Documents on Kashmir Problem: World Opinion
Man Singh Deora, R. Grover (ed)Part of the pan-Indian civilization. It was partly due to geo-
graphy, the Himalayas and the Western and Eastern ranges
separating it from rest of the world, and partly due to the
Brahmanical culture, with Sanskrit as the lingua franca, which
gave it a unity in the eyes of the upper strata of society. From
centuries, Kashmir remained free from racism, communalism
and casteism even during the communal structure of Dogra
Raj. The National Movement against the feudal exploitation,
led by Sheikh Abdullah, which was started in 1930 and conti-
nued upto 1947, was the result of the growth of national con-
sciousness in Jammu and Kashmir. Various national leaders
of India, including Pandit Jawaharlal Nebru and Maulana
Abdul Kalam Azad recognized the democratic and nationalist
spirit of this struggle. But British imperialists and the Hindu
press tried to interpret and project it as a “result of the dispute
between the Hindus and the Muslims”. Inspites, this anti-
feudal movement was participated by a broad section of
peasants and artisans came out to fight in the streets. This insurgency of 1931 awakened the national aspirations of the Kashmiris, which ultimately helyed in the emergence of a composite Kashmiri culture without any emphasis on Muslim
sectarianism. By 1939, every conscious member of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community joined the national movement. The anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggle reached another
high pitch in 1946. The AJKNC launched the “Quit Kashmir”
movement and submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet