
But, the damage he could manage to inflict, during his rather short-lived tenure – just over four months, was simply enormous.117

A Brief Recap
Between “Accession” of Kashmir to India on October 27 1947 and May 26 1990, the day Jagmohan demitted office, certain watershed events that took place need be specifically flagged here, before proceeding further.
First, Sheikh Abdullah’s appointment as the Head of the Emergency Administration on 30 October 1947, to be followed up with his assumption of the post of the Prime Minister of the state on March 17 1948. This had helped cement the emotional bond between the Valley and India.
This would suffer a serious jolt when Sheikh was unceremoniously dethroned and thrown behind the bars in early August 1953.
Things got partly repaired with his rehabilitation of sorts in 1975.
His death in 1982, while in office, is another momentous development.
The alleged large-scale rigging of the polls in 1987 triggered the rise of (budding) militancy, mainly led by the quasi-secular JKLF.
Under the impact of the rule of Jagmohan, during the first half of 1990, militancy assumed mass character, it also turned distinctly religious-sectarian and the atmosphere in the Valley became sharply communalised. Pakistan started shifting its support from the JKLF to pro-Pakistan Islamic militant groups.

Decades of Turbulence, Militancy and Repression: Till August 4 2019
The insurgency that made its appearance in the Valley in 1989-90 is since continuing, albeit with periodic ups and downs, in tandem with largely raised level of state repression, again, with fluctuating intensities.
The allegations of human rights violations are too ubiquitous.
So are the charges of Pakistan’s active promotion of armed militancy and terrorism.
The militancy itself, apparently further fuelled by repression, is getting deeper and deeper into the zone of radicalised Islam, rather contemptuous of any notion of “liberal democracy”.
In between, 2008 saw the emergence of stone pelting on the streets as a back-up form of mass resistance – to be met with more than matching state brutalities.
The global community is generally rather disinterested except on the ground of a potentially apocalyptic possible nuclear war between the two perpetually feuding neighbours, who went overtly nuclear in May 1998 and are relentlessly engaged in enhancing respective nuclear arsenals and developing the triad of delivery platforms since then.

While this period saw a radically spiked level of brutal violence, including sexual118 – by the state and, also, by the militants – composed of both locals and outsiders, a few events merit special mention.
* Closely following the Pandit exodus and brutalities let loose by the administration under Jagmohan, in February 1991, there was one alleged event of mass gang rape by the Indian armed forces in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, in the Kupwara district.119
* Alleged Shopian rape and murder followed by mas unrest in May-June 2009.120
* Late 2010 saw triggering of prolonged unrest by an allegation of murder of three youths, via staged encounter, by the Indian Army.121
* On July 8 2016, a local militant, Burhan Wani, in his very early twenties, was killed in an armed encounter with the Indian security forces. He was a commander of the the Hizbul Mujahideen and had gained considerable popularity among the local youth via social media. His death sparked off a new wave of militant recruitments.122
* The last in this series is the Pulwama suicide blast, on February 14 2019, carried out by a local youth in which at least forty CRPF jawans in transit got killed.123

Current Situation: Since August 5 2019
On August 5 and 6, just over last two days of the extended monsoon session of the Indian parliament, the incumbent regime brought about some seismic changes as regards the legal and constitutional status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir via some highly questionable parliamentary jugglery.124
In sum, the Article 370 of the Constitution - the recognition of the terms of the Instrument of Accession between the state and India by the latter in its Constitution, was made null and void, without actually amending it.
The Article 35A, which debars “outsiders” from purchasing property in the state – a protective measure not unique to the J&K alone, was scrapped.
The state was bifurcated – to come into force on October 31st, between Jammu and Kashmir on the one hand and Ladakh on the other.125
The status of both the states stands degraded to that of Union Territories – something unprecedented since 1956.126
Before doing all these, a large number of additional troops were deployed, in an already highly militarised zone, on the streets; round the clock curfew declared, all over the state, all forms of communications – including telephones, internet etc. were cut off. Kashmir, in a way, was completely sealed off from the outside world.127
All known political leaders from the Valley have been put under arrest, including three former Chief Ministers. The total number of arrests, as per one report, is around 4,000128, with a few hundreds shifted out of the state129.
At the time of writing, with more than a month elapsed, things remain broadly the same130, understandably, giving rise to a humanitarian crisis .131
Horror stories of custodial tortures have started leaking out.132
The judicial system in Srinagar, reportedly, remains frozen, while the Supreme Court fails to take note. 133

Bouts of extended lock-down accompanied with state repressions are nothing new to Kashmir, though the scale and intensity, this time, is unprecedented.134
Far more importantly, It appears to be part of a larger game plan, that was not there ever before.
An acknowledged "moderate" observer thus presciently noted:
In the context of the UAPA, NRC, communalisation, Ayodhya, it is one more node in a pattern hurtling the Indian state towards a denouement where all of us feel unsafe. Not just Kashmiris, not just minorities, but anyone standing up for constitutional liberty.135
In this context, it is not easy to refrain from drawing the readers’ attention to what this writer had concluded in an analysis of the outcome of the 2019 parliamentary poll in India:
Modi 2.0 very much presents us with the looming threat of the dismantling of the "India" - embodying the values of "democracy", "pluralism" and "egalitarianism", that had been wrought out in the crucible of the epic freedom struggle and, in the process, finally emerged on the 15th August 1947 - in pursuance of a project to supplant it with a "Hindu Rashtra" (Hindu nation state) - by mobilising the Hindus of India as "Hindus", drowning out all other identities linked to language, culture, gender, caste, class etc., constantly stoking hatred and violence against the constructed inimical "others".136
To connect the dots, while the previous Indian regimes – the Congress-led ones, in particular, had made, rather liberal, use of state repressions, intent upon retaining Kashmir as a part of the Indian territory – for a number of reasons, the subject move by the incumbent regime is primarily geared towards a very different objective altogether – actualising its long cherished project of transforming India into a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu nation state).
Only if this is kept in mind, it would be possible to make sense of this momentous move cloaked in carefully planned deceptions and anchored in constitutional jugglery.

Engaged observers have quite emphatically underlined that a major outcome of this move is wiping out of that tribe of Kashmiri politicians – constantly shrinking, though, since the passing away of Sheikh Abdullah, who were seeking a “solution” of the Kashmir “problem” without asking for secession from India.
Given the salience of the issue, in determining the shape of things to come, it would quite be in the fitness of things to cite a few, verbatim:
I. By arresting mainstream leaders, activists, lumping them with separatists, and creating a binary in which “You are with us or against us”, the govt too has left virtually no political space for “collaborators”.137
II. For now, the middle ground in Kashmir stands obliterated.138
III. A recent tweet by a Kashmiri activist based in Europe, who is a harsh critic of Pakistan on J&K and intervenes in the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to rebut any unfavourable report against India, sums up the situation. “Spoke to a friend in Srinagar after a two week hiatus and asked about the situation. His reply: There are only two Kashmiris left. One who feels betrayed & humiliated. The other, who tells the first one: ‘We told you so’. That was all we spoke. Both not knowing what else to say.”139
IV. By these sweeping arrests, the government has blurred the lines between separatists, terrorists, stone-pelters and mainstream leaders who've kept the tricolour flying.140
V. “For the past 70 years, mainstream leaders have been holding the Indian flag high in the Valley, sometimes at the cost of the lives. See what they (the Centre) have done to the mainstream,” said a PDP leader.
“I fear there will be no mainstream in Kashmir now. The entire Valley is now on the other side of the divide,” he said.141
Three of the five quotes above are from pretty well-known and well-respected journalists.

This quashing of the “middle ground” is, however, no unintended side-effect of an overzealous act by a regime having full faith in its own capacity to extinguish all opposition – armed and unarmed, through use of raw coercion.
It is very much designed to be that way.
Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office, thereby, supposedly, privy to the government's mind, and an MP from Jammu, to boot, in a recent freewheeling chat with the Indian Express has made it as much explicit as possible:
No, no. Actually I don’t see any future for them (i.e. young politicians, such as Sajad Lone, Omar Abdullah, Shah Faesal). They are also realising that their political innings has come to an end. It is only some section of the media that wants to see some future, so that the story can carry on. The story has ended.142
The same minister has rubbed this in further, again a month thereafter, by formally pronouncing that the arrested political leaders and activists, who, quite tellingly, include even BJP’s own allies and protégés143, are not going to be freed in any near future. 144
This, apparent, deliberate self-infliction of a grievous wound would make sense only if one keeps in mind that for the current regime, Kashmir is just one of the more crucial pieces on the political chessboard, meant to be used, to checkmate “India”.
The regime cannot but be keenly aware of the fact that this approach of eliminating the “middle ground”, in all probability, would give a strong boost to armed militancy once attempts are made to restore, at least some degree of, “normalcy”.
The reason for which such a development would be considered welcome, and not dreaded – as would normally be expected, is that it – being held up as a mortal threat to mainland India, will help to communally polarise it and, thereby, smoothen the projected journey towards a “Hindu Rashtra”.
One can hardly dig out any other alternative plausible explanation.
Very much in tandem with this approach, the Union Home Minister has flatly refused to talk to any organised force in the Valley.145
Not to be outdone, the Defence Minister has registered refusal to talk to Pakistan either.146
The Home Minister, accordingly, met (apparently, in a choreographed move) a crowd of 22 village heads on September 3 in Delhi. As is expected, nothing of any consequence appears to have been discussed.147

The earlier regimes, including the NDA led by Vajpayee, had, in between waves of armed repressions also used to make periodic overtures towards peace – with Kashmiris and also Pakistan, in separate moves.
Thus we had Lahore (1999)148, Agra (2001)149 and Sharm El Sheikh (2009)150 between India and Pakistan.
With Kashmiris, the most significant official moves had been made in 2006 and then again in 2010.
All these, eventually, turned out to be stillborn though.151
But, this time round no such gesture appears to be in the offing.
A plausible explanation for that has already been offered above.

The Peace Prospects
In a situation of violent conflict no durable peace can be conceived of without the consent of the vital stakeholders to a negotiated settlement of the dispute(s) causing the conflict, however difficult the process may appear to be.
That, by its very definition, would call for “negotiations” between the disputants – all by themselves or aided by some external mediator(s), to make even a beginning.
No magic formula, howsoever sensible or even attractive it may look, is not going to "work" unless it emerges out of engagements between all the stakeholders.152

As was attempted to map above, in the subject case, the (three) major feuding sides are (i) the Indian state – engaged in maintaining, and further tightening, of its ownership over the state of Jammu and Kashmir, under its control, and the Valley, in particular; (ii) the people of the Valley – many, or arguably most, of whom are asking for, somewhat nebulous, “Azadi”153 , either within “India” – with much greater autonomy, or (mostly) from India – through merger with the neighbouring ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ or in the form of an independent state – staunchly Islamic or a more liberal version of it, and (iii) Pakistan, which considers annexation of the state under India as an “unfinished agenda of the Partition”154 in the region towards that goal.
Right now, the incumbent Indian regime is frankly bent upon going just the opposite way.

The only other way of achieving “peace” is the scoring of decisive military victory by one of the feuding parties over its opponent(s).
As regards the possibility of a decisive military victory, the history of the struggle of the Palestinians vis-à-vis Israel, armed with nuclear weapons, could be a good reference point.
On top of that, in the subject case, despite large asymmetry in terms of conventional weapons, India and Pakistan are both armed with nuclear weapons backed up by all the three delivery platforms155 (In case of Pakistan the third leg of the triadic platform is – nuclear-tipped missiles from submarine, at least, close to completion.)
And, given the domestic popular mood, no Pakistani regime can afford to let militancy in Kashmir be just crushed by the Indian state.
Hence, it, too, does not look very much likely, in any foreseeable future.

Talks had, however, been held between India and Pakistan – in not-too-distant past, albeit, without involving “Kashmir” as an autonomous entity, on three occasions. At least the first two took place, quite plausibly, because of American prodding.
There was no such apparent external trigger for the efforts at internal dialogues.
But then, these, in any case, looked far less promising.
Arguably, the Agra conclave had raised maximum hopes, though, at the end, it failed even to produce a pro forma joint statement.156
In any case, this time round, the Indian regime is in just no mood to engage any meaningful “talk”.
(In fact, given the current trend, once the current session (September 2019) of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is over, the possibility of a large-scale military crackdown in the Valley cannot just be ruled out.)

Moreover, the US, which, in the past – most visibly in the case of Kargil War157, had played a vital role – even if, mostly, from behind the screen, under Donald Trump, has lost much of its diplomatic clout.
The repeated offers of Trump to mediate, in response to the urgings by Pakistan and even otherwise, have been summarily rejected by India.158
Pakistan, under the circumstances, is trying its utmost to get the world leaders involved by scaring them with the talks of a possible nuclear war.159 As of now, it has failed to evoke the desired response.160
Things may start changing only in case of a significant shift in the global scenario.

The Road Ahead
Right now, there is a radical shift in the stance of the Indian regime, away from even any overture in favour of peace, against the backdrop of armed militancy, infused with extremist Islamism161, gaining more and more grounds at the costs of “moderates”, with Pakistan, which itself has a dismal record as regards human rights of various minorities162 and now headed by a Prime Minister – widely believed to be a nominee of its military establishment163, actively fanning the fire.
There is also a relative disinterest in “Kashmir”, on the global arena, partly caused by India’s enhanced economic and diplomatic clout, in the recent decades.
Even otherwise, in not-too-distant past, there was massive violation of human rights, in neighbouring puny Sri Lanka164. In more immediate present, Myanmar165 saw state directed genocide against one of its minority ethnic communities. In neither of the cases, the concerned regime faced any tangible consequence.

That, however, does, in no way, do away with the dire need of peace in Kashmir, more so, given its, all too obvious, nuclear dimensions.
Public opinion, in the region and globally, has got to be diligently mobilised, regardless of the roadblocks, in favour of initiating dialogues, to explore a “solution”, involving all the stakeholders, maybe with some credible mediator helping out in the process.
That appears to be the only way out.

23 09 2019

Epilogue

 

Though the monograph had, finally, been wrapped up well after the momentous, or rather seismic, August 5, the reports from the ground zero were still fairly scant, given the extent and intensity of the lockdown imposed.
The lockdown, still in place, has, however, by now started getting incrementally relaxed – though not unaccompanied by at least a few moves right in the opposite direction, in the wake of the much delayed (by more than five months) eventual response, from the Indian Supreme Court166, in particular: social media sites are, right now, at least notionally, accessible167; schools are reopened after seven months168.

Quite a few factfinding reports169, by various civil society groups, have, in the meanwhile, seen the light of the day – braving considerable hurdles. One is pretty recent170 – came out just the last week.
Here, however, no attempt would be made to provide any synopsis of these or any analytical account of the subsequent developments.

It will, nevertheless, only be in the fitness of things to explicitly acknowledge that despite huge – understandably quite unprecedented even by the Kashmir standard, military mobilisation by the Indian state, no major military operation – as distinct from rather customary coercive measures, has yet been launched against the local people in general.

Nor there has been a noticeable spurt in armed militancy or even an outbreak of intifada – in response to August 5 and its aftermath.
These two, noteworthy, developments are, apparently, somehow interlinked – with the international opinion building and diplomacy forming crucial elements of the overall backdrop, and deserve to be closely interrogated.

 

Notes and References:

1.     Ref.: <https://allpoetry.com/Couplet-7>.

2.     RSS slogans like "Doodh mango ge to kheer denge, Kashmir mango ge to chir denge (If you ask for milk, we'll give you kheer, but if you ask for Kashmir we shall kill you").
(Ref.: 'A prayer for peace', dtd. May 19 2002, at <https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/05/19/stories/2002051900090100.htm>.)

3.     It has been suggested that the Indian sub-continent is the most dangerous place in the world to-day and Kashmir is a nuclear flash-point.
(Ref.: 'Speech by ShriI K.R. Narayan, President of India, at the Banquet in Honour of Mr. William J. Clinton, President of The United States of Ameria, on March 21 2000 in New Delhi, at <http://www.krnarayanan.in/html/speeches/others/mar21000.htm>.)
Also ref.: 'South Asia is a nuclear flashpoint, expert tells Euronews', dtd.  March 2 2019, at <https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/02/south-asia-is-a-nuclear-flashpoint-expert-tells-euronews> and 5:39 mins. to 7:27 mins. at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNUTQmSNfrE&feature=youtu.be>. [4]

4.     Since 2016, Kashmir has been in an almost constant state of unrest, which while not caused by the Pakistanis – Indian ham-handedness and human rights abuses managed this all on their own – has been taken advantage of by them and their terrorist proxies. A settlement that all three parties—the Indians, Pakistanis, and, let’s not forget, the Kashmiris—will find acceptable is impossible to imagine.
(Ref.: Revisiting “The Most Dangerous Place in the World” by Roberto Rivera, dtd. March 1 2019, at <http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/03/revisiting-the-most-dangerous-place-in-the-world/>.)

5.     Ref.: ‘Military failure could push Pakistan to initiate nuclear attack against India’, dtd. July 14 2018, at <https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/military-failure-could-push-pakistan-to-initiate-nuclear-attack-against-india/articleshow/54479254.cms?from=mdr>.

6.     'The Global Cost Of India-Pak Nuclear War' by Abheet Singh Sethi, dtd. Sept. 29 2016, at <https://archive.indiaspend.com/cover-story/the-global-cost-of-india-pak-nuclear-war-27563> and 'India-Pakistan nuclear war could end human civilisation: Even limited nuclear exchange would devastate food production around the world, according to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War', dtd. Dec. 10 2013, at <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10507342/India-Pakistan-nuclear-war-could-end-human-civilisation.html>.

7.     Ref.: 'Understanding the Kashmir Conflict' by Subhamoy Das, dtd. March 6 2017. at <https://www.learnreligions.com/history-of-the-kashmir-conflict-1770394>.

8.     Ref.: 'Kashmir' at <https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent>.

9.     Ref.: 'The New Wave of Mobilisation in Kashmir: Religious or Political?' by Simple Mohanty at <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0049085717743838>.

10.  Ref.: 'Kashmir' at <https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent>.

11.  Ref., e.g.: 'A History of India' by Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, Third Edition, pp. 258 -293, at <http://111.68.99.107/libmax/Administrator/Library/DigitalResources/Digital/Books/A%20HISTORY%20OF%20INDIA.pdf>

12.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir>.
Also: 'Kashmir' at <https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent>.

13.  Ref.: 'Kashmir' at <https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent>.

14.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir>.

15.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinchan>.

16.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir>.

17.  Ibid.

18.  Ibid.

19.  Ref.: 'Kashmir' at <https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent>.

20.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir>.

21.  Ref.: 'Demystifying Kashmir' by Navnita Chadha Behera, The Brookings Institution, 2006, pp. 14-15, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Behara-%E2%80%93-Demystifying-Kashmir.pdf>.
Also <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.

22.  He (my uncle) told me (a young Kashmiri Muslim victim of alleged mass rape by Indian military) Kashmir’s story (of discrimination and “dispute”) not just starting from the Partition and the promises made by Pandit Nehru, but from the beginning of Dogra rule.
Ref.: 'That Night in Kunan Poshpora: Do you remember Kunan Poshopora? You should' at <https://antiserious.com/that-night-in-kunan-poshpora-33b48db9a94e>.
This implies that the narrative of oppression of Kashmiris by its erstwhile Dogra rulers is a part of popular memory, even now.

23.  'The Economic Roots of the National. Awakening in Jammu and. Kashmir (1846-1947)', by Ab Rashid Shiekh, chapter 5, at <https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/23085/10/15_chapter6.pdf>.

24.  Ibid.

25.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.

26.  '13 July, 1931 : The Whole Truth …’, op cit.

27.  Ref.: '13 July 1931: A Chapter of Kashmir' at <https://kashmirlife.net/13-july-1931-a-chapter-of-kashmir-61908/>.
Also: 'Kashmir Martyrs' Day: Everything about Kashmir's July 13 carnage' at <https://www.freepressjournal.in/webspecial/kashmir-martyrs-day-everything-about-kashmirs-july-13-carnage> and 'Martyrs’ Days: Memorializing 13 July 1931 in Kashmir: Mridu Rai' at <https://kafila.online/2011/07/13/martyrs%E2%80%99-days-memorializing-13-july-1931-in-kashmir-mridu-rai/>.

28.  Here is a significant comment on the narrative of “Kashmiriyat”:
The composite and accommodating culture of Kashmir, often known as kashmiriyat, pre-dates the Valley’s role as an outpost of a succession of alien empires. At its core has been a gentle, mystical and humanist form of Islam influenced by Sufism. The term describes a Kashmiri identity which embraced both the Valley’s Muslim majority and its highcaste[sic] Hindu minority, the pandits. The concept is often overstated, as if to evoke a political paradise before a biblical fall and the embroiling of the Valley in the rival nationalisms of India and Pakistan. The religious and class divisions between Kashmiri-speaking Hindus and Muslims were always clear-cut. The Kashmiri nationalist current that has proclaimed kashmiriyat as its standard has often turned to Islam rather than a more inclusive regionalism as its defining identity. And it seems the term kashmiriyat was never used before 1947—it was in part invented as a political rallying cry. Yet its strength has come from a perception that Kashmir has been inclusive in its culture, and that both the Muslim majority and the vastly smaller and more privileged Hindu minority contributed to the language and the culture, respected and honoured the other community’s religious festivals and practices, and so shared a Kashmiri identity which created a bond stronger than the differences of faith and belief.
(Ref.: 'A Mission in Kashmir' by Andrew Whitehead, Viking, 2007, Chapter 2, p. 14, at <https://www.andrewwhitehead.net/uploads/3/5/0/5/3505647/02_caught_in.pdf>.)
It may be noted that in today’s context, there appears to be a very large degree of congruence between the proponents of Kashmiriyat, presupposing a harmonious past, and those of Kashmir’s continuance within India, albeit with a large degree of autonomy; also to some extent with those demanding “independence” (or “Azadi”). But, presumably none with those asking for unconditional integration with either India or Pakistan.

29.  Ref.: 'Emergence and Role of Muslim Conference in Kashmir (1932-1939)' by Muhammad Yusuf Ganai, pp. 113 -125, at <http://ir.amu.ac.in/2266/1/T%205238.pdf>.

30.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.

31.  Muhammad Yusuf Ganai, op cit, pp. 157 – 158.
Also: 'Kashmir's Flags: A Historical Overview' by M J Aslam at <http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=83588>.
It does, quite interestingly, describe the subsequent transformation of the party, in 1939, into the National Conference, in terms of their respective flags, in the following words:
The green flag with white a crescent & a star in the middle was pulled down & replaced by a flag with red background & a plough in the middle which, thenceforth, became the party flag of the National Conference.

32.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Jammu_and_Kashmir_Muslim_Conference>.

33.  Ref.: ‘Towards New Kashmir’ at <http://www.jknc.in/UploadFiles/8a2ed918-f302-4831-89a0-d3d301635197__nayakashmir.pdf>.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naya_Kashmir>, 'Naya Kashmir and Human Development: Foundations for State Development Policy' by Sehar Iqbal at <http://www.ijmdrr.com/admin/downloads/1509201716.pdf> and ''Sheikh Abdullah’s New Kashmir Manifesto Was A Cut And Paste Of Stalin’s Constitution For Soviet Union'' by Naseer Ganani at <https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sheikh-abdullahs-new-kashmir-manifesto-was-a-cut-and-paste-of-stalins-constituti/298388>.

34.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.

35.  Ref.: The first paragraph, Section 3 of the 'Resolution', as cited in 'Lahore Resolution 1940' at <https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=603006017073091021123087088112123087031020067072039011023110016119127018120084103064002029052121121116050100025126018102090124053017086038086008087087019068090099069035069078113073103094097024107103115094025072087010123026019086029064089110018068119067&EXT=pdf>.

36.  Ref.: In particular, para 23, 'Presidential address by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to the Muslim League: Lahore, 1940' at <http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_jinnah_lahore_1940.html>.

37.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movements_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_state)#cite_note-6>.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Kashmir_conflict#1846%E2%80%931945:_Princely_state>.

38.  Ref.: <http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/activities/quit_india.htm>.

39.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Kashmir_conflict#1846%E2%80%931945:_Princely_state>.

40.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attlee_ministry#Post-war_consensus>.

41.  Ref.: 'British give date for Indian independence', dtd. Feb. 20 1947, at <https://www.upi.com/Archives/1947/02/20/British-give-date-for-Indian-independence/3317410585124/>.

42.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Action_Day>.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India#1946_Election,_Cabinet_Mission,_Direct_Action_Day,_Plan_for_Partition,_Independence:_1946%E2%80%931947>.

43.  Ref.: 'Five things you didn't know about India's Independence Day' by Shoaib Daniyal at <https://scroll.in/article/674450/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-indias-independence-day>.
Also: 'Why was August 15 chosen as Independence Day?' by  Sushant Singh at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/why-was-august-15-chosen-as-independence-day/>.

44.  Ref.: 'Remembering partition: 'It was like a slaughterhouse'' by Steve Chao at <https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/remembering-partition-slaughter-house-170810050649347.html>.

45.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Kashmir_conflict#1846%E2%80%931945:_Princely_state>.

46.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_princely_states_of_British_India_(by_region)>.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state>.

47.  A highly pertinent observation, even if it pertains to the current, post-accession, scenario:
With its extraordinary medley of races, tribal groups, languages, and religions, Jammu and Kashmir is one of the most diverse regions in the subcontinent. Even its majority community of Kashmiri Muslims is not a unified, homogeneous entity in terms of its political beliefs, its ideological leanings, or the political goals of the decade-long insurgent movement in the Kashmir Valley. There are sharp divisions between those demanding that Jammu and Kashmir become an independent state, those seeking to merge with Pakistan, and those wanting to reconcile their differences with India through constitutional mechanisms guaranteeing their political rights. Nor does the Kashmiri political leadership necessarily speak for the diverse minorities of the state, including Gujjars, Bakkarwals, Kashmiri Pandits, Dogras, and Ladakhi Buddhists. Across the Line of Control, the Northern Areas also presents a rich mosaic of languages, castes, Islamic sects, and cultures, which cannot be subsumed under the overarching category of “Muslim brotherhood” without distorting the diverse political aspirations of the region’s residents. It is essential to recognize the deeply plural character of Jammu and Kashmir’s society on both sides of the line of control and the political aspirations and choices of its minority communities. The irreducible and homogenizing parameters of ideology and nationalism usually applied in analyzing the Kashmir conflict are clearly at variance with the plural realities and diverse political demands of the region’s various communities, ranging from affirmative discrimination to more autonomy, separate constitutional status within India or Pakistan, and outright secession.
(Ref.: Behera, op cit, p. 2.)

48.  Ref.: 'Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War' by Victoria Schofield, I.B.Tauris, 2003, p. 25 and 30, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/book-kashmir-in-conflict-india-pakistan-and-unending-war.pdf>.

49.  Ref.: 'Kashmir 1947: Rival Versions of History' by Prem Shankar Jha, OUP, 1996, p. vii, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/split_jha_kashmir-1947-rival-versions-of-history.pdf>.

50.  'The forgotten Poonch uprising of 1947' by Christopher Snedden, Seminar 643, March 2013, at <https://www.india-seminar.com/2013/643/643_christopher_snedden.htm#top>.

51.  Ref.: <https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Political_integration_of_India>.

52.  'APPENDIX – I’ at <https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/6534/15/15_appendix.pdf>.
Also: Ref.: 'Victims of Massacre, 22nd October 1947' by Ashique Hamdani Syed at <https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/victims-of-massacre-22nd-october-1947-black-day.137665/>.
For a significantly divergent version: 'Danger in Kashmir' by Josef Korbel, Princeton University Press, 1954, pp. 75-78, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/1954-Danger-in-Kashmir-by-Korbel-s.pdf>.
As regards the “sponsoring”: Korbel, op cit, pp. 93-95.
'Jammu and Kashmir in Legal perspective' by EFSAS at <https://www.efsas.org/EFSAS-Jammu%20and%20Kashmir%20in%20Legal%20Perspective.pdf>.
'Alive and Kicking: The Kashmir Dispute Forty Years Later' by James D. Howley, 1991, at <https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1132&context=psilr>.

53.  Ashique Hamdani Syed, op cit.

54.  Ref.: 'Kashmir: Insurgency and After' by Balraj Puri, Orient Longman Private Ltd, 2008, pp. 8-9, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/puri_kashmirinsurgencyandafter.pdf>.

55.  Ashique Hamdani Syed, op cit.

56.  Ref.: 'Kashmir: Legal Documents', Legal Document No 112, at <http://help.ikashmir.net/historicaldocuments/doc/historicaldocuments.pdf>.

57.  Ref.: 'Appendix - II' at <https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/6534/15/15_appendix.pdf>.
Also: 'The Backstory of Article 370: A True Copy of J&K’s Instrument of Accession' by Venkatesh Nayak, August 5, 2019, at <https://thewire.in/history/public-first-time-jammu-kashmirs-instrument-accession-india/amp/>.

58.  There are some bitter controversies as regards the precise sequence of events, and even some doubts about the very existence of the Instrument of Accession. Views and inferences diverge, to a very significant extent, on the basis of which side of the divide one is on.
Nayak, ibid, deals with the “existence” aspect, apparently, rather conclusively.
For the larger, rather acrimonious, debate, one may refer to (i) 'Birth of a Tragedy: Kashmir 1947' by Alastair Lamb, Roxford Books, Hertingfordbury, 1994, pp. 82-103, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1994-Birth-of-a-Tragedy-Kashmir-1947-by-Lamb-s.pdf> and (ii) Jha, op cit, pp. 59-73.

59.  Puri, op cit, p. 12.
Also: There is no evidence of any official intervention with the Maharaja, but the only possible guess which suggests itself is that Abdullah was released on the intervention of the government of India, whose Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, had been for years associated with him.
(Ref.: Korbel, op cit, p. 70.)

60.  Ref.: 'Partition 70 years on: When tribal warriors invaded Kashmir' by M Ilyas Khan, October 22 2017, at <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41662588>.

61.  Ref.: 'Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris' by Christopher Snedden, C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London, 2015, pp. 126-27/252, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Understanding-Kashmir-and-Kashmiris.pdf>.

62.  As winter set in, the intensity of operations decreased. For the Indian forces the weather was a serious problem: many soldiers saw snow for the first time in their life, they were not accustomed to the cold weather at all, and there was not enough winter clothing and footwear available (shortages were gradually eased by local purchases). The locally recruited Azad militias and the Pathan fighters – who were generally used to the weather of high mountains – were far less affected by winter conditions. (Ref.: 'The First Indo-Pakistani War, 1947-48' by Peter A. Kiss, March 2013, at <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235932742_THE_FIRST_INDO-PAKISTANI_WAR_1947-48>.)

63.  Ref.: 'A Mission in Kashmir' by Andrew Whitehead, Chapter 1: 'An Italian in Kashmir', at <https://www.andrewwhitehead.net/uploads/3/5/0/5/3505647/01_an_italian.pdf>.
Also: Ashique Hamdani Syed, op cit.

64.  The first Pakistan Army formation to go into Kashmir was the 101 Brigade. The 101 Pakistani Brigade was the first regular army formation to enter Kashmir.This act of singular decisiveness took place in May 1948. One battalion each from this brigade went to Uri and  Muzaffarabad-Kohala-Bagh area,while one company (later replaced by a battalion) went to Tithwal.
(Ref.: 'The 1947-48 Kashmir War' by Major Agha Humayun Amin at <https://www.brownpundits.com/2018/02/18/1947-48-kashmir-war/>.)

65.  Ref.: 'History of Operations in Jammu & Kashmir (1947-48)' by S.N. Prasad, 1987, pp. pp.373-5, as cited in: 'From Kashmir and 370 to Partition, BJP's Hatred of Nehru is Fuelled by Falsehoods' by A. G. Noorani, August 9 2019, at <https://thewire.in/history/from-kashmir-and-370-to-partition-bjps-hatred-of-nehru-is-fuelled-by-falsehoods>.

66.  Because of Pakistan and India’s dependence on British officers in their respective armies, both countries believed that they had been disadvantaged during the Kashmir war: Pakistan, because General Gracey had refused to send in troops when Jinnah requested him to do so; India because, rather than encouraging the Indians to counterattack and recapture the area around Mirpur and Muzaffarabad, while they were militarily in the ascendancy, General Bucher pressed for a ceasefire. But, from the British perspective, Bucher’s objective, mirrored by that of Gracey, was preventing an inter-dominion war, which would have required men, who had so recently been comrades-in-arms, to fight each other.
(Ref.: Schofield, op cit, p. 72.)

67.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_annexation_of_Hyderabad>.

68.  Ref.: 'Resolutions and Statements of the United Nations Security Council (1946–1989): A Thematic Guide' edited by Karel C. Wellens, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Netherlands, 1990, p. 322, at <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=lsyOVH6E-PEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
It appears that well before India actually taking the dispute to the UN, Pak Prime Minster, on November 16 1947, had proposed such a course of action, via a press statement.
(Ref.: Korbel, op cit, pp. 90-91.)
That makes the proposition quite plausible that India would eventually go to the UN, on January 1 1948, to forestall such a move on the part of Pakistan and lodge the complaint under chapter VII, instead of chapter VI (which Puri found rather “intriguing”: Puri, op cit, p. 17), to keep the level of UN intervention, all at the same time, to the most minimum and its opinion only recommendatory. At that point of time, quite possibly, it was pretty much an astute diplomatic move, on the part of India in the tussle with rival Pakistan.
Also: Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_mediation_of_the_Kashmir_dispute>.

69.  Puri, op cit, pp. 16-17. Also: Korbel, op cit, p. viii.

70.  Schofield, op cit, pp. 70-71. Also Puri, op cit, pp. 16-17. Also: <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_47>.

71.  Lamb, op cit, maps 1-3. Also: Behera, op cit. p. 29.

72.  Puri, op cit, pp. 17-18.

73.  Ref.: ‘'Resolutions and Statements …’, op cit, p. 322, and <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_47>.

74.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_307>.

75.  Puri, op cit, pp. 15-17.

76.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Abdullah#Head_of_emergency_administration>.

77.  Puri, op cit, pp. 15-16.

78.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Abdullah#Head_of_emergency_administration>.
Also: Schofield, op cit, pp. 92-93.

79.  Ref: Snedden, op cit, pp. 155-6/252. Also: Puri, op cit, pp. 20-21.

80.  Puri, ibid.
Also: 'How Pakistan avoided a plebiscite -Excerpts from the book "The Kashmir Story" by B. L. Sharma' at <https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?18970/How+Pakistan+avoided+a+plebiscite+Excerpts+from+the+book+quotThe+Kashmir+Storyquot+by+B+L+Sharma>.
For a strikingly different version: Korbel, op cit, pp. 88-91.

81.  For a rather amusing and, yet, telling testimony: 'My Years with Sheikh Abdullah: Kashmir 1971 - 1987' by Gulam Ahmad, Gulshan Books, Srinagar, 2008, pp. 24-25, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Ahmad-Years-with-Abdullah.pdf>. Also subsequent pages.
Also: Special Report: Sheikh Abdullah and the Kashmir Issue, Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Current Intelligence, April 22 1964, Approved for Release on December 1999, pp. 1-2, at <https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000283431.pdf>.

82.  Ahmad, ibid, pp. 29-31.
Puri, op cit, pp. 46-47.
'Radical Land Reforms Were Key to Sheikh Abdullah's Towering Influence on Kashmir: Within the Valley, the reforms caused a social transformation that has few parallels.' by Sudhir Devdas, December 8 2017, at <https://thewire.in/government/radical-land-reforms-key-sheikh-abdullahs-towering-influence-kashmir>.
Schofield, op cit, pp. 128-129.

83.  Puri, op cit, pp. 25-26. Also: Ahmad, ibid, pp. 33-36.

84.  Ahmad, ibid, pp. 35-36.

85.  Central Intelligence Agency, op cit, p.2. Ahmad, op cit, pp. 34-35.

86.  Jagirs and similar special grants had been abolished. Debt conciliation boards had been set up and were operating so vigorously, I was informed, that they amounted to debt cancellation boards. Rents had been lowered. Security of tenure had been provided for the tillers. A ceiling- on all landholdings had been set at 22¾ acres. All arable land above that figure had been taken away from the owners and redistributed.
(Ref.: 'The Kashmir Land Reforms" Some Personal Impressions' by Daniel Thorner, The Economic Weekly, September 12 1953, p. 999, at <https://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1953_5/37/the_kashmir_land_reforms.pdf>.)
Also: Devdas, op cit.

87.  Ref.: 'Land Reforms and Politics in Jammu and Kashmir', pp. 74-79 at <https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/14486/7/07_chapter%203.pdf>.

88.  Ref.: ‘Towards New Kashmir’ at <http://www.jknc.in/UploadFiles/8a2ed918-f302-4831-89a0-d3d301635197__nayakashmir.pdf>.
Eminent Indian economist, Jean Dreze, has argued that under the influence of this manifesto and with the protective shield of the Article 370, now scrapped, Kashmir could make significantly greater progress in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) as compared to Gujarat, in particular, the home state of the incumbent Indian Prime Minister and also the Home Minister.
(Ref.: 'Jean Dreze contests Amit Shah with Gujarat data: Dreze showed how Jammu and Kashmir outscored Gujarat on the basis of a raft of development indices' by  Pheroze L. Vincent, August 9 2019, at <https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/jean-dreze-contests-amit-shah-with-gujarat-data/cid/1696457>.)

89.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Jammu_and_Kashmir_Plebiscite_Front>.

90.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_the_Holy_Relic_from_the_Hazratbal_Shrine>.

91.  Central Intelligence Agency, op cit, pp. 3-4.

92.  Ref.: 'Kashmir: Sheikh Abdullah's Reinstatement' by David E. Lockwood at <https://www.jstor.org/stable/40394860?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>.

93.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_ministers_of_Jammu_and_Kashmir>.

94.  Ibid.

95.  Ref.: Schofield, op cit, pp. 125-126.

96.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maqbool_Bhat>.

97.  Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_conflict#Period_of_integration_and_rise_of_Kashmiri_nationalism_(1954%E2%80%931974)>.

98.  Schofield, op cit, pp. 133-135.

99.  Schofield, op cit, p. 138.

100.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_conflict#Period_of_integration_and_rise_of_Kashmiri_nationalism_(1954%E2%80%931974)>.

101.Ibid.

102.Ref.: 'Kashmir's flawed elections' by Altaf Hussain, September 14 2002, at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2223364.stm>.

103.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir#Rigging_of_1987_Assembly_elections> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_conflict#Period_of_integration_and_rise_of_Kashmiri_nationalism_(1954%E2%80%931974)>.
Schofield, op cit, p. 143.

104.Ref.: 'Media on a Fai ride' by Jagmohan, August 06 2011, at <http://archive.asianage.com/columnists/media-fai-ride-933>.

105.Schofield, op cit, p. 144.

106.Puri, op cit, p. 63.

107.Ref.: 'How Maqbool Butt Passed on the Baton of Militancy in Kashmir: An excerpt from the book 'The Story of Kashmir' by David Devadas.' by David Devadas, February 11 2019, at <https://thewire.in/books/how-maqbool-butt-passed-on-the-baton-of-militancy-in-kashmir>.
Schofield, op cit, pp. 139-140.

108.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir#1987%E2%80%932004>.

109.     Ref.: 'Kashmiri Pandits offered three choices by Radical Islamists' by Col (Dr) Tej Kumar Tikoo (Retd.), January 19 2015, at <http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/kashmiri-pandits-offered-three-choices-by-radical-islamists/>.
This provides quite a graphic account of the alleged atrocities and violence that triggered the “exodus”.
For a very different version: 'Exposing the Exodus' by LKH Desk, Augist 18 2017, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/exposing-the-kp-exodus/>. Also: Puri, op cit, pp. 70-73.
The claim, by some, that the “exodus” had been engineered by Jagmohan in order to have a clear field to launch brutal state terror against the local (ref.: 'Governor Jagmohan Was Responsible for Pandit Exodus, Says Saifuddin Soz in New Book on Kashmir', June 23 2018, at <https://www.news18.com/news/india/governor-jagmohan-was-responsible-for-pandit-exodus-says-saifuddin-soz-in-new-book-on-kashmir-1787973.html>) does not appear too credible when one takes note of the fact that the bulk had fled the very day Jagmohan had taken over, allowing him no time to do all this.

110.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Pandit#Exodus_from_Kashmir_(1985–1995)>.

111.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_of_Kashmiri_Hindus>.

112.Schofield, op cit, p. 147.
Puri, op cit, p. 65.

113.Puri, op cit, p. 66.
Also: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawkadal_massacre>.

114.Puri, op cit, p. 67.

115.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagmohan#Governor_of_Jammu_and_Kashmir>.
Also: 'Mirwaiz fiasco sparks off a change of guard in Kashmir.' by Pankaj Pachuri, June 15 1990, at <https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19900615-mirwaiz-fiasco-sparks-off-a-change-of-guard-in-kashmir-812692-1990-06-15>.

116.Ref.: 'Muslim Leader of Kashmir Slain; 30 Die as Police Fire on Mourners' by Barbara Crossette, May 22 1990, at <https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/22/world/muslim-leader-of-kashmir-slain-30-die-as-police-fire-on-mourners.html>.
'Desecrating the dead' by Shams Irfan, July 18 2010, at <https://kashmirlife.net/desecrating-the-dead-650/>.
Puri, op cit, p. 68.

117.It was the logical outcome of such a reckless and ruthless one-track policy that led to the cross-over of an officially estimated 10,000 desperate Kashmiri youth to Pakistan for training and procurement of arms.
(Ref.: Puri, op cit, 69.)
Also: Schofield, op cit, p. 154.

118.'Rape in Kasmir: A Crime of War' by Asia Watch, a Division of Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, 1993, at <https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA935.PDF>

119.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunan_Poshpora_incident> and 'Kunan Poshpora – The Other Story' by Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, January 20 2014, at <https://kafila.online/2014/01/20/kunan-poshpora-the-other-story-shrimoyee-nandini-ghosh/>.

120.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Shopian_rape_and_murder_case>.

121.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Kashmir_unrest#Stone_pelting>.

122.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burhan_Wani> and 'Kashmir: 2 Years After Burhan Wani: Burhan Wani’s killing sparked an uprising that never really ended.' by Fahad Shah, July 10 2018, at <https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/kashmir-2-years-after-burhan-wani/>.

123.Ref.: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Pulwama_attack> and 'Kashmir attack: Tracing the path that led to Pulwama', May 1 2019, at <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47302467>.

124.Ref.: 'The Article 370 Amendments: Key Legal Issues' by Gautam Bhatia, August 5 2019, at <https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/the-article-370-amendments-key-legal-issues/?fbclid=IwAR2h12Puu6pOx9MRjZnkz2OvPd342VJAI6uYOmg_onX22htwVfmXzQpgyqU>.
Also: 'Article 370 scrapped: What will change in Jammu & Kashmir', August 5 2019, at <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/article-370-to-be-scrapped-what-impact-will-it-have-on-jk/articleshow/70534157.cms>.

125.Ref.: 'With President's nod to J&K bifurcation, two UTs to come into existence on October 31: The Act was passed to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh without one.', August 9 2019, at <http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/aug/09/with-presidents-not-to-jk-bifurcation-two-uts-to-come-into-existence-on-october-31-2016603.html>.

126.Ref.: 'J&K: The first state to become a Union Territory' by TNN, August 6 2019, at <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jk-the-first-state-to-become-a-ut/articleshow/70548872.cms>.

127.Ref.: 'Kashmir: Why Centre is sending additional 38000 troops to J&K: Narendra Modi govt has decided to send 38,000 more troops to the Kashmir Valley even though terror incidents have come down.' by  Prabhash K Dutta, August 2 2019, at <https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/-if-situation-has-improved-then-why-send-38-000-troops-to-j-k-1576436-2019-08-02>, 'Article 370: India strips disputed Kashmir of special status', August 5 2019, at <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49231619> and '‘Anxiety Fills the Air.' What It's Like Inside Kashmir When All Communication With the Outside World Is Cut Off' by Fahad Shah, August 7 2019 at <https://time.com/5646005/inside-kashmir-communication-shutdown/>.

128.Ref.: 'About 4,000 people arrested in Kashmir since August 5: govt sources to AFP', by AFP, August 18 2019, at <https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/about-4000-people-arrested-in-kashmir-since-august-5-govt-sources-to-afp/article29126566.ece>. For a slightly different version: 'Thousands Detained in Indian Kashmir Crackdown, Official Data Reveals' by Reuters, September 12 2019, at <https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/09/12/world/asia/12reuters-india-kashmir-detentions.html>.

129.Ref.: 'Nearly 300 from Valley detained in UP jails: Separate barracks, families wait' by Anil Bhatnagar, September 12 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/nearly-300-from-valley-detained-in-up-jails-separate-barracks-families-wait-5987405/>.

130.Ref.: 'Kashmir under lockdown: All the latest updates: Latest updates as India abrogates Kashmir's special status and imposes a security lockdown which is in its second month.', September 19 2019, at <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/india-revokes-kashmir-special-status-latest-updates-190806134011673.html>.

131.Ref.: 'Doctors write to Amit Shah for permission to assess healthcare situation in Jammu and Kashmir' by Scroll Staff, September 11 2019, at <https://scroll.in/latest/937000/doctors-write-to-amit-shah-for-permission-to-assess-healthcare-situation-in-jammu-and-kashmir?fbclid=IwAR2m0EWUOovJd7lVUnOkuoYojupHv7g4LWadgHLJGNkZoCQ-Xc9HrBe51Js>.

132.Ref.: 'Kashmir lockdown: Stories of torture and arbitrary arrests: Thousands have been detained and many of them tortured since India revoked Kashmir's autonomy a month ago.' by Akash Bisht, September 4 2019, at <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/kashmir-lockdown-stories-torture-arbitrary-arrests-190904122016072.html> and <https://twitter.com/BabaUmarr/status/1174038807634763778>.

133.Ref.: 'Even as thousands are detained in Kashmir, courts and legal system remain frozen: Habeas corpus petition are piling up but hearings are being postponed and court orders have dwindled.' by Anumeha Yadav and Menaka Rao, September 20 2019, at <https://scroll.in/article/937856/even-as-thousands-are-detained-in-kashmir-courts-and-legal-system-remain-frozen?fbclid=IwAR1I67aRzVEoQS7zD5LxpGrAwmctTsrrI7lbFRoontgBpmSyiYjo6WrxWkw>.
Also: 'Under wraps so far: 252 habeas corpus pleas in J&K High Court since August 5: Little urgency has been shown by the High Court — each case is either in the stage of admission or has been listed for orders' by Kaunain Sheriff M, September 20 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/under-wraps-so-far-252-habeas-corpus-pleas-in-jk-hc-since-august-5-6011628/?fbclid=IwAR0L0-DyA4aTa04dRkORdvw3dod5QtK4JF8YwcPy_ogq9FUXT0Y1cNWImiA>.

134.Ref.: 'Kashmir Valley has seen many a lockdown but why this time it is so different: The Kashmir Valley’s connection with the inside and the outside world has been cut — all internet connectivity, cellular, landline, and cable TV services have been snapped.' by Muzamil Jaleel, Bashaarat Masood, Adil Akhzer, August 7 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/valley-has-seen-many-a-lockdown-but-why-this-time-it-is-so-different-article-370-kashmir-amit-shah-5884129/>.

135.Ref.: 'The story of Indian democracy written in blood and betrayal: BJP thinks it is going to Indianise Kashmir. Instead, we will see, potentially, the Kashmirisation of India.' by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, August 7 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/jammu-kashmir-article-370-scrapped-special-status-amit-shah-narendra-modi-bjp-5880797/>.

136.Ref.: '2019 Parliamentary Poll: Outcome: Drivers: Consequences: An Exploration' by Sukla Sen, June 15 2019, at <https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSX4J7wt12TDUlBKNQ_x1AiIPFvYKiNay001ceKe6qrZD9kAy_8sdtYNE25Jbwk0A/pub>.

137.Ref.: Nirupama Subramanian@tallstories, September 3 2019, at <https://twitter.com/tallstories/status/1168936922682712067?s=17&fbclid=IwAR02ZDf4czEEZOCayzkTazvNy8770W4eAKWqVc6eSgvijK122QQBdnBlXeI>.

138.Ref.: 'Kashmir will not react and erupt in anger, Kashmir will respond' by Gowhar Geelani, September 9 2019, at <https://www.asianage.com/opinion/oped/090919/kashmir-will-not-react-and-erupt-in-anger-kashmir-will-respond.html>.

139.Ref.: 'Abrogation of J&K’s special status is being seen through one prism: The fear of demographic change: If, indeed, New Delhi believes the decision is for the good of the people, then what explains the siege around every household, an unprecedented communication blockade, a record troop build-up and the detention of almost everyone who has a political or social standing in Kashmir?' by Muzamil Jaleel, Sptember 9 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kashmir-lockdown-article-370-communication-modi-govt-5978122/>.

140.Ref.: 'Kashmiris have lost the sense of fear', Interview of Anuradha Bhasin by Jyoti Punwani, August 30 2019, at <https://www.rediff.com/news/interview/kashmiris-have-lost-the-sense-of-fear/20190830.htm>.

141.Ref.: 'Kashmir's Political Leaders Remain in Detention, Government Mum on Charges: The massive crackdown on mainstream politicians has left the Valley leaders, workers and supporters in both anger and shock.' by Mudasir Ahmad, August 13 2019, at <https://thewire.in/politics/kashmir-political-leaders-arrest-government-silence>.

142.Ref.: '‘I see no future (for Omar, Sajad, Mufti)… Story has ended for those thriving in vacuum, 8% turnouts’: Jitendra Singh: MoS, PMO, Jitendra Singh says curbs in J&K are nothing new and should not be seen through the prism of Art 370.' by Express News Service, August 18 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/idea-exchange-jitendra-singh-mos-pmo-jammu-and-kashmir-bifurcation-article-370-jk-reorganisation-bill-5913457/>.

143.Ref.: 'Detained in Jammu and Kashmir: Three former CMs, ex ministers, MLAs, Mayor' by Bashaarat Masood, August 19 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/detained-in-jk-ex-top-ministers-mlas-mayor-5915920/>.

144.Ref.: 'J&K leaders will be freed in less than 18 months: MoS Jitendra Singh: Singh’s statement is the first one by a senior functionary in the Union government about the maximum time for which mainstream political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir may remain under detention.' by Arun Sharma, September 18 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jk-leaders-will-be-freed-in-less-than-18-months-mos-jitendra-singh-6004598/>.

145.Ref.: 'No talks with Hurriyat, only with people of J&K…will continue to claim PoK: Amit Shah' by Liz Mathew and Pradeep Kaushal, August 7 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jammu-kashmir-reorganisation-bill-passed-lok-sabha-no-talks-with-hurriyat-amit-shah-5884095/>.

146.Ref.: 'Talks with Pakistan now will only be about PoK, says Rajnath Singh' by Archis Mohan and PTI, August 18 2019, at <https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/talks-with-pakistan-now-will-only-be-about-pok-says-rajnath-singh-119081800832_1.html>.

147.Ref.: 'Kashmiri delegation meets Amit Shah in Delhi' by IANS, September 3 2019, at <https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/kashmiri-delegation-meets-amit-shah-delhi-1594839-2019-09-03>.
Given that the report uses both past and future tenses while referring to the “meeting”, one cannot be really too sure whether any such meeting had actually taken place.

148.Ref.: 'Lahore Declaration February, 1999', February 02 1999, at <https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?18997/Lahore+Declaration+February+1999>.

149.Ref.: 'When Vajpayee and Musharraf 'Almost Resolved' the Kashmir Dispute: History remembers the Agra Summit as one of the greatest missed opportunities of India-Pakistan relations. Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in his book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’ wrote that the “solution to Kashmir was in the grasp of both governments”.' by Uday Singh Rana, February 13 2018, at <https://www.news18.com/news/politics/when-vajpayee-and-musharraf-almost-resolved-the-kashmir-dispute-1659481.html>.

150.Ref.: 'Joint Statement Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani', July 16 2009, at <https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/4855/Joint+Statement+Prime+Minister+of+India+Dr+Manmohan+Singh+and+the+Prime+Minister+of+Pakistan+Syed+Yusuf+Raza+Gilani>.

151.Rivera, op cit.

152.It was the acknowledgement that Kashmiris need to be counted in, plus the realism that neither diplomacy nor war would change the map, that propelled the backchannel talks on the four-point solution for Kashmir in the first decade of the century. It was a truly exciting period in this history of South Asia, because for the first time, here was a historic opportunity to end the hostility. It had four elements — borders will not change, but Kashmiris will be allowed to move freely across it; a phased withdrawal of the military on both sides; more autonomy from Islamabad to PoK, and from Delhi to J&K; and a joint mechanism for the “supervision” of J&K. This formula remains the best way out of the mess that India and Pakistan have created in Kashmir.
(Ref.: 'India’s actions over the status of J&K provide an opportunity to revisit four-point plan for Kashmir' by Nirupama Subramanian, September 19 2019, at <https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/jammu-kashmir-restrictions-article-370-pakistan-6007817/?fbclid=IwAR3GwwTdGOa95VhUGeuBADjJp7NPHXAeA-_O1mJc_q5OixRd65riFSD4Uuo>.
The very same proposal, albeit in greater details, had been laid out here as well: Uday Singh Rana, op cit.

153.Ref.: 'First Person - Shades of Azadi: Address the rage and frustration of the youth and everything else will follow' by Ghazala Wahab at <http://forceindia.net/firstperson/shades-of-azadi/> and 'What does azadi mean to Kashmiris? The answer may be surprising: On the issue of joining Pakistan, the answer is 50-50.' by Harsh Kakar, June 10 2017, at <https://www.dailyo.in/politics/kashmir-azadi-india-pakistan/story/1/17742.html>.

154.Ref.: 'Press Release from the President's Secretariat' (PR No. 193/2018), Islamabad, December 18 2018, at <http://president.gov.pk/imgs/121418/121418e.pdf>] and keep fanning insurgency[Ref.: 'Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India' by Sten Widmalm, p.88, at <https://lostkashmirihistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Kashmir-in-Comparative-Perspective-OCR.pdf>.

155.Ref.: 'Factbox: India and Pakistan - nuclear arsenals and strategies' by Zeba Siddiqui, March 1 2019, at <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-pakistan-nuclear-factbo/factbox-india-and-pakistan-nuclear-arsenals-and-strategies-idUSKCN1QI4O5>.
Also: 'India and Pakistan are quietly making nuclear war more likely: Both countries are arming their submarines with nukes.' by Tom Hundley, April 4 2018, at <https://www.vox.com/2018/4/2/17096566/pakistan-india-nuclear-war-submarine-enemies>.

156.Ref.: 'The Summit', July 14 2001, at <https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?20047/The+Summit>.

157.Ref.: 'The story of how Nawaz Sharif pulled back from nuclear war' by  Elias Groll, May 14 2013, at <http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/14/the-story-of-how-nawaz-sharif-pulled-back-from-nuclear-war/> and 'Joint Statement (of US President Clinton) With Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan', July 4 1999, at <https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/WCPD-1999-07-12/pdf/WCPD-1999-07-12-Pg1278.pdf>.

158.Ref.: 'Imran welcomes Trump's offer of mediation on Kashmir, says it won't be resolved bilaterally' by PTI, July 23 2019, at <http://www.ptinews.com/news/10726606_Imran-welcomes-Trump-s-offer-of-mediation-on-Kashmir--says-it-won-t-be-resolved-bilaterally.html>.
Also: 'PM Modi rejects mediation on J-K, Donald Trump agrees: The two leaders met for the first time since India scrapped the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.' by HT Correspondent, August 26 2019, at <https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-rejects-mediation-on-j-k-donald-trump-agrees/story-4z1mdXYD6RKSCrbdfai71I.html>.
'Trump once again offers to help India-Pakistan, says Kashmir mediation offer still out there: Donald Trump has offered to help resolve the tensions between India and Pakistan. He said that the offer to mediate over the Kashmir issue is still there.' by India Today Web Desk, September 10 2019, at <https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/donald-trump-again-offers-to-help-india-pakistan-kashmir-1597424-2019-09-10?utm_source=JioXpressNews&utm_medium=JioXpressNews&utm_campaign=JioXpressNews>.

159.Ref.: 'Imran Khan rakes up prospect of nuclear war with India' by IANS, September 15 2019, at <https://www.khaleejtimes.com/international/pakistan/imran-khan-rakes-up-prospect-of-nuclear-war-with-india>.
Also: If the world does nothing to stop the Indian assault on Kashmir and its people, there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation. India’s defense minister has issued a not-so-veiled nuclear threat to Pakistan by saying that the future of India’s “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons will “depend on circumstances.” Similar statements have been made by Indian leaders periodically. Pakistan has long viewed India’s “no first use” claims with skepticism.
(Ref.: 'Imran Khan: The World Can’t Ignore Kashmir. We Are All in Danger.: If the world does nothing to stop the Indian assault on Kashmir and its people, two nuclear-armed states will get ever closer to a direct military confrontation.' by Imran Khan, August 30 2019, at <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/opinion/imran-khan-kashmir-pakistan.html>.)

160.The UNSC, Secretary General has, however, expressed his concern.
Look, I think, on Kashmir, the Secretary‑General… as the Secretary‑General said and has said previously, he remains engaged. I think he will also use the opportunity of discussions during the General Assembly to raise it. He's also underscored the need for dialogue as the only way to resolve the issue and, as part of the solution for the current crisis in Kashmir, to make sure that human rights aspects are very much dealt with, as well.
(Ref.: 'Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General', September 19 2019, at <https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/db190919.doc.htm?fbclid=IwAR3NGLocaVK-CoTw615WFsqKQMrrmxEz9dLCw3phJ_0XjBYXOaOMPlg2NsU>.)

161.Here is a list of key militant groups, as in 2006: Behera, op cit, pp. 160-1.
Subsequently, the Al Qaeda and ISIS have also been reported to try to gain footholds.
(Ref.: 'Al Qaeda chief threatens India over Kashmir, unveils Pak's role in fueling cross-border terrorism' by IANS, July 10 2019, at <https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/al-qaeda-chief-threatens-india-over-kashmir-unveils-pak-s-role-in-fueling-cross-border-terrorism-119071000389_1.html> and 'Isis claims to have established Kashmir ‘province’', May 12 2019, at <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/isis-claims-to-have-established-kashmir-province-bz92ls7jk>.)

162.Ref.: 'Pakistan's secret dirty war' by Declan Walsh, March 29 2011, at <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/29/balochistan-pakistans-secret-dirty-war> and 'Pakistan: Hazara Shia Muslims end protest in Quetta over killings' by Asad Hashim, May 3 2018, at <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/pakistan-hazara-shia-muslims-protest-quetta-killings-180502131145156.html>.

163.Ref.: 'Pakistan's Sham Election: How the Army Chose Imran Khan' by C. Christine Fair, July 27 2018, at <https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/pakistan/2018-07-27/pakistans-sham-election>.

164.Ref.: 'Sri Lanka Massacred Tens of Thousands of Tamils While the World Looked Away' by Callum Macrae, August 5 2015, at <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwxz4m/death-of-a-tiger-0000710-v22n8>.

165.Ref.: 'Myanmar: Events of 2018' at <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/burma>.

166.Ref.: 'The value of the SC’s Kashmir order' by Gautam Bhatia, Jan. 12 2020, at <https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/the-value-of-the-sc-s-kashmir-order-opinion/story-AQBLRCMYZ2mkAhVWWiMnIL.html>.

167.Ref.: 'Jammu and Kashmir administration lifts ban on social media sites' by Prashasti Awasthi, March 4 2020, at <https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/jammu-and-kashmir-administration-lifts-ban-on-social-media-sites/article30981290.ece>.

168.Ref.: 'Kashmir schools reopen after 7 months' by Yusuf Jameel, Feb. 25 2020, at <https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/250220/kashmir-schools-reopen-after-7-months.html>.

169.At least two of these deserve special mention: (i) 'Imprisoned Resistance - 5th August And Its Aftermath', November 12 2019, at <http://pucl.org/reports/imprisoned-resistance-5th-august-and-its-aftermath> and (ii) '#KashmirCivilDisobedience', October 12 2019, by Anirudh Kala, Brinelle D’Souza, Revati Laul and Shabnam Hashmi at <https://cdn.dnd.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/report-titled-Kashmir-Civil-Disobedience.pdf>.

170.'Interrogating the “Normal” in Kashmir: Report of a Visit to the Valley, January 31 to February 5, 2020', March 4 2020, by Kalpana Kannabiran, Sarojini Nadimpally, Navsharan Singh, Roshmi Goswami and Pamela Philipose at <https://indianculturalforum.in/2020/03/04/interrogating-the-normal-in-kashmir/?fbclid=IwAR1fsd2aHAn4QsGlaP-gpxcE5O8JkWXFDk1dQvzk6u13fvIGu2ZWWGHMAng>.

What happens when you drive away the "termites"???
You come to realise that they are not "termites". 
Suddenly wake up to the fact that it's "they" who help in a very big way to live your lives the way you're living.

Humans from time immemorial used to migrate. In order to live on. In search of better lives. 
There were no "borders" then, other than topographical.
Even now they do. Some permanently, some temporarily or even seasonally. Some within "borders", some across.

At times, we find paranoia. Unreasoned hatred against the new immigrants. From within "border" and across "border".
At times this paranoia is orchestrated by evil forces with fiendish political motives.
Panic and aggression follows.

India is, however, far from unique.
Right at this moment, a very similar script is being played out in the US.
The saner ones act differently though.

https://www.dw.com/en/muslims-in-germany-religion-not-a-good-gauge-of-integration/a-57365668  A study was conducted on behalf of the German Islam Conference with the interior and migration ministries, following research carried out between 2019 and 2020.  According to the study, there are between 5.3 and 5.6 million Muslims with a "migration background," around 900,000 more than in 2015. This makes up between 6.4 and 6.7% of Germany's entire population.  It compares Muslim populations with a migration background with those who are Christian or have no religion — often indicating that religion is not the decisive factor in various trends. For example, 15.8% of Muslims with a migration background compared to 17.5% of Christians with a migration background did not finish school: The average for all people with a migration background is 15.3%. So Muslims are not much different to other migrant groups. But among all people without a migration background, the proportion is well below 3%.

II. The share of immigrant population in France rose from around 5% in the mid-forties to over 10% now. https://www.statista.com/statistics/947474/immigrant-population-in-france/ 
III. In Britain, very recently, the UK had one with Indian roots as its Prime Minister. The Mayor of its capital London is one with roots in Pakistan.
IV. Even America was pretty much different till very recently.  'Why American Cities Are Fighting to Attract Immigrants' - https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/us-cities-immigrants-economy/398987/ 
what had started off as a drive against "illegal immigrants" is now covering even "legal" immigrants with valid visa. And, not only that, it threatens to escalate to target even While Anglo-Saxon Protestants, there for generations -- far more selectively though https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/us/politics/trump-rosie-odonnell-citizenship.html 
 From Sukla Sen: https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/XjPkMmolQh4/m/FjhAltVTCAAJ

No other city is like Gurugram—‘so mismanaged, yet so highly spoken of’  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90H5E3d2YD4 Jul 31, 2025
For days now, Gurugram’s society WhatsApp groups and Reddit forums have buzzed with a slow-rising panic. The domestic workers have vanished. The cooks, the nannies, the food delivery executives, the sanitation workers—the invisible army that keeps Gurugram functioning—have fled in terror of the crackdown on “illegal” Bangladeshi immigrants. As kitchen countertops remain dirty and impromptu garbage dumps appear on abandoned plots, the city’s residents are discovering what their gleaming towers are actually worth, in the absence of the people who have summarily been branded as threats.

Rice Varieties Understanding Gene Editing & Gene-Edited s   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIa2NFcPXZ4 

And you are all aware that currently this is the biggest uh dispute or point of contention in the Indo US trade deal that is getting negotiated. The US is
trying to shove um untested, unsafe, unwanted, unneeded GM crops onto India and uh Indian government from uh reports that one
reads in the media and hopefully that will be so when we finally get a deal uh happening.

Apparently the Indian government is resisting um this uh push by the US government. You should all remember that for 23 long years, this is probably one of the most successful people's movements in India. For 23 long years, we have managed to keep India GM free after BT cotton got approved for
cultivation in the country. that too uh in a very uh devious fashion.

Youtube transcript   (partly edited)
genome editing - what is genome technology and what are the concerns about it.  the government of India had announced that um uh India is uh ready to release uh two genome edited rice varieties .

 speakers Dr. Kitika Agnya qualified and trained biotechnologist worked with  DST e a very simplified presentation on what is gene editing
followed by Shiao Banerjee who's a organic farmer who's also a biotechnologist by training. 
[Music] coalition for a GM free India
BT cotton approval GMT
rn
request
or
engagements after one and a half
discussions. Uh
uh Zoom room technical settings participants
mute  um
GM crops resistance
people's movement
activist unientific
anti-science lit anti-development
um in India the narrative that's run by the biotech uh lobby especially
uh with their uh deep pockets uh with the ability to manipulate mass media and
uh garner a lot of publicity is that the ones uh who are resisting GM crops are
only a handful of people these are activists who are anti-science they are
lites they are anti-development coming in the way of this country's progress
that's the kind of narrative that is built but uh I would like you to know that uh you know this is a uh very very
massive people's movement if it were not so if uh we didn't have resistance from
uh you know from a spectrum of political parties from state governments from
agriculture scientists from biotechnologists from the medical fraternity uh from
consumer groups environmental groups and so on and ordinary citizens you know
people who humbly call themselves I'm an ordinary housewife I'm an ordinary uh
entrepreneur and so on everybody has actually
uh put in efforts to understand what is transgenic technology and their
resistance stems from a certain kind of uh knowledge that they have built for
themselves and uh their understanding over the years of what is uh what are GM
crops, what are GM foods and why are they not good for me. So dismissing this
as a handful of people will not work. And you are all aware that currently
this is the biggest uh dispute or point
of contention in the Indo US trade deal that is getting negotiated. The US is
trying to shove um untested, unsafe, unwanted, unneeded
GM crops onto India and uh Indian government from uh reports that one
reads in the media and hopefully that will be so when we finally get a deal uh
happening. Apparently the Indian government is resisting um this uh push by the US
government. You should all remember that for 23 long years, this is probably one
of the most successful people's movements in India. For 23 long years,
we have managed to keep India GM free after BT cotton got approved for
cultivation in the country. that too uh in a very uh devious fashion. That's a
story for another day. [Music]
GM crops of India
and one of the most successful
India or USA trade talks
GM crops
measure
Shivra Singh Johan GM crops
Cautionary statements.
term of the NDA government single
GM crops.
Gene
speakers
differ Singh. Johanis
biotech lobby
India main staple crop
India production
edit
builds
GM crops narratives.
narratives.
Um so the context really is about these two rice varieties that are about to be
released uh for cultivation in farmers fields. Apparently big claims are being
made about uh these genome edited rice varieties. But it's not just rice.
There's a gene edited sheep uh that has been developed. There are geneedited
fish uh that have been developed. And uh please uh try and look at uh the
presentations carefully to check whether the narratives uh that uh you are
listening from uh the progenome editing lobby are not similar to what we've
already heard in the past about GM crops. And finally, please remember that very openly
uh government of India as well as uh the biotech lobby representatives
are saying that because there is resistance against GM crops. We have come up with
the genome edited crops and we have done so after deregulating
two kinds of genome editing applications in India.
resistance.
Genome editing. Genome editing
applications major applications.
to uh bumi this is the background um
sorry that I took this long I'll now invite uh Dr. Kitika to uh start uh her
presentation and I have one more request um my colleague uh Niveita will share
the YouTube uh live streaming link in the chat box while the uh webinar is
underway. Can you take just 20 seconds to uh you know put this out on your
social media handles the live streaming link encouraging people to watch the
live streamed uh video. Uh Niveita may I request you to please uh put that in the
chat box please? Yeah sure we'll do that. Kavita, you need to click on the go live uh link for
the YouTube. The YouTube need to click on the go live uh link.
Oh my god. Yes. Okay. It says it's live streaming.
Um something needs to be changed in the YouTube account because the live link is not working.
Okay. Can you make me the host, I guess?
Yeah. Um, just give me one second.
Hasha, make me a co-host. Ha.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm making
right. Um shall we wait for you to uh fix this uh
hersa uh before I think we should go ahead and we will simultaneously uh do the streaming
thing. Right. Yeah. Uh Dr. Kitika uh I invite you to please
begin your presentation. Thank you.
Pritika, are you there? Kitika got thrown out. Uh, she'll come
back. Oh, okay. Sorry about this. Maybe this is the time that we need to figure out
the live streaming also. or apologies.
Can you just uh check with her? She's joining Kavita.
So Hara as soon as uh she joins please make her a co-host.
Nidita, do you want to call her and check?
I'm on call with to check what happened.
Yes, Anandu, you're right that technologies like this uh do fail us.
And uh when we're talking about any gene technology in our food systems, it's
actually a living technology. Uh which essentially means that um especially in
the uh plant kingdom uh we're talking about the ability of a
genetically modified organism um germinating once you release it into
the environment. That seed germinating, that seed uh flowering and uh the pollen
uh from the flower uh getting spread uh
by uh numerous ways insect pollination, wind pollination, water pollination. Sorry for interrupting. She's back. I
know she's joined. Uh Harsha, please make uh uh Dr. Kitika a co-host.
Uh the fact that uh
that this is uh uh you know that the pollen has the ability to spread uh in
the environment makes it a living technology which is uncontrollable and
irreversible. And uh today we'll hear about how the reversibility
in genome editing is also at a molecular level and not just at a ecosystem level.
Uh Kita, you're a co-host. You can start presenting. Thank you. Sorry. So sorry, some technical glitch.
I got thrown out. Yeah, I'll I'll share my presentation.
So good evening everybody. I'll um try to keep it max um mainly in English and
then uh wherever I I feel it would be um required to say explain it for a little
further in Hindi I shall try and speak in Hindi also. So um I'm trying to actually only uh give you an
introduction of what is gene editing and why we are against it. Um because most
of the most of the people who are part of this uh uh uh know group of people
who are against gene editing there are some of us who are not completely aware of what the technology is and why
exactly should we be against it. So this is just an introduction. Shomik will be giving you a little more uh detailed uh
account of what is uh what is happening specifically with rice varieties. So um
I'm I I will just go through um you know in this um I mean this is going to be
the main um way in which I'll be taking taking you through the presentation. So we'll try and understand what is a
genome first what is a gene? How does it impact functions of a living organism? I
mean how is how does gene and genome impact functions of a living organism? Uh when we say genetic modification what
do we mean by that? How is it done exactly? and what is this crispercast technology specifically and what you
know in context with what is gene editing specifically. So this is going to be the flow of my presentation. So to
understand what is a gene and what is a genome I would uh uh quickly give you a
um 2minut video to look at. So that will give us a perspective about the you know
the world we are looking at the size of size of what we are uh looking at
one second
just a minute okay so uh how many of us are aware of what is a genome is one
thing that uh I wanted to start with. So when we say genome, it is actually
um is the video visible? No, not yet. One second.
Is it visible now? Yes. Something called zoom in on your
genome female. Yeah. Yes. So I've muted the video for us so that I
can uh tell you what is happening here. So we just zooming into uh the human body to see how small a cell is.
So we've gotten into the uh cell liver cell.
If we go into the liver cell, you have something called the nucleus. So just
like we have organs in a in a in a an organism, inside a cell, we have
something called organal where uh there is compartmentalization of functions. So
inside this organal called the nucleus we have our genome. Uh so this is with
respect to the human genome. So in a human genome there are 23 pairs of chromosomes. So this this with this
introduction we'll get back to our presentation.
So we saw how small that world is. If we have to imagine it, uh we are able to
see two lines of our fingerprint that is in the scale of millimeters. Right? So one cell is in the scale of thousand
times lesser than this. a size that is thousand times lesser than two lines of your fingerprint. Inside that cell for
every human uh you know in a human being there are 40 uh 46 chromosomes if you
just attach it end to end you will get 2 m of DNA. So 2 m of DNA gets packed into
something that is such such a small space. So
modification for just understanding that let us try and uh I had to give this example. Now
when we say genome genome is like for example a parliament or a place where
decisions are made. So you have all genes uh so okay first let us understand
what is a genome. Genome it has all information required for that organism
to function. For every function you will have separate genes. For example, let us
take uh uh digestive system. Um you know as soon as we put food inside saliva
gets secreted. Saliva comes from the salivory gland. So saliva has one
particular enzyme salivory amias which will go and cut the food break it into
pieces. So just this example let us take. So salivory gland will have cells
which have all of the 46 chromosomes but it will only turn on that gene which is
required for producing salivary amas for example the rest of the genes are there in it but it'll be turned off. So uh
similarly depending on which cell we are looking at every part of our body will have the whole copy but it'll only
switch on that which is required for its function. So that is how the body works.
Now when when I'm saying it is switching on switching off salivary amias is produced what exactly happens is what is
given in the next uh you know insert. So this is uh something called
transcription and translation. So the the information that is kept inside the DNA is or so let us understand what is
DNA. DNA is deoxyribboucleic acid. DNA is what forms our genome.
So in if you have to say in Hindi genome DNA or DNA has four alphabets. So
four alphabets or her word each word is
a threeletter word. So uh this is how our genome is organized. Now that
information has to get translated to the proteins language that is salivory amus
if you take is a protein. So proteins that will carry out the work.
DNA is the original information original information protein information translate okay it'll come out. So this
can be uh understood with the example that uh the information in the DNA
inside the genome is like your cookbook or recipe book.
So we don't use the same so we don't use a paper to make dal right so the the
information in it has to get translated in the language of the protein. So the ingredients for the protein are taken in
and literally how you would put together some recipe. That is how a processes
happen inside the cell. So this is like for example I have given you um so in DNA if it says start from here in RNA it
will be just transliteration. So the uh the language remains the same
the information is changed in such a way that it can be translated to a protein.
So the information becomes or when it comes out it becomes converted to the language that protein
can understand. So this I'm trying to explain in this the whole thing pictorially here. So this is the part
that you saw in the video. This is the nucleus. So cell nucleus genome
the gene that that is required alone actually uh opens and that information
is converted into the RNA which is uh in this yellow color strand that you can see. Now this yellow color strand comes
out to the cytoplasm on the in the cytoplasm over the yellow color thing
your protein gets synthesized. Now uh we have to understand this part though it
seems very technical because when we say gene editing this is what we go and change.
Now when this comes out the RNA does not come out as such say uh beach which
pieces. So there is a little bit of uh you know modification that happens at the RNA
level before it comes to the cytoplasm. So it is very similar to uh like for example the information in the RNA is
like this jumbled sentence. So
all the information is just aligned in one uh strand and it is brought out and
protein is synthesized. So this part is called transcription and translation.
Now we are getting into the next. So um before we get into this slide now we saw
what is a genome? Genome is that which has all the information for a for an
organism to function. What is a gene? Gene is specifically that information
that will give you know get converted to a particular protein which has to carry out a specific function in a specific
cell. So that is what genome and gene are. Now we are trying to understand
what is uh what is our I mean when we do transgenesis or you know when we talk
about gene edited genome modified and all that what are we what are they doing
and why are we against it to understand that we have to first understand one concept. So
um when while we saw this video about the human uh you know human liver cell
we saw that the organals were presented the cell was similar to what you see here. No we saw a nucleus and then uh
these structures also. So I was mentioning that the genome is inside the nucleus. Uh so in a u in a ukareotic so
we say higher organism or those which have a true nucleus these have
everything organized in pockets called the organals where specific functions inside the cell will happen. But you
also have bacteria or lower organisms which are evolutionarily lower they have
their they are not organized into organals uh as such. So why should we
understand this particular concept? I'll tell you. So I was mentioning about this salivory gland cell having all the uh
the whole genome there but only those genes that are required for saliva production are turned on. So in human uh
organ I mean in ukariots what happens is you have specialization of cells of a particular uh place where
it is present. So there some of the genes are turned on and off. In the case of proaryotss because everything is
present in the cytoplasm as such there is no demarcation of of where functions will happen. You find that the whole
genome is always open and you know expressed all the time. So bacteria
found out a way in which it it would make it energy efficient. So those genes
which are not required for regular functions were removed from the whole chromosome and stored as extra
chromosomal DNA. This extra chromosomal DNA in in the case of bacteria we call
it a plasmid. This was this discovery was the one that uh scientists I mean so
that is the one that we can say led to genetic modifications later. So we will
understand how these two are related why you know understanding one extra chromosomal DNA in a bacterium led to
genetic modification. So for that let us understand through this slide. So what happened uh is there were two types of
transfers. So uh we all by now I think after co many of us are aware of a few
terms. Now when we say gene or know mutation or something like that we have heard at least these terms. Now when we
say uh genome gets transferred genes get transferred. So from the parent to the
offspring so from parent to progeny if the whole set of genomes are you know for whole so from us our traits are
passed on to our children that is called vertical gene transfer but scientists
found that there was something called horizontal gene transfer. So whatever we saw in the previous whatever I mentioned
in the previous slide about this extra chromosomal DNA present in the bacteria
they found that these were getting passed on among the bacteria from one
bacteria to another which were not you know directly its child it was just passed on to random bacteria in a in the
same place and then it was also found that it was not restricted to just
organisms of the same type. There are now uh you know um evidences for
horizontal gene transfer happening between plants and animals between plants I mean between fungi and animals
uh in fact even in the human genome many of the genes have been traced to
organisms I mean other than human beings. So all of the genes that we have are not completely from our parents. We
have got some genes from other organisms as well. Now this the danger of this was
not understood before. Horizontal gene transfer uh in higher organisms was not
found until 2010 but lateral gene transfer between bacteria was
understood. So they found that this extra chromosomeal bacteria.
So what people tried what scientists tried was inside this extra chromosomal
DNA or plasmid if you put in something if you put in some gene from somewhere
they found that this also got transferred this also got transferred and successfully accepted. Now why have
I in uh the reason I have included the next point is natural selection is uh
nature has this uh feature that whenever there is something new that is coming in it'll
always accept because it understands that it is it is going to prepare the organism for some upcoming danger. So
what happens whenever we uh add something into the plasmid and put it inside some other organism it it was
observed that it was taken up by the organism and incorporated into its
genome. So this is uh the observation. Now um this in this manner people
started to uh doing what is called transgenic uh they started generating genetic modified genetically modified
crops genetically modified organisms animals everything so in this panel I'm
not going through all of this uh because I think we have to look look at gene
edited rice varieties right now so I'm not going to the basics let us directly go into the insert picture here so Here
you have a coin and the size of the cop. This was the native variety of corn uh
years back. Now when they genetically modified it, they this is the amount of
change that happens. You see how big the corn cob has become in comparison to the
coin between the native variety and the uh genetically modified one. Whereas you
have traditional methods of modifying uh so many of the traditional farmers even
now you know um thing do things like this which is called a back cross. So
from the uh so if you have two parents so from the lower uh the picture insert
in the lower uh thing you find that uh these two are the parents on the sides
P1 and P2 are the parents and what is in between B is the hybridized one. So here
though you uh so by traditional methods itself you can actually increase the size of the corn cob but uh it is not as
you know dramatic as the previous one. So there is uh so this is this is one
thing I wanted to show because there is not uh many cases there is no
requirement for a genetic modification and we have still you know gone ahead with it. So, so far we have tried to
understand that all living organisms have a genome which is made up of DNA
and that DNA has codes which get you know translated into protein. And then
we saw that the bacteria have DNA which is not part of the genome is um is what
that extra chromosomeal DNA which is used for introducing DNA to another organism.
So in fact viruses also are used for uh you know uh transferring genes from one
organism to another. Uh however I'm not going into that. We are just uh trying
to understand literally uh the skim the surface literally. Now let us go and so
we have understood what a genome is how genetic modification happens what uh
through that extra chromosomal DNA that we saw before. Now we will try and okay
suppose uh so I was mentioning that in that extra chromosomal DNA you could add
a gene of your choice. So whenever we have to add something what would we do that original uh plasmid that extra
chromosomeal DNA. So you can think of it as a circle okay or a rubber band or something. Now in that what you would do
you would cut it open attach the uh genome that you wish to attach seal it
and then transfer it. No. So this literally this these would be the steps through which you would transfer. So
that is how uh uh genes are transferred. So we would be looking at um how how it
is cut. So why am I talking about this is again let us remember the dimensions
that we are dealing with is so tiny less than know thousand times smaller than
two lines of your fingerprint. In that dimension we are doing these many modifications of cutting and sticking
and so on. So I just wanted to bring uh uh you know uh let us look at that next.
Now before we go into that let us look at genetic mutation.
Now genetic mutation again is one thing that we have always uh I mean we have heard since covid times. So when we say
mutation it is when one thing changes or it uh you know uh so how all you can
mutate is uh given here. So you can have this is the original message. For
example, it says I'll be by the lake. Okay. When you have a point mutation,
you just change one alphabet. Suppose instead of th you say thw.
So you get some information that is not able to you know that give you the exact sense but you are able to guess with
reference to context. Uh you can say oh maybe this is the only with reference to
context you will be able to guess. when you say uh suppose you change the word alphabet lake to uh L to C you will get
the uh information changed to I'll be by the cake so here information changes so
instead of so this person who is probably trying to meet somebody instead of going to the lake they would probably
go to a cake shop you're you know misleading that person next you have something called a nonsense mutation
where one alphabet gets deleted what happens the information itself you know is does
not make sense if you just shift one alphabet from there. So um I also
mentioned about genome having uh the the DNA only being made of four alphabets
and all of the protein u is you know the RNA and the DNA have
their language consisting only of threeletter words. So if I remove this
alphabet. So here it says the cat and the dog. So the uh one in the lower uh
thing no panel that is what is the DNA language. So it is G g A GC. Like for
example if you delete A because I told you it's all going to be threeletter
words. It will start taking this as the next word. Instead of A GC followed by
CG A it would become G g C C G A C the
whole thing will shift by one alphabet that is what we call it as uh frame
shift. So um now that we have understood that now I'm going into how we are going
to prepare that uh plasmid for transferring our uh the gene that we
want to introduce and put it into another one. So I was mentioning right so suppose it's like a rubber band. So
let us imagine plasmid is like that rubber band. In that rubber band you will have to cut one uh cut at one place
introduce whatever you have to introduce seal these ends and then use it uh you
know use it uh to transfer the gene that you have put in into another organism.
So those that are capable of cutting exactly at uh some places are called
nucleases restriction endonucleases. So scientists found that something could
cut in that dimension and precisely at some regions. So in among the
restriction endonucleus you have uh you know enzymes which are this specific. So they can cut in such a
way that it'll have no it'll cut it staggered. So it'll have these uh ends
which are uh sticky ends. So like in this wood uh pieces of wood that you see
you have something hanging like that. So that is in the case of this particular
example bam H1. If you see it'll cut here between the G's. So you will get
something which is like this. This can be stuck. So for sticking there is another answer or it can produce blunt
ends like this. These also can be stuck. There are some places where you will get
this kind of splinters also. Now this splinter is what is uh significant in
case of gene editing. So we'll quickly go through this video for us to understand how it is cutting um so that
it'll you know help us imagine.
So this is like your plasmid the extra chromosomeal DNA
the end uh so it is zoomed in now this is the endonucleus that is coming in
it'll go scan through the DNA to find the appropriate place where it will cut
and it'll cut there. Now what is left is you know staggered
end. Now this is the gene that the scientists wants to introduce that is introduced like that and another enzyme
will come and seal that place
that end also is sealed. So this is how the plasmid is modified and
used for transferring our uh transferring whatever uh modification we
intend to incorporate.
Okay. Um
now what happens um in gene um okay this particular slide is
going to tell us about how uh now we saw that something comes and um attaches
right so we saw that one enzyme went and cut the DNA the uh extra gene was added
and something came and sealed the ends right so when the sealing happens we
have um various ways in which the ceiling will happen. So here if the cut is like
this, there are some enzymes which can perfectly align things and attach in a uh seamless
manner. But there are some enzymes which will do a quick fix. So for example uh
suppose we have a plumbing issue at home. There might be all of us will have would have had faced this issue. There
will be one plumber who is very very efficient uh who would do a perfect job. But then there would be another person
who will come immediately and fix it. So depending on the urgency of our situation, we would call somebody who uh
depending on how urgent the damage is or how urgently we need to fix it. So in in
case of gene editing what happens is whenever this fixing happens. So I was
telling you about getting sealed. No that sealing enzyme uh that switches on during gene editing
is cast 9 which is actually a quick fixing enzyme. It is not the type of
enzyme which will do a perfect job. So it will do something like this. If there is splintered wood, what will a
carpenter do? You can actually you know align it accordingly and then do it perfectly or you can completely shave it
off and then attach it like a blunt end to end. So this particular enzyme that
you see in that is involved in gene editing does this kind of a job like a
quick fix. It removes parts of the DNA and then attaches it. Uh so
this is why we are worried about gene editing or any type of genetic
modification because whenever we modify we are introducing extra genetic
material inside and when we introduce also many of these methods actually
clear off some of the DNA that is already present there or modify it even further. So what will what we would be
probably generating would would create a cascading effect. So in the beginning itself I was mentioning about how uh the
salivory gland would have all of the genes of the genome but only those genes
that are required for saliva secretion are turned on the rest of them are turned off. Now when whenever we
introduce something like this when unintended modifications happen in the genome what will happen is you are not
sure what will get turned on unintentionally too or if something else
that was originally supposed to be turned on is also getting turned off. So any of these uh modifications are you
know it's there is a possibility that such things can happen. So that is why we are against genetically modified
organisms. So now I'm getting into crisper cast specifically. So I hope we
are able to understand whatever we saw so far. We saw what is a genome, what is a gene. Um we saw how um you know how
organisms uh I mean how the extra chromosomeal DNA was used for transferring genes into
another organism. Now we are getting in. So whatever we saw so far was called uh
as transgenics. So under genetically modified organisms and transgenics only
these were included. This genetic modification using crisper cast or this
is now called gene editing. But from our from my understanding it is only just
word play. Even in gene editing without modification of the genome you can never
achieve it. So uh this is uh for to understand this I would uh quickly go I
will take you to another video. I hope uh um I hope speed is okay.
Yeah. But now you've come to the critical part of genome. So we'll we'll
continue at this phase.
Um so I'm I'm directly taking you to what is crispercast technology.
The crisper cast 9 system is a tall.
So this actually uh we are we getting into the cell or the nucleus again to the chromosome.
So originally uh this crisper cast technology was found to be the immune
system of a bacterium actually.
So this particular protein that you see this is what is crisper cast 9ine. Uh so crisper the expansion of crisper is
clustered regularly interspaced palendroic repeats. So in bacterial uh
genome scientists had found that there were uh genes which had uh interruptions
in between or there were repeats in between which there were some uh DNA. So
when we say palendromic so crisper again I'll go through clustered regularly
interspaced palendroic repeats. So there are clusters of repeating sequences
interspersed with something else present in the genome and whatever is this uh
repeating sequence is in the type of in in the form of a palendrome. What is palendrome? uh like for example madam
mallayam nitin all of these are palendromes right if you read from both sides it reads the same so you had such
kind of repeats and between them there was some DNA present when they checked what DNA it was they found that this was
DNA from a virus so in a bacteria so for a bacteria virus is the one that will
cause diseases so it had information of the virus kept between repeating
sequences so that next time another virus came, it would check the DNA and
it'll understand whether whatever came in was a virus. Has it affected us
before? And then it'll go and cut the virus's genome. So it it was a kind of
an immune system that the bacteria had and that immune system had something
called the cast 9 protein. So this protein would scan through the genome of
I mean scan through any DNA that comes in. look for sequences which were you
know already available in its crisper uh you know area and if it was matching
it'll go and cut it. So it was uh this protein that was exploited in crisper
cast 9 technology. Now they found that this crisper had a RNA
which was used for going and checking the DNA that was coming inside. So if it
had this uh the same sequence it'll go and cut it. So what you see in gray uh
grayish blue is the one that will cut this is the one that is used for checking. It's like your security check
for example. So if somebody has uh so it's like a scanning machine if that person has this ID card uh they will
pass through the you know biometric system and go in. It's like that.
So this is the castine protein. So this castine protein protein is a cutting enzyme or restriction
endonucleus and it has this RNA which is going to guide it to that place where it has to
get cut.
This PAM is nothing but the palendroic sequence uh related.
blue see it has found the place where it has
to go cut so the palendroic thing is like uh so I
um again this is one example we can uh use to understand so in a blind person's
house the house would be arranged according to step counts right so many steps will lead me to say for a for
example chair from from here if I take these many steps in this direction I'll go somewhere errors like that the genome
is organized. So the palendroic sequence is like the step count between the
places where it has to get cut.
Now here this this is the repair system. So here what happens once it is cut our
quick fix repair system that which will remove the splinter that will come and turn the gene off.
So this is what is crisper cast technology. So what these people have done um what
they um whenever they claim that it is a gene edited organism they use one of
these so crisper cast there are so many modifications of that crisper cast 9
itself. Now you have cast 12 and so on. So these are modified proteins which have been trained to cut various uh you
know uh the they have changed uh you know they have given us different guide RNA and so on and they are using this
protein which actually comes from a bacteria to cut any gene and modify any
uh genome. So what is technology? Yeah. Uh if uh you can go to what yes exactly
these slides. Yeah. What they have aimed at is through this
gene editing technology they wanted to achieve genetically engineered gen gene
edited. So this is just word play. Any modification in the genome is a modification only. Like I mentioned when
you introduce a new gene also there is even though they say you have not introduced any any other gene along with
it. You've only gone and edited there. Uh like I mentioned the repair mechanism
is one that sh you know cuts off original DNA and then uh repairs. It's
like that. Another thing that we have to remember which I just want to mention here is whenever um um whenever any
modification is done to identify those cells which have got it gotten in uh
gotten this modification inside them there is something called a marker gene which is always introduced. So um uh so
this is like for example there are a group of people um okay traveling somewhere some of them belong to an
institution they wear an ID or something no so this is like that ID card. So those um organisms which have got this
genetic modification incorporated inside are identified using a marker gene. This
marker gene is a is a gene from outside only. No. So even in a gene edited organism there is no way that uh
somebody can claim that extra gene is not introduced inside. So they have used gene edited uh gene editing uh editing
to modify mushrooms to just change their color. Uh they have used it to create
you know hornless cattle. Even human genome editing has been attempted in China but thankfully this person got
arrested. Uh nothing further has happened but still this is not a safe technology actually. Uh so even though
it is gene editing even though they say it is precise it we understand that so
many problems are possible what all problems are listed in this are they claim that it will be specific and it'll
go cut only in that place they found that that is not true it goes and cuts randomly somewhere else also then this
repair system they say it's proof foolp proof that is also has been disputed they said parts of the genome itself is
eaten up and non-targeted so whatever ever genetic modification they targeted
that did not happen something else happened like the domino effect all of these have been observed so these are
our potential points of concern and another point of concern is what I mentioned right in the beginning
horizontal gene transfer so any modification that we do the risk of get
that getting incorporated into the human genome is also uh something that we are slowly understanding so these um so
therefore the need of the actually is regulation. So we have to regulation and
creating awareness. So first thing government has to have some regulatory uh uh you know systems in place where
they would check what kind of modification is being done. Why is it done? Is there is there a um uh you know
route in which we can do it without genetic modification at all? Like for example the hybrid variety that I showed
you. There are so many native varieties of crops already existing where these
desired things that that are claimed like for example salt tolerance or drought tolerance for these there are so
many native varieties which can be used. Yes
not required. So these are the regulations that we have to do. So thank you for our attention. Sorry I
exceeded a little bit I guess. No, thank you uh so much uh Dr. Gita. Uh
I think uh if I as a lay person have to
sum up uh what uh you were saying, genome editing also needs a vehicle
of uh a plasmid or uh an external vector
which can take the uh gene of interest into the host organism. for genome
editing to take place. Along with it go other foreign genes like marker genes
and so on. That's point number one. Point number two, uh you are questioning
the claim around precision. Uh where they say that only the intended change
will happen. No other change will occur. uh you are pointing out that uh the
enzyme uh has the ability to make
changes off target also. Uh the protein
that got introduced and uh the fact that
uh the foreign genes can get inserted inadvertently though that was not the
intention. So this whole narrative that uh GM is different uh which is
transgenic technology had uh foreign genes used whereas here there are no
foreign genes. Uh they they claim that uh yes such inadvertent insertions
happened but we have cleaned it up. Uh afterwards we checked we did back
crossing we cleaned it up but uh just to put the record straight no one has seen those reports. uh but there's a lot of
published literature that shows that inadvertently even if it is not the in
uh intention such genetic material does get inserted then we have evidence
that shows that you didn't intend for some new protein to be produced. uh you
thought you were doing something very precise as a geneticist but the cha changes are so unpredictable and random
even in genome editing that new proteins have been discovered
uh including through their phenotypic expression uh you know that hornless
cattle example from the USA and so on. So uh you're basically pointing out that
uh it was like a primer. You tried to give a lot of simple anecdotes for us to
understand uh how uh something like cast 9 or cast 12 operates and then what
happens with the repair mechanisms and even in the repair mechanisms what sort
of uh randomness actually exists. Uh thank you so much uh for uh you know a
very pictorial uh uh you know depiction of what is genome editing. Uh though it
appears complicated some of our participants have written saying that it's too scientific too technical I'm
still not able to follow. That's all right. Uh you know we are not going to be geneticist tomorrow. uh she uh gave
us those basics so that we at least understand uh what we are uh talking
about but let's move to the next presentation which is about the two rice
varieties and Shiaomik will present uh the real world questions that emerge uh
from uh what has happened with two rice varieties that have been genome edited
and I will say uh very very intentionally that these two varieties
are genetically modified. GM genome editing is not uh very uh
separate from genetic modification. It's part and parcel of GM as per India's law
as well as when you understand the technique at the molecular level. Um
Shamik I hope you are around and yes yeah thank you uh and good evening.
I will uh load my presentation.
Yes. Uh is it visible? Yes it is.
Yes. Uh so uh as we know that uh this uh gene edited rice or rather gene modified
rice was uh released recently uh by our agriculture minister and the
top officials of uh ICR. Uh these two rices are named Busa DST1 and DRR Dhan
100 or Kamla and both of them are gene edited. We will just look at their uh uh
characters which have been published. So bus Busa DST1 has been developed from a
popular variety MTU10 which is already being cultivated in large area of India
and they have used the site directed nucleus that is SDN1 technology as Dr.
Pritika had just told you about nucleus which are enzymes which goes and cuts
DNA at specific points. So this is the SDN1 technology which I
will explain what it is and this was developed in New Delhi ICRI
and this has a mutated form of drought and salt tolerance gene. So in the rice
there is a drought and salt tolerance gene which has been mutated using uh by
using the gene editing technology and uh by that mutation
uh they are claiming that the rice has uh got broader leaves and it has reduced
tomata and because it has reduced tomata the water efficiency has increased
because uh stomata is involved in transpiration. Uh there are also several other
functions but uh they are focusing on the evapo transpiration. So when you
have low stomatal density or water efficiency goes up and it has ability to
withstand salt and its yield is 2.4 to 3.7 metric tons per hectare in saline
saline and alkaline soils as per their trials. Yes. And it has been recommended
Dhan DST rice 1 is uh MTU10
site directed nucleus short form SDN1 technology
DNA
mutant create
Microscopic
Maybe
alkaline maybe
ugly sal.
Indian Insty Hyderabad.
Samba. Samba.
Basically cytoin plant growy
oxidase
cytoine.
Motor
sambust
mature.
Hector
English. [Music] Oh, okay. Sorry, I have to do in both l
some red red mark is coming. I'm not able to understand. Anyway, so uh this
kamla is also known as Drr Dhan 100. It has been developed by the Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad
from Samba Masuri, which is another popular variety. And here also SDN1 gene
editing has been used. But this is crisper cast 12way. The earlier busard
DST was crisper cast 9. This is crisper cast 12way. Uh advanced technology from
9. And here uh as we know in plants there is a hormone called cytokinine and
there is a enzyme called cytokinine oxidase which breaks down cytokinine. So
they have edited the gene which produces cytokinine oxidase and there are
different cytoinine oxidases in rice. They have basically edited the CKX2 gene
and by editing that they are claiming the yield has gone up. The drought tolerance moderate drought tolerance is
seen and the high nitrogen efficiency is seen. The rice variety matures in 110
days which is about 20 days earlier than its parent and its yield is claimed to be 5.37 metric tons per hectare. The
rice retains its grain cooking quality and is recommended for all these states
which are similar more or less similar to busa DST1. Now what is this sight directed
uh nucleus? So there are three such technologies which are called SDN 1, SDN
2 and SDN 3. Out of this SDN 1 and two have been exempted from uh the I mean
they are not considered gene modification. So what is the SDN1 technology which has
been used to develop this uh two rice varieties. So SDN1 technology here the
the double strand break is made like Dr. Critikica had shown in DNA there is
double strand two strands of uh this uh DNA and then that is broken that is cut
that is cut by what by the crisper cast uh enzyme that is the nucleus. So when
it is cut then certain genes are deleted in the process and what happens is that
the DNA again joins by the natural mechanism of the cell and uh that is how
the modifi I mean the editing is done. So here what happens there are changes in base pairs and certain parts of the
gene are knocked out. So you actually cut the DNA at a specific place and then
the DNA again joins and in the process some of the uh base pairs that is what
Dr. I was showing ATGC some of those combinations are deleted and you get a
new type of a DNA and by this process those uh changes which are which which
they have found like the leaves are changing the stomata is reducing all those things are happening and they have
targeted it for a particular gene that is the drought and uh salt tolerant gene
and in SDN2 also it is similar but here there there is a uh there is a template
which is also used for making specific changes and SDN3 of course that uses
foreign DNA so it is not under the exemption it is normal gene modification
so what happened in 2022 uh the government actually exempted SDN1
and SDN2 uh type type of uh tools
from uh this uh genetic modif ification oversight. So they modifi they they
removed it from the environment protection act 1986 and by this deregulation so this deregulation was
purposely done so that the it opened the door for gene edited crops and we can
now see that two rice varieties have come out which are not under the oversight of the GC because it is
exempted. So, so uh once it is exempted the the safety and other procedures are
much reduced uh and 40 more crops are in the pipeline. Uh so we will have more and
more uh these type of crops coming up. Now with this gene editing technology
you can develop all types of products. You can develop different different types of rices which might may have uh
more phosphorus efficiency or nitrogen efficiency or pest or disease tolerance
or stress tolerance or you can even create u herbicide tolerance and you can
create different types of nutrients. So a lot of things can be done and they have actually mapped out several such
genes uh in rice which can be edited and by editing those genes you can get uh
different types of uh desired changes to is
SDN1 or SDN 2 technique in exempt in
gene modification Basically [Music]
editing technology.
Exempted
literally.
So,
phosphorus, nitrogen,
changes. I say
Sorry me for uh interrupting. Can you stop sharing the screen and repro it
again? Uh for the red lines. I have disabled the whiteboard. Uh
but still I'm unable to deal with the red lines. Okay, I'll do that. Sorry about it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So, I'll go to that slide.
So, PSA GST one rice how was it developed? Uh because here the paper is
published in a journal. So, we have come to know what they have done. uh so what
they have done as Dr. Critica had told that they had uh found they have targeted the DST gene. DST is the
drought and saline tolerant gene. So there is a gene in the rice which is uh
having this property. Uh so what they have done they have created guide RNAs and they have because
the guide RNAs cannot just uh the guide RNA will basically guide the cast 9
enzyme the nucleus to go to that site and it would be uh cut at that
particular site which the scientists want. So but the guide RNA can't go
inside the cell just like that. It has to be packaged. it has to be put inside
and something uh so that it can go inside and that thing is the vector which is the plasmid which also I was
just talked about. So in the plasmid there the guide RNA is put and the cast
9 is put and they are attached. Uh but even after that the this plasmid cannot
also get inside the cell. So uh it is further cloned into another bigger
plasmid which is the pcambia 1300. Now this plasmid is used for agroacterium
transformations. Now agroacterium basically is a bacteria which stays in soil and it creates uh plant tumors. It
infects the plant and it creates some kind of swelling in the plant which is just basically a tumor. So it goes and
in inserts it genetic material inside the plant. So that is why it is used for gene modification and the same
technology we are using in gene editing also and yet we are saying they're different here also the agroacterium
technology is used. So what is happening this guide RNA is cloned into the cast 9
complex and then that is put inside the uh agroacterium plasmid and then the
rice plants the seeds are grown in a media. This is done in the laboratory
and in that media when the rice is growing this uh agroacterium complex is
put into that and it infects the rice cells and by that infection the genetic
material is transferred into the rice and incorporated into the rice and there
there is where the nucleus starts working and once the nucleus reaches the
particular site which has to be edited the nucleus does its cutting work and
removes certain uh base pairs from the DNA and that is how we get the gene
edited rise. After that they do sequencing and they do screening
selection. Basically they are saying that we are we are removing all these foreign materials. So what are those
foreign materials? So we have the agroacterium plasmid which is a bacterial uh DNA which is going inside.
Then there are antibiotic markers. So antibiotic markers like hydroycine, canamycin
uh these are used so that for screening. So if the DNA whether the DNA has got
incorporated into the rice genome or not is understood by giving antibiotics. So
they will give hydroycin and all these antibiotics and because that antibiotic resistance gene is there. So the uh
cells which have got those genes they will resist it. They will not die. The others which have not gone will die and
so that is how you will easily understand which have been transformed and which have not been transformed. So
these are the marker genes. So these are also from bacteria. Then uh this uh CMV35S
this is a promoter. This is a cauliflower mosaic virus. CMV is cauliflower mosaic virus. So this one
also is being used as a promoter so that the gene once it goes inside it can
express in a more vigorous fashion. So we have all these foreign elements going
in. Of course the scientists are claiming that we are removing them through screening, through selection,
through PCR and all these technologies but we are not sure because the
information is not available. So what is happening because of this uh editing? So
in the process of this editing uh this cutting 366
base pairs so 366 80g what uh Dr. I think I was showing a pairs with T and G
pairs with C. So that is that is why it's it's known as base pair. So 366
base pairs are deleted in the drought and saline tolerant gene. So we are
basically interfering with the DNA. We are we are removing several uh elements
of the DNA and we don't know what is their their action. We are saying that
the we are talking of the positive results of it but what are the negative
results we don't know because nature had put those genes there. So but and we are removing it and we are saying there is
only positive positive effects that is something which is uh not possible. There may be some negative effects which
we are not looking at. So when you delete those so as Dr. Kitika said that
from DNA we get RNA and then RNA translates into protein. So this again
has effect on the protein. So in the protein also pro what is protein? Protein is a big chain of amino acids.
So there are large number of amino acids strung together like a garland. So from
that 184 to 305 those amino acids in the
series are not forming because you have deleted 366 base pairs. So the effect in
the protein is also seen and because these amino acids are deleted then there
is a new for new type of protein formed. It is not the same protein which the 1010 had. This is the mutant DST protein
and this mutant DST protein is actually leading to phenotypic changes. That is
you can see when you grow the rice you see the rice has incre the leaf width has increased the stomatal density has
reduced uh and uh this has resulted in its salt
tolerance and uh at the seedling stage at that is what they're claiming so this
is the positive part but we don't know what is the what are the other negative part so there is a loss of function
uh is hindi
scientist guide RNA guide RNA basically droughtic
Nucleus
guide
Infection Create
material.
DNA
gene involved antibiotic markers involved. Antibiotic
marker.
Antibiotic marker.
Bacterium promotient
DNA base pairs.
DNA
series
amino acids protein amino acid protein.
Mutant protein.
negative
G. Uh now coming to DRR DAN 100 which is also known as Kamla. We don't have much
information about this because the paper is also not published. Research paper on
this uh uh variety is not yet published. So whatever material we could get. So as
I said key here cytokinine cytokinine is a major plant hormone which is involved
in regulating cell division, leaf development, root growth. So it has a lot of functions and there is a enzyme
called cytokinine oxidase which is CKX for short and they basically regulate
cytoinine. So whether there should be more cytokinine or less cytoinine that is regulated by this enzyme. So through
gene editing they have actually uh cut uh they have actually edited the
gene responsible to produce that enzyme. Now in rice there are 11 cytoinine
oxidases of out of which the cytokinine oxidase 2 gene has been edited not all
of them have been edited only the two uh cytokinine oxidase gene has been edited.
So in that gene in that cytoinine oxidase 2 gene there is a particular uh
section uh particular segment which is the GN1A
and this from earlier research they have found that this is associated with high grain number higher panicles and lodging
resistance. This research is available from earlier times. So they have basically edited those parts. So here
they have used crisper cast 12way instead of cast 9. So they have edited
two uh exxons in the uh samba masuri uh
that is the parent and this has led to 16 base pair and six base pair deletions
in exxon 1 and 11 base pair deletion in exxon 3. So two exxons have been edited
where you have got these these deletions. So it is same again they have knocked out certain segments of the gene
and they here also they have used CMV35S this is a cauliflower mosaic virus
promoter antibiotic resistant marker genes uh and they have used the similar
technology but we don't have all the details so basically it is the same type
of technology where they have identified certain genes they have knocked out
segments of that gene and because of those knocked out segments the protein is also affected and the protein is not
able to do its function as it would have done naturally and that has resulted in
some positive effects which are being highlighted and we are not aware about what are the negative effects or maybe
the negative effects are not being evaluated or they are not showing now they may show some years down the line
so we don't have all those information so now uh oh is Hindi
Dr. 100m
cytoinine.
Cytokinine oxidase. Cytoin
cytoine oxidase
12
advanced version.
Antibiotic resistance marker. CMV 35s promot
Research paper
DST gene.
Sodium potassium balance
stress response hydrogen peroxide modulation
function.
function.
CKX2ler,
phosphate deficiency tolerance, starch and protein content.
protein. I grain am
Normal GM technology. Agroacterium
transformation.
modified gene edit
to uh okay so so if we look at the functions of DST gene in rice so there
are several functions about apart from drought and salt stress so they are involved in osmotic balance they're
involved means stomatal regulation. They are involved in water retention, growth. Similarly, CKX2 which is cytoine oxidase
uh 2 uh gene that has also several several functions including functions of
uh starch and protein content including phosphate deficiency tolerance, crown
advantageous root growth, plant height, nitrogen uptake. So several functions
these are pleotropic uh genes means they have multiple actions in the plant. It
is not that I go there and change something and only that will happen and nothing else will happen. So we need to
actually check what are the effects in these so many different things. Scientists are claiming we have checked
but we don't know what they have checked and what they have not checked and what they have just ignored. So all those
things are not available to the public. And if we look at the two technologies,
the tools that has been used, they are more or less the same. Even in gene modified, we use agroacterium for cell
transformation. We look, we use antibiotic marker genes. Here also we
are using those things. We are also using cauliflower mosaic virus promoter.
There there also we use. And yet the government is telling this is safe technology. This is this does not
involve foreign gene. This nothing is there. But we are not sure whether they
are there or not there. And then uh there was a rebuttal that uh basically
gene editing and mutation breeding are the same thing but they are not the same thing. They're not equivalent because uh
even if the gene editing is considered specific which is of course more
specific than mutation breeding but still there are offtarget effects. It is not that you will send the nucleus it
will go and work there only because after all these are human technology. Okay, we are improving. Maybe after uh
much research people may come with such things but right now the technology is not foolproof and it it there are
several offtarget effects and there are several uh research papers on that and
in mutation breeding we are using some chemical or radiation from outside the
plant or the cell. We are giving that here we are directly going inside the
nucleus and changing the genomic materials and that way we are actually bypassing the natural gene regulation
because we are sending nucleuses they are randomly going and cutting different
things different places and uh accordingly they're making the changes. So the natural process of gene
regulation is bypassed here. Foreign genes are definitely involved which we have already talked about. Antibiotic
resistance is also involved and here because it is not precise whatever is
similar looking. So there are several similar looking gene clusters and all
those clusters can get targeted. It is not necessary that only GN1A
particular fivep prime untransated region of particular rice that will only
be targeted. There could be similar sequences which are similar looking and
there the nucleus can go and do its work. Then there are certain segments of
the genome which are protected. Which are protected means they have very important regulatory functions and
nature protects them from from mutations. Mutations are always happening but even then those protected
sequences are not mutated because they're very critical to the organism. But here because the nucleus does not
know which is protected and which is not protected. Its job is to see the sequence and cut it anywhere it sees it.
It may go and cut it there. So in the uh normal mutation breeding this will not
happen and every gene has at least two copies or more than two copies in the uh
in the plant or in humans or whatever. So in case of mutation breeding maybe
one copy is changed but the other copy is still retained. So if the plant wants to go back to its original say self it
can because the original one copy is still there. Here all the copies are changed because the nucleus will stop
not stop its activity till all the copies are changed. So this is a irreversible process. it is completely
changed forever until you again do another gene editing to come back to the original self. it cannot reverse itself
and so it uh basically uh leads to substantial changes in the
plant's phenotype which we can already we have already seen and because the DNA
is changed is it the same 10 10 or is it the same samba masuri it is something
else it is a new plant even it's different from many other patty varieties because other patty varieties
will have all those base pairs this one doesn't have And here the changes are
are smaller in size but they are more numerous. So there are lot of differences between conventional
mutation breeding using chemicals and irradiation and gene editing. So they
are not equivalent and government says that they're equivalent and we did not have any problems with mutation
breeding. Why we are having problems here? because it's not the same and so there is no question of substantial
equivalence and after all these why do we need all this why do we need we we
have lot of stress tolerant uh rices we have lot of high productivity rices we
can use them we don't need to go for these type of risky technologies
uh to mutation breeding
radioactive
chemical radiation.
Same crisply translate.
Sorry.
changes.
Similar
copies
organism.
Edies
orch. or
come or
lamps.
Varieties varieties.
state
alkaline conditions.
Saline tolerance research institute canning.
Dr.
editing.
rights, University of Vienna or Broad Institute,
Vidi
Samanch.
Shik I think the most important thing is that gene editing and all applications
of gene editing have to be regulated. Government of India should not have
deregulated SDN1 and SDN2. When we say to the
government that you have deregulated, they come back with an argument that no
there is something called a institutional biosafety committee that is looking at reports. But what is an
institutional biosafety committee? It is that committee which is constituted
inside a research institute where the researcher is doing this project. Now
why will they after getting funding for doing uh this research uh will they
start saying that something uh uh has been uh seen that is alarming in their
reports and so on. This is the job of regulators. This is the job of statutory
regulators. India's environment protection act has uh a definition for
genetic engineering. If you read that definition, genome editing clearly
constitutes genetic engineering. It should have been regulated by uh the
genetic engineering appraisal committee GAC. But what they have done cleverly is to
first deregulate what are called as uh SDN1 and SDN2 applications site directed
nucleus one and two applications and then announced these two rice varieties
as having been readyed. We haven't seen the fact that they have tested anything.
Uh those uh you know there's a lot of testing uh which is uh not comprehensive
enough, not independent enough, not long-term enough in the GM regulatory regime but even that has not been
applied in the case of these genome edited rises. It is a patented
technology and why should Indian government go and bring such patented seed material
and promote it with farmers and these patents are under exclusive license to
big multinationals like Cortiva uh Monsanto and others and Indian
government is going to promote farmers of India into growing uh these rice
varieties. claiming this that and the other. We do know what uh uh what kind of rigging of
uh tests that they did to make their claims in the case of GM herbicide
tolerant mustard. The same uh story could be repeating itself because none of us have seen what are their claims
based on that uh uh data uh those reports are not in the public domain.
Now after having pushed farmers into these kinds of technologies
uh you know IPRs are also after all a marketable uh tool you know you can uh
authorize someone you can even sell patents and if that is the case to walk
into this thinking that it's a benign thing uh when the livelihood security
and the food security of this country depends on what kind of seed materials
are being used by farmers. Why should the Indian government promote patented
technologies when the government of India takes a stand in global platforms
that India is against patents on seeds and any planting material? It's a
contradiction in itself. It's a it's antithetical to the way India's farmers
work when it comes to seeds and the way they have uh used seed as opensource
material for millennia for generations and generations. There are questions
around seed sovereignity like uh Swik also pointed out somebody wrote in the
chat box that lots of such products are being used by others safely. No, in the
US, despite all the hype about genome editing, only three genome edited crop
varieties have been allowed for commercial cultivation and two of those
are actually genome editing being applied for BT and herbicide tolerance
traits. things that can be uh done through uh
regular uh RDNA and things which are problematic with regular RDNA also. What
what is the new thing that's coming from genome editing? I think everyone in this
webinar should understand the complexity
and the beauty by which nature has uh
evolved systems by which molecular regulation happens. Regulation at the
genomic level and that's the example that Dr. Critikica was trying to give
again and again to tell you the complexity. Even though this cell here
in my body has the same genome as the cells here, hair is not produced here.
Hair is produced only here. Salivory glands and saliva gets produced
here and not here. Even though the
basic uh genomic sim similarity or sameness is
the same in all cells of my body. The organism is able to
um make those genes work in particular ways at particular times. It's important
to understand that location matters and time matters and with particular
interactions with the external environment as well as the internal molecular and other environments.
The complexity of gene regulation is manifesting in what you're seeing in
each organism and what the organism is able to do as its functions
without fully understanding how nature has
beautifully evolved this complexity. To think that you have understood such
uh a genome and its regulation and you know in ways that are
illiterate. The best of geneticists and what they are trying today is actually
illiteracy at a higher level. You are doing these changes which are
irreversible. With genome editing, the irreversibility is at the molecular level because
whatever you have inserted. Whenever it finds that particular
uh crisper pattern, it goes on editing it. Nature cannot uh you know natural
regulation cannot repair itself and no copies will be left untouched of this uh
gene because everything will be altered. Please understand that this is a more
irreversible uh genetic modification than even transgenic uh uh genetic modification
and this is genetic modification. There's no uh point in the government
and the biotech lobby packaging it as something else and saying that this is
not GM. It is indeed GM. It has a great deal of similarities with transgenic
technology. It is in fact dissimilar to uh genetic uh you know uh changes
mutations that happen with uh you know radiation and other kinds of breeding
and um it is important to understand I've been reading a question that was
coming up again and again in the uh chat box that what are the health
implications what are the health implications uh to the gentleman
uh or the lady who's been asking this question. Please realize that you will
be able to understand if there are health implications only if you do biosafety testing
only if you do comprehensive uh analysis at the molecular level to
understand whether there have been any genomewide changes. whether there have
been any changes other than the ones intended by the geneticist. Today those
tests are not happening. So the very first thing that we should ask even
before we talk about health implications are and so on is to say bring gene
editing under regulation period under rigorous comprehensive long-term
biosafety testing based regulation. If that is not done, you cannot take this
debate to the next level. But even as I say it, I have copied and pasted in the
chat box numerous published papers and these are published in prestigious
journals like nature and science. Uh many many uh papers that show that
genome editing is unpredictable. Uh there have been examples where uh you
know commercial companies have claimed that they've been successful with genome
editing uh in creating something and then only later after they uh get
permission and so on some independent scientists decided from the FDA decided
to relook at uh what has been presented and found that Many changes that have
happened have not been reported, have not been tested for. So let's ask for rigorous regulation as
the first step. Let's also say where is the need for such regulation where sorry
where is the need for such technology to be deployed? Are there no alternatives?
And thirdly, let's also ask the government, does government in a
democratic setup, do governments have the right when you and I have a
constitutional right, the right to life, right to life includes right to health,
right to uh healthy environment and so on. Can governments thrust untested
technologies on all their citizens without any debate, without any questions, by
tweaking a statute that already exists, without uh taking into consideration
published scientific literature. We are not saying a thing that is not bad
scientifically. You name uh your question. Somebody was asking again and
again does horizontal gene transfer actually happen including in human gut
and we will show you studies that are showing yes. In the UK, there's been a study where
they have found that the DNA that got inserted in a transgenic uh GM uh GMO
that was consumed by the human subjects in that experiment did end up in one of
the uh uh you know patients who consented for the experiment. It was
found that uh it appeared as is in the gut and there is something called
horizontal gene transfer with antibiotic marker resistant uh antibiotic resistant
marker genes being used which means that they have the ability to withstand
antibiotics. If those genes end up in disease-causing bacteria, your
antibiotics which have already become useless in many cases because of overuse
and misuse and abuse, they will no longer be able to control infectious
diseases. It's not just the individual humans problem, it is a public health
problem. So please understand that there are issues like this and that is why we
are raising uh you know this public debate and telling Mr. Shivra Singh Chan
that his understanding that GM is uh hazardous and therefore we have to
apply precaution there but genome editing is precise and safe is being
misled. they are similar. That's the bottom line here. Uh I have unmuted
everyone. Uh if there are any questions, uh we are willing to uh take those
questions collectively between uh all the three of us. And there are other participants who are also knowledgeable.
Yes, please. uh Kulpi Padesh Pand can we hear uh can we see uh show of hands uh
from others so that uh I get an idea of how many are uh interested uh in
commenting or asking questions and then uh how much time do we have anyone else
who has yeah gavita G I I just want to check the uh the possibility that the deregulation
of SD1 and SD2 can that be not challenged changed in in a court of law.
If the government is trying to bulldo its way through know um hoodwinking the
public, can we not uh directly confront them in the court? Yeah, we can and uh we will opt for it
after the Jantaaka court puts pressure on the government. you know rushing to
uh codes for instance um for 20 years uh GMO PILS a whole
batch of them were heard by the government by the Supreme Court for 20
years there have been some uh good orders that came out of it but uh many
many benches heard that case and in the end it's gone to another bench now when
it comes to GM mustard because there was a split verdict from a two judge uh
bench um and uh even uh the common order is
not getting implemented uh by the government of India and a contempt petition had to be filed. So yes, we'll
go to the courts. But before that, in a democracy,
a democracy where scientific voices are being raised, many of you may not know
this. uh from uh Nagpur 20 very senior
agriculture scientists including those who retired as vice chancellors of
agriculture universities have written to the prime minister of India saying why
did you deregulate uh genome editing so uh let's have this
debate also happening uh and we will rush to the court uh at the right time
thank you and I also want to request since you are taking so much pain and effort and both the presenters did an excellent job in
trying to explain the the nuances of that but I think there is still opportunity for making it simple as a
flyer sort of pitch which can be understood by you know moderately
educated or even uneducated or the farming fraternity per se because this
technical jargon I mean it's it's you have to still apply your mind and get
into it in a very mic micro detail even for a technical person but for layman
this just goes over the top and I would really appreciate if we can come out with some kind of flyer where it hits in
in a in the Modi language you know in a kind of very straightforward rhyming
kind of we need to get poets working on this we need to get you know multi-disiplinary people working on this
sure thank you kulip gi for now if all of you go back from this uh webinar are
understanding that genome editing is not different from GM that many of you have
opposed GM as in transgenic technology uh that's good enough for now but yes
simple flyers simple graphics we will attempt that uh Suhastai please go ahead
thanks Kavita nice to meet you all after long time we successfully
stopped the GM mustard with big actions and I think we have to go for something
like that. Share your all the concerns you express.
I was just wondering because there are so many amino acids deleted there might
be a change of test also and the cooking time needed. Uh I'm just saying this
because uh if those details are known
they could help us to tell other people that see these changes are happening and
maybe even the resistance to pest will also be affected. So for our flyers
like these kind of points may help us communicate that there are serious
problems even with this technology. Thank you. Yes, agreed.
I think would like to contribute to making the flyers if you need.
Lovely. Thank you so much. uh Suai uh Shiaomik did list down uh you know uh
the environmental impacts the positive uh the possible
uh you know impacts on the plant itself patty plant itself
uh from the kind of uh changes that have happened by the knocking out of two
important genes in two genome edited uh rice varieties. because they have
multiple functions those particular genes that have been uh knocked out. Uh
yes, we need a similar uh list uh for testing uh what might be happening uh to
these varieties in terms of human consumption in terms of human health and so on. I agree with you. Anupand please
go ahead. Yeah, thank you very much for this uh beautiful presentation.
My actually I want to add something what Shomik has told uh that I have seen a
lot of rice varieties in my life and still I see a lot of rice varieties in different locations those who have
developed these varieties they are not aware of this ecological systems the rice ecosystem they have never seen it I
I believe so that's why they're trying to do it in almir research or in in in in I think they're almir or in in in a
closed container research this is not practical research. If I if I any chance
to talk with them so I can show it to what rice is actually they are not aware of what rice is because they have not
seen in real situation. So my point is that that there are certain salt
tolerant varieties available in West Bengal that can give you the same amount of yield and that they're not talking
about rice and and fish. So what what when you see rice in the in water
conditions you you will find rice. So they are not at all questioning not at all talking about rice fish rice fish
compat varieties in shundon area areas I mean the salt tolerance and the deep
water is is almost same almost same. So we have certain varieties that can give you 3.5 ton of yield in this uh this
locality along with fish. So the total outcome would be more than they think
of. So this is the point uh we should raise and secondly that I have asked a
lot of my friends in West Bengal so whether they have seen the the trial of this varieties where they seen
unfortunately I didn't find any except Kenny in in in in there are several locations that show has told me that
Bakura and Chuchura the the government of West Bengal agriculture department
KBK they said they are not at all aware of these varieties I don't know when they have conducted this trial only
canning institute they told they have one variety they they got the trial so
that's why I think that one we need I mean right to information or like that
so that actually exactly where they conducted the trial we want to know it
this is the my mean this is my point yeah so uh the testing or the trials that they're talking about are in fact
not biosafety testing uh it is uh you know regular agronomic
uh testing in the IC's uh AICP uh projects. Um
we we we can get that information through RTI and so on. uh but the point
remains that uh we have seen in the GM herbicide
tolerant mustard case that such testing is rigged data is manipulated presentation is
manipulated full dossiers are not published in the public domain so it's a long fight uh
and we realize that these two rice varieties are basically a trojan horse
to open the floodgate ates of uh genomemed edited animals and plants and
uh you know I just want to uh repeat what uh Mr. Jam Romesh when he was the
union environment minister said which is that uh this uh gene technology I am
paraphrasing him is actually a solution going around looking for a problem
scientists have a tool they're now trying to see what is it that they can claim to be solving uh you know I I've
improved yields I have uh done cell line resistance with this uh this that and the other. So uh the fact that the
problem itself is concocted is an issue
and real solutions lie elsewhere. Is there anywhere anyone else who wants
to say anything uh who uh is interested in staying in touch? uh if uh we can
take the liberty of sharing on your email addresses the presentations we'll
certainly do that please go ahead uh yes they will uh return something
yeah we will share the presentations yeah please um I see uh P Mishra raising
hi yes am I audible yes you are so uh my point is developing countries
like India we have uh biodiversity
whereas in developed countries they have technology they are not aware of uh kind of
biodiversity we have uh since times immemorial
they are not aware of uh this many varieties listed unlisted here in India
and in other developing countries so they since they are not aware they think they are doing something new, very
innovative. Such things already exist here in our country. There is no need of
modifying the genes. There is no need of modifying or editing
um such genes. I mean varieties are available here. Indian government should
understand this difference that we are already equipped with such kind of natural uh you know equipped with we do
have such varieties we need we do not need uh such kind of editing or um uh IP
related things they need money they just want to uh you know patent all such
varieties and then they will uh sell their seeds here. This will all draining
this will be draining our economy. We still are agricultural based economy
and uh we should not allow them to flourish here to interfere uh our you
know food things, agriculture things apart from health. This is really uh a
big problem for our economy also. Well said uh
uh I request Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In India we have patent laws. This uh 3D section of
Indian uh patent act it doesn't allow such kind of patents but still they are
uh doing uh this regulation thing just they are trying to find the loopholes.
Yeah. So that they may take the advantage of those things. So government should not allow such things. That's it. Thank you.
Agreed. So uh a request to all the participants here is that you know I'm
sure you all have uh uh connections with uh some prominent voice or the other uh
it could be a bureaucrat, it could be uh a political leader, it could be uh an
eminent individual whose voice is heard. uh please uh think about what is it that
you can do uh for instance uh in the uh
GM free campaign uh in terms of transgenic technology it was state
governments uh which firmly said as per India's constitution both agriculture
and health are state subjects you have to consult us and only then move ahead
and the Supreme Court's judgment ment also uh the one that I was just referring to about a batch of PIL that
also uh the judgment the two judges said that uh so if you uh have any space uh
any ways of engaging with your state governments please do so right now in
Tamil Nadu hundreds and hundreds of people are writing a letter to uh their
chief minister uh asking the chief minister not to allow the government of India to
bring in genome edited rice varieties. Please think about things like that to
be done in other states also. Uh Mr. Hari Raj Singh uh please go ahead and
may I request all others to stay unmuted uh to stay muted. I'm sorry.
Um Niveita please check who's uh unmuted. Okay. Am I am I audible?
Yes. Ma'am,
it is actually it is contradicting the basic philos. Philosophy of natural farming
platform.
They are proven ones
media share is For example,
states. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else who wants to say anything?
Yes. government under the recommendation of USA
they have they have introduced green revolution but they have not taken the
responsibility and today's agriculture and solid problem now they are going in for second green
revolution there is no guarantee that what it will do for this country number three America wants to take the Indian
agricultural market now if this type of GM GM and modified products are
introduced the whole products still became contaminated. We should remember that when BT was introduced in
Maharashtra in entire Gujarat BT spread
illegally. Now if so many products they developing
it can be a great assault on Indian agriculture we should stop it anyhow. Thank you. Thanks. Uh
Vijay Kumar G. Good evening madam.
Uh madam my question is what is the negative effects of GMO seeds in our
body? And my second question is is uh
vaccines really changing our DNA?
Thank you madam. um Shiaom uh Dr. Kitika meanwhile I'll
bring some links uh for the published literature on GMO effects uh
Kitika Shomik what are the negative effects?
Yes. So as we have discussed uh that uh
when we are changing some genes uh it may result in uh changes in the amino
acid sequences. It may result in changes in protein and uh those genes are having
different uh effects like they are also contributing to protein and starch accumulation and nitrogen uptake and all
that. So it may be affecting the nutrient, it may be releasing some
toxins and it may create allergic reactions in the body. So those are
several researches available on these that how GM crops or even gene edited.
Recently there was a gene edited tomato released in Japan uh which was having a
particular uh uh neurotransmitter and it resulted in increased uh sleepiness. It
was acting like a sedative. So those types of effects uh do happen
uh or they are possible and until we test for them we don't know.
Kitika did you want to add anything?
Yeah. Um like Somi said uh specific examples are also there and uh broadly
also I think uh like you had mentioned in the chat uh Kavita had mentioned in the chat uh the possibility of whatever
we modify getting into native varieties and completely
modifying them that that danger is also there u through Poland transfer or
through horizontal gene transfer. So the native varieties should not get affected by the ones that we are uh attempting uh
by genetic modification.
So uh Vijay Kumar G there's a lot of scientific evidence. In fact we
published a compilation of uh such published papers in 2015
last I think 2013 or 15. Um yes I I'll check again whether the link that
I shared is the latest edition or there was one more edition. Uh it has different uh sections uh human
health impacts, environmental impacts um issues around uh I mean molecular
level uh impacts um and uh please understand
that uh our basis for arguments can be uh if
we are talking about rigorous science experimental studies because once something is released East and you go on
asking uh you know did people die in uh the USA because of GM crops and so on.
We'll never know because they've not segregated. They've not labeled uh you
can't uh tell whether a person who's died uh has died because of uh you know
uh smoking or environmental pollution or uh a particular pesticide or GM food and
so on. So those uh you know variables being many in real life uh makes
scientific evidence being built uh much more challenging. But in terms of experimental studies, there are a lot of
studies which give early warnings and scientifically as well as legally uh
including an international agreement that India has signed on for gene technologies called the Cartahana
biosafety protocol. precautionary approach is the best way to adopt for
governments which basically put simply says better be safe than be sorry.
Don't wait for conclusive scientific evidence uh to prove whether something
is safe or unsafe before you take a decision. It is all right to make an
error feeling cautious and therefore not adopting a technology because you don't
want to be sorry later on. So it's better to be safe than sorry later on
when you make a big mistake. In terms of such experimental studies in
the past 10 years when we did not compile information a whole lot of new
scientific literature got published which is about both uh particular genes that are used
how they have toxic effects or allergenic effects and so on about the
process of genetic engineering and thereby consequent health impacts as as
well as about uh chemicals that get used along with GM
crops. I'm talking about both insecticides and herbicides. It is
actually synergistic effects of all these things that you end up seeing as
impacts. uh in countries like uh the US,
people are pointing out that there is correlation between
uh exponential increase in several illnesses which have become public
health problems in the US and the consumption of uh GM foods. And there
have been published papers that compare European public health status where
Europe has rejected GM crops uh for cultivation and even when it comes to
consumption if they allow some GM foods to be imported with labeling consumers
don't prefer eating those and the difference is stark between these two
continents between uh one large country on one continent as well as Canada and
uh Europe. So uh there is evidence if you're talking about genome editing
whether there is evidence. Look yes ma'am. Uh in the case of genome editing it is a
technology that is about to get introduced uh into our food chain. It
has not yet happened. Uh and therefore we are saying test first, regulate
first. That much has to happen. Why would you hesitate as a aware citizen in
demanding that regulation should be there? If you don't want to say no to uh
genome editing, at least ask for regulation. Some of us are very sure
that with sound regulation, the inherent lack of safety of some of these
technologies are is bound to show up in safety testing. Let there at least be
testing. Let there be regulation. I think we can all agree on at least that thing.
Whereas some of us will agree on saying no to genome editing because we have
understood what uh GM uh itself uh is.
Uh I'll move on to uh other participants. Uh thank you very much madam for your kind information.
Thank you. Thanks for joining. Uh can we move to uh Jacob please wait
uh two other uh people have raised their hands. Uh I don't know how to uh
pronounce G O D A R01. Please go ahead. Uh yes I am Mr. Ry God from Rajasthan.
matter. Okay. And well said by Suaz G and also by P Mishra and I also wants to add
something that in India or farmers are uneducated most lot of
farmers are and we need to educate them about the GM crops and their harmful
impacts and at a broad levels. First thing we want to do because problem is
there farmers need high yielding varieties and they don't know key are
these varieties are hybrids or GM uh crops are these they don't aware about
all these things. So firstly we need to educate them and secondly our government
should not introduce any kind of GM varieties in India. For that we have
like you have started campaigns like this and it should be at
a broad levels with a lot of farmers including with us
and educating them by uh uh any type in newspapers or by social
medias. uh there are lot of uh uh alternatives we have to educate the
farmers and uh one thing is more if any
varieties introduced already then it is very difficult to again remove from that
area correct so so in starting
and just started two varieties of patties introducing as today we
discussed here and at this level if we are able to stop then it is much better
and if it introduced then farmers will adapt it because they uh and for their
economic condition they also need to highly varieties they needs but which
varieties they adapt is that should be our native Indian varieties or should be
GM crops. for that it is need to aware that thank you
thank you uh Jacob uh and then we'll come to you uh
Jacob
hello yes Jacob
is I think uh they are trying to do is
property like
gene I talked to the scientist
and he was saying that they have applied for patent for a particular gene.
So the whole idea is to make it mainstream and then technologies uh and
then uh make more to sell seeds.
That's the whole idea I think behind this.
Jacob, we can't hear you. You seem to be in a train.
Jacob, we can't hear you. Can you just text?
Um, so [Music]
to my patience and all the essentially
uh he seems to be write in the chat instead. Yeah, he seems to be uh talking from a train. But
his point was about uh how we should understand uh this entire
um I mean conspiracy is one word but uh this push towards patented technologies
you know our farmers and our seed systems towards patented technologies
even public sector scientists applying for patents. So India does not legally
under the patents act allow patents on seed varieties but genetic material is
getting patented and de facto thereby seed varieties are in a sense patented.
Uh this is a story that began with uh bey cotton in India. So uh he's raising
a red flag uh on that issue. Um I saw uh
P Mishra you had your uh hand raised uh and I see a Chandra
Shaker who's put his video on. Did you want to say anything? We'll close this in the next few
minutes. Yes. Okay. I just uh wanted to add a small point which uh already now have been
discussed. uh since the question was asked uh so as a lay lay person I would like to add the
person was asking about uh what are the harmful effects so as you said allergic
reactions reactions so uh we have uh you
know bacteria in our gut so many useful bacteria
and uh the potential for this um antibiotic resistant genes as you have
discussed and uh in first presentation also it was discussed these are used as
markers during genetic modification and there there would be horizontal can we not cover things that have
already been said can we move on to uh anyone else who has
okay yeah sure yeah I mean uh we've really uh you know crossed our time limit we
were supposed to have closed this at 6:30 :30 and it's uh 45 minutes past
that time. Uh if there's nothing else uh what we will do is stay in touch with
you. Um and uh in the first mail uh we'll ask those of you who don't want to
receive mails to say so and we'll keep you out. uh we'll share the presentations and uh the recording link
and uh let's uh plan collectively uh what needs to be done. Uh
is this uh Zia uh from Havita?
It would be good if you could share a draft of writing letters to the CMS.
uh if the content is there then it gets faster. So many of you have recently signed on a
letter that we' uh written to uh Mr. Shivra Singh Johan and that letter is
present on indigminfo.org

15 billionaires or 'oligarchs' run India, country 'suffers' from bureaucracy: ex-Trump aide   Aug 5, 2025 Former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would try to predict India’s position in talks by tracking the interests of its 15 billionaires or “oligarchs who ran the country”, the one-time close Trump aide writes in 'No Trade is Free', giving a rare insider’s peek into how the US President thinks about dealing with India.

Robert E. Lighheiser who was a United States trade representative during Trump's first term says in his book chapter on India  s,
there were 15 oligarchs who basically ran the country.  His Friend said only about seven of them actually run the country. The others
just try to influence these seven.

Lighheiser writes that Modi clearly wanted GSP back. What is GSP and how did India lose it? In 2019, Trump announced that he was removing India from the generalized system of preferences or the GSP. GSP is a preferential tariff system implemented by developed countries to support the economies of developing countries. India was the biggest beneficiary of the GSP which allowed preferential duty-free imports of up to
5.6 billion.

  Lighheiser concludes that India really was just protectionist that it was part of its political DNA and the best way to deal with that was through unilateral action. 

 

- https://www.shankariasparliament.com/current-affairs/specials/india-us-agricultural-trade
    - India exported  $ 5.7 billion worth agricultural products to US which is 11%  of the total agri exports from India in the calendar year 2024.  mainly marine products , rice- both Basmati and non-Basmati rice and vegetable extracts. Tariff avr 39%  350 %on tobacco
    - In 2024, the US exported agricultural products worth $2.27 billion to India.  Major exports included tree nuts ($1.12 billion), ethanol ($441.25 million), and cotton ($210.73 million). US wants to dump its extra cotton, corn soya,  and have access to milk market.
    - Both nations have domestic agricultural policies and subsidies

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/explained-as-us-eyes-india-market-for-farm-produce-why-these-3-crops-are-key-9902241/ As US eyes India market for farm produce, why these 3 crops are key. According to GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava, opening up agriculture to heavily subsidized foreign imports would mean an influx of cheap food products, severely impacting Indian farmers' incomes and livelihoods. 
"Over 90 per cent of global food trade is controlled by five multinational corporations that have historically used predatory pricing strategies. If India reduces protection, domestic farmers could be at the mercy of these global giants, 

 Supreme Court lifts the veil on demolition as extra-judicial punishment https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/supreme-court-demolition-guidelines-right-to-shelter-due-process-officials-liability-justice-gavai-viswanathan-2024/article68874963.ece Nov 16, 2024  In a people-centric judgment, the court demolishes “coincidence theory” as hollow, mandates due process to protect citizens’ right to shelter.

The Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government and concerned States, submitted that most of the properties demolished were found to be in breach of local municipal or panchayat laws. He suggested that in some cases it might be by a sheer coincidence that the properties in breach of local municipal laws also happened to belong to accused people. He reiterated that it was the stand of the various States that such properties could be demolished only in accordance with procedures prescribed by law.

 Chief Justice Gavai and the question of judicial propriety https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/cji-b-r-gavai-roster-controversy-vanashakti-judgment-supreme-court/article69897117.ece  Aug 05, 2025 By excluding the original bench in the Vanashakti matter, the CJI draws attention to the unchecked reach of roster powers.

On May 16 this year, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan delivered what might be one of the most  important environmental rulings of the decade. They struck down a 2017 government notification and a 2021 Office Memorandum that had together systemised a backdoor for ex post facto environmental clearances—essentially, allowing projects that started without mandatory environmental approval to legalise their sins later by obtaining clearance post hoc.

 If CJI Gavai chose to exercise his extraordinary powers to direct the Registry to list the two MAs before his bench—and to exclude Justice Bhuyan from the process—then that written administrative order ought to be part of the public record, just like how the Registry’s Office Report is available on the court’s website. The reasons for such a decision should be clearly stated and made publicly accessible.
As far as the Vanashakti judgment is concerned, the court must ensure that it is not nibbled away by requests for “modifications”, “exceptions”, and “clarifications”.