U-turns on Kashmir
By Qazi Hussain Ahmad
The News, January 1, 2007
Kashmir is the disputed territory between Pakistan and India, which has to be resolved through a referendum by the Kashmiri people under UN resolutions. It was India that took this issue for the UN mediation after the Kashmiri people rejected Delhi’s military occupation of the state and rose in rebellion against it. Indian leadership agreed to implement UN resolutions calling for referendum in the state to ensure the right of self-determination for the Kashmiri people, allowing them the option to either annex with Islamabad or Delhi.
There was no third option in the UN resolutions since it was against the spirit of the division of the Indian sub-continent to allow nearly 550 states in the un-divided India an option to stay independent. If all of them or a majority would opt for independence it could push the entire region into anarchy and chaos. Therefore, all the states were asked to annex either with Pakistan or India, considering the will of their people and their geographical situation.
Looked from any perspective, Kashmir is a natural part of Pakistan. All of its valleys have natural access from the Pakistani side, all of its rivers flow towards Pakistan, while all of the natural access routes pass through Pakistan. Above all, over 90 per cent of its population is Muslim and it must be kept in mind that the overwhelming Muslim majority was already in a state of liberation against the Hindu maharaja before the partition of the sub-continent.
In clear denial of the fundamental rights to Kashmiri Muslims, Delhi occupied the state by sending its military and forced an annexation through the minority Hindu administration. However, the UN Security Council disallowed this annexation and called for a plebiscite, which India has been denying since then despite admitting before the UNSC that Kashmir was a disputed territory that should be resolved by a plebiscite. Later, India began claiming Kashmir as its integral part, and staged elections in its occupied valley and declared it a manifestation of the Kashmiri people’s nod to the maharaja’s annexation with Delhi.
However, the UNSC rejected the elections, holding that it could never substitute the plebiscite and that Kashmir could only be solved through a plebiscite. The UN resolutions form the basis of the Kashmir dispute and acknowledged Pakistan a party to it. That is why there is every right for Kashmiris to wage freedom struggle against the illegal occupation of Delhi, which is adamantly declaring it as her integral part, and Islamabad is bound morally, politically and diplomatically to support the Kashmiris’ just freedom movement since it conforms to UN resolutions.
But unfortunately, the present regime in Islamabad has not only shirked itself from discharging the duty to support the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle but also retreating from its historic principled stance. At times Islamabad presents various formulas to divide the valley between India and Pakistan, and at others floats ideas to forego it’s right on Kashmir by stating that it is not an integral part of Pakistan. What is more the government has even dared to ignore the sayings of the father of the nation who declared Kashmir as the lifeline of the country, and the foreign office was made to announce that Islamabad never declared Kashmir as her lifeline nor its annexation has ever been her stance. On the other hand, India never moved an inch from her stance of declaring that the whole of Kashmir state, including Northern Areas, was an her integral part under her constitution.
For decades India has been evading to address the Kashmir issue by taking the same stance whenever it was forced to negotiate with Pakistan under world pressure. At the negotiation table the Indian side insists that the dispute between Islamabad and Delhi was that the whole of the Kashmir state was an integral part of India but Pakistan was occupying some of its territory and negotiations should be held to vacate it. This attitude clearly shows that Delhi is not ready to even display some kind of serious discussion to solve the Kashmir dispute, what to talk of taking practical steps in this regard.
It is most unfortunate that Islamabad’s deviation from its principled stance reflects its weakness and amounts to accept Indian hegemony. The present military rulers have clearly displayed it that they are devoid of the required capabilities to resist unjustified foreign pressure and they have been gradually retreating from protecting the interests of Islam and Pakistan. Their continuous retreat has now put at stake what Quaid-e-Azam had declared as Pakistan’s jugular vein. The colonial powers have been working on an agenda to cut Pakistan away from the Muslim world, and confine her to South Asia to put her under Indian hegemony.
It is under the same perspective that we hear the talk of cutting Pakistan to size, and Washington declares Delhi its strategic partner by signing nuclear cooperation agreements while on the other hand Pakistan’s nuclear programme is being rolled back and the world is terrified by dubbing it as the ‘Islamic bomb.’ Their objective is to make India the regional super power to counter China’s development and influence, and freeing Delhi from any threats from Islamabad is a prerequisite. The efforts to forge a trade and cultural partnership between Pakistan and India are part of the same plan.
The Islamabad’s blind following to this agenda is not only violating her national interests but also alienating Kashmiri people from Pakistan that could seriously jeopardise Pakistan’s security. Overwhelming majority of both Pakistani and Kashmiri people have rejected Islamabad’s strategic retreat from her principled stance, UN resolutions, and moral obligation to back Kashmir’s freedom, that amounts to violating her own vital interests. Slogans like ‘Kashmir baney ga Pakistan’ (Kashmir will become Pakistan) are a common feature on both sides of the LoC, and no power has the right to work against this slogan. The whole Pakistani nation stand behind the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle and pays tributes to leaders like Syed Ali Gilani for their valiant struggle against the Indian occupation and brutal atrocities against unarmed innocent civilians.
Kashmiris should rest assured that the whole Pakistani nation completely backs their freedom from Indian occupation and annexation to Pakistan, and would never allow any power to change the historic and principled national stance under foreign dictation.
The writer heads the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and is also ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. Email: amir@ji.org.pk
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