Today they [Pakistan] appeal to the world that resolutions are being violated. Today they send their letters to the United Nations saying that Abdullah and Indira are violating resolutions. Which resolutions do they name? Are they the same resolutions which only yesterday they called scraps of waste paper? Was that statement correct or is this one? You are pining for the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir; I want to ask: those 1.5 million Kashmiris under your control—have you given them that right? Have you given them the freedom to shape their destiny as they wish? You are appealing to the world, you are abusing India, but what is the situation in your own home?
I would only believe you were an honest person, I would only believe your words and deeds were one, if you had given those 1.5 million of our brothers the right to live there with dignity, honor, and freedom. Then I would understand that yes, Pakistan does what it says. No, this is not the case. I know you don’t need the people of Kashmir; you need the forests of Kashmir, you need the water of Kashmir, you need the beautiful atmosphere of Kashmir.
You want to treat Kashmir in the same way as others treated it in the past—considering it their pleasure ground and the Kashmiri people as objects of luxury. You will also think the same. We have suffered these wounds; we recognize friend and foe. We know what anyone’s intention is. You may appeal to the world as much as you like, but we know it is you who have put us in trouble for 27 years. Had you not attacked, had you not sent the tribesmen, had you not brought trouble here, had you not massacred our brothers here… we don’t understand that [version of] Islam.
We understand the Islam which gave refuge to the oppressed, which supported the fallen, which never killed humanity but instead raised the flag of humanity. If you people had not done this, perhaps the situation would be different. What did you say to us? Why did you send tribesmen? Why did you want to finish us with the sword? Sherwani’s soul is still calling us. Master Abdul Aziz, who was a very big worker of ours from Muzaffarabad, his soul is still calling us. Why did you put him to the sword? Why did you massacre him in Baramulla and Muzaffarabad? It was because Abdul Aziz gave refuge to Hindu and Sikh women in his house there. He said that Islam does not permit killing in this manner. ‘These are also your sisters. These are also your mothers. If I gave them refuge, did I commit a sin?’ You want to make Pakistan; I have no concern with that, but merely for this ‘sin,’ he was riddled with bullets. If you hadn’t committed these acts, the map might have been different. You committed such acts and lost the game. Otherwise, at that time, we would not have allowed our nation to be slaughtered like sheep and goats. We fought back. We didn’t have India’s army, we didn’t even have the state’s army here, but there was a resolve, there was a determination. That resolve was not something we made in ’47; we had made that determination in ’31. We will not allow any person to play with our destiny. Whoever it may be. Your representatives came to us, and we told them that we have no quarrel…
Pakistan and India were created by you people. We will think here whether it will be beneficial for us to go to Pakistan, or beneficial to stay in India, or beneficial to remain independent. Making this decision is our job. Making this decision is the job of the Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims here. This is what is called the right of self-determination. We said that you must accept whatever our decision is. Whatever our decision is, India will have to accept it. Whatever our decision is, the world will have to accept it. You said no. You said, ‘We have decided your destiny.’ I asked, who gave you that power of attorney? We did not give you a power of attorney. You decide our destiny? We have been fighting since ’31 to become the masters of our own destiny. How could you decide our destiny? They said, ‘Anyway, we have, and if you don’t agree, then we will adopt another method.’ I said if you adopt that method, there will be our corpses before we let you enter our homeland.
They did exactly that. They sent tribesmen. They wanted to make us their slaves by the force of the sword. We refused. We resolved that we would give our lives but would never accept this position. We sought assistance; we asked for help. After all, we had to save our honor. At that time, India came forward. It agreed with our values and the objectives for which we were fighting, and it fully recognized our right that the destiny of the country can only be made by the people here, whatever their will may be. Consequently, that was our connection with them. In this very Lal Chowk—you probably won’t remember—India’s distinguished son and leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, came here; he placed his hand, India’s hand, in mine.
This is part of ThePrint’s Great Speeches series. It features speeches and debates that shaped modern India.