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  • Essay / The notion of political culture in Kashmir

    The political landscape of Kashmir has undergone a huge change. The occupation regime of the Mughals, Sikhs, Pathans and Dogras left indelible marks on the psyche of the Kashmiri nation. Kashmiris were forced to submit to the repressive measures of the rulers, inflicting deep wounds on their psyche. It was then in the mid-19th century that Kashmir had to silently witness an unsavory turn in its political life when the British colonizers sold this paradise on Earth for a paltry sum of Rs 75 lakh to a Dogra soldier Gulab Singh in 1846. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe 100-year-old Dogra rule did not concede to the subjugated peoples their fundamental rights of freedom of expression and to express their grievances. In 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was divided and two free nations, Bharat and Pakistan came into existence, the most unfortunate part of this region, Kashmir, found itself embroiled in a dispute between these two neighbors unresolved for 62 years now. The Dogra Maharajas proved no better than the previous foreign occupiers of Kashmir. The sale of Kashmir on March 15, 1846 was dubbed the “Treaty of Amritsar,” whereby, in the words of Prem Nath Bazaz, “the British authorities in India did not consult any of the rulers of Kashmir. This was an utterly sordid and shameful affair, devoid of any sense of fairness, justice and fairness. Two million people in the valley and Gilgit were sold like sheep and cattle to a foreign adventurer of the rights and interests of the people's future.” An independent and sovereign Kashmir had been enslaved for over 400 years by aggressors from the South and the West. Their living conditions had transformed into the pitiful life of animals. The ignominious Treaty of Amritsar gave impetus to latent discontent against the Dogra regime among the people of Kashmir. This spark of anger and desire for freedom surfaced before 1931, but July 13, 1931 marked a watershed for a radical and historic change in the political culture of Kashmir. The political leadership was taken over by an imposing Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah who emerged as the greatest of the great to lead the oppressed Kashmiris out of slavery to a world of freedom. After a tragic division of the subcontinent on the basis of the two-nation theory, the Kashmiri nation continued with the demolition of its democratic institutions one by one in the wake of unresolved conflict in Kashmir. Elected governments were dismissed. Little by little, the legislative power, the judiciary and the administration were led to play second fiddle to their masters and bosses who gave orders from the outside. The most astonishing event took place when the first Prime Minister of the state, Sheikh Abdullah, about whom Jawaharlal Nehru had declared that "Sheikh Abdullah is Kashmir and Kashmir is Sheikh Abdullah", was removed from office. functions and unceremoniously arrested on the morning of August 9, 1953. The shocking step taken against the state government by New Delhi, has once again plunged the people of Kashmir into the darkness of uncertainty and confusion. They were truly forced to think about how to shape their political future, whose wounded culture had been further bruised with Abdullah's sudden departure. The people, inhabitants of the most peaceful region called Paradise on Earth, had imbibed their state of mind. the philosophy of Lalla Arifa and Sheikhul Aalam which had transformed.