India fails to achieve objectives on held Kashmir

India has completely failed to achieve the objectives that it had set on the Kashmir issue following the merciless killing of young Burhan Wani at the hands of Indian forces.

First, the killing of Wani has woken up the general population in held Kashmir from deep humiliation at the hands of occupation forces. More than 100 days of protests and marches have gone by and more than 100 people martyred at the hands of Indian forces since then. There is no stopping to the marches and protests by the ordinary Kashmiris. The uprising in Kashmir is spontaneous and has been aggravated by hard-line tactics of Indian forces. The Indian establishment is absolutely baffled what to do to suppress the freedom movement in held Kashmir.

Second, the drama of surgical strike has miserably flopped with nobody in the world ready to believe that the Indian forces had crossed the Line of Control and attacked the Pakistan Army positions or alleged militants’ camps. Even the Indian public has developed doubts about the issue, which was ostensibly carried out to win coming crucial state elections in India.

Third, the Indian drama of isolating Pakistan has also collapsed. It can be seen that all the world dignitaries are visiting the country. The British Army’s chief of general staff was recently here. The Russians were here to conduct military exercises with Pakistan Army for the first time in history. Also, the PACES competition held by the army has teams from Australia, the UK, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and Qatar besides other countries.

Fourth, no country in the world has blamed Pakistan for the Kashmir uprising or the Uri attack as desired by India. The political upheaval in Kashmir is localized and is supported by Pakistan only on moral grounds and diplomatically.

Fifth, the statements of the outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have rankled India. Moon deplored the ongoing killings in Indian-held Kashmir and urged India and Pakistan to settle Kashmir and other issues through dialogue. “I stand ready to offer my good offices, should it be requested by both sides, to facilitate dialogue in order to achieve a negotiated settlement,” he wrote in a letter he sent in response to a letter from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif apprising the UN chief about the deteriorating situation in Kashmir. "I deplore the loss of life and hope that all efforts will be made to avoid further violence." Then again the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to defuse the rising tensions.

The offer came after Pakistan's ambassador met with the UN chief and urged him to personally intervene, while India said it did not want to aggravate the situation. Ban called on "both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation," a statement from his spokesman said. The UN chief said India and Pakistan should address differences through diplomacy and dialogue, and offered to mediate. "His good offices are available, if accepted by both sides," the UN spokesman said.

The Indian train blaming Pakistan for held Kashmir troubles seems to have run out of steam. It should talk to Pakistan to resolve the issue as per the aspirations of Kashmiris. The issue with serious ramifications will stay on the table as long as the Indians do some honest soul searching and find out a just and objective solution to the issue.