Forgetting Kashmir not an option

The history of the Kashmir dispute is well known domestically and internationally. In January 1948, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 39 establishing the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate and mediate the dispute. The UNSC Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, mandated a plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir; subsequent UNSC resolutions reiterated the same. The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) arrived in the mission area in January 1949 to supervise the ceasefire.
Since August 1947, the Indians have unleashed a reign of terror in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK). Human rights abuses are routine and range from mass killings, summary executions, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Special Operations Group (SOG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF) have been involved in a systematic genocide of Kashmiris. Rape is regularly used as a means to punish and humiliate communities. Civilians including women and children have been killed in cold blood in reprisal attacks by Indian security forces. International NGOs, the US State Department, Human Rights Groups, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Amnesty International have documented these atrocities.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) enables Indian Security Forces to detain prisoners without trial for up to two years. Shameful and heart wrenching incidents like the rape of 53 women by soldiers of 4th Rajputana Rifles in Kupwara, killing of 51 civilians and wounding of 200 without any provocation in Bijbehara by troops of 13th BSF, death of 40 unarmed protesters at the hands of CPRF in Amarnath land transfer are common.
The CPRF is also blamed for 112 deaths in 2010. Mass graves have been unearthed all over Kashmir believed to contain bodies of thousands of Kashmiris. Of the 2,730 bodies unearthed in four districts, 574 were identified as missing locals. An estimate suggests that the number of unmarked graves is about 6,000. Human Rights Watch has described summary executions as the hallmark of suppressive operations by Indian security forces. An estimate suggests that 80,000 Kashmiris have been killed and one million women raped, humiliated or sexually assaulted since 1989. Paradise on earth is now hell in paradise.
From potentially being one of the most dangerous disputes in the world - which could in the worst-case trigger a nuclear conflict, the unresolved Kashmir issue is a ticking time bomb. Intoxicated by self-conceived benchmarks like size, military potential, diplomatic supremacy, etc, India continues to suppress the Kashmiri population with brutal force. The Pakistani leadership has been criticised time and again for its soft stance when dealing with India on the Kashmir issue. With Narendra Modi in power, the BJP has accelerated its efforts to put Kashmir on the backburner and to tighten its grip through other means like administrative reforms, new legislation and demographic changes. Nawaz Sharif was in the eye of the storm to have omitted Kashmir from the agenda during his last meeting with Modi in Ufa, Russia, evoking negative response from the Kashmiri leadership also.
While Pakistan supports efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, according to the will of the Kashmiri people; Pakistani leadership would be well advised not to go overboard in its efforts, especially in view of the highly negative response of Indian leadership. Saries or no saries, mangoes or no mangoes, they are not likely to budge. We must walk the extra mile only when reciprocated. Mangoes for Modi while his forces slay unarmed civilians along the working boundary is highly out of taste.
In Pakistan we often talk of being on one page. Rangers not accepting Indian sweets on Eidul Fitr, sharing the grief of the population living along the working boundary brutalised at the hands of Indians and mangoes for Modi - are we on one page? Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a man of vision, described Kashmir as our jugular vein with good reason. Peaceful coexistence, good neighbourly relations etc not withstanding; we must not lose sight of Indian interference in Balochistan, Fata and Sindh to cut at the core of Pakistan. We must do all that we can to save our jugular vein from India - forgetting Kashmir is not an option.