Reciprocity required

Peaceful coexistence and cooperation among states with geographical proximity is undoubtedly the best propeller of their economic wellbeing and security. The emergence of the EU in the post World War-II period that transformed hostility into an impregnable bonhomie as well as economic and political cooperation is an example of this irrefutable reality.

Asean is another model of shared economic prosperity. But unfortunately South Asia continues to remain bereft of regional peace and security due to the hegemonic desires of India which regrettably is locked in disputes with almost all its neighbours including Pakistan. No serious effort has come forth to resolve the disputes that mar the crystallization of an ambience of cooperation and peaceful co-existence.

The major issue in this regard is the Kashmir dispute which is an unfinished agenda of the partition of the Subcontinent. Pakistan and India have fought three wars which has cast them into a perennial mode of animosity. Unfortunately, the situation is more attributable to the intransigent attitude of India which has all along refused to grant the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

It is an historic fact that despite giving commitment to the UN and the world community to implement the UN resolutions, India reneged on its pledge. It maneuvered a resolution by the general council of the All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on October 27, 1950 calling for convening the session of the constituent assembly of IOK to decide the question of accession of the state. However, the UN through Resolution 91 repudiated the suggestion and declared unequivocally that the question of accession of the state could not be settled by any means other than a plebiscite held under the auspices of the UN.

The continued denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir pushed them towards taking the option of an armed struggle in 1989. India has been using ruthless force to subdue the freedom struggle. According to authentic and recorded accounts, more than 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed since then besides the rape of thousands of women. Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations have been regularly putting out reports regarding blatant violation of human rights in the valley.

It is pertinent to point out that the international community did recognize the legitimate right of the people of Kashmir to fight for their freedom. But unfortunately 9/11 changed the whole scenario. The US and its allies became strategic partners of India which gave the latter an opportunity to sell its narrative of the freedom struggle in Kashmir as terrorism supported by Pakistan in spite of the indelible imprint of it being an indigenous uprising.

It is interesting to note that, notwithstanding the Indian claim of Kashmir being its integral part, it acknowledged the disputed status of the territory in the Simla Agreement, Lahore Declaration and has also remained engaged in sporadic dialogues to orchestrate confidence-building measures paving the way for final settlement of the dispute. During the Musharraf era, as a result of backchannel diplomacy, the two countries had almost agreed on an interim solution which could ensure optimum benefit for the Kashmiris while protecting the essential interests of Pakistan and India. Kashmir was to be structured in self-governing sub-regions on both sides of the LOC, similar to the approach recommended by Owen Dixon (UNCIP) for sub-regional plebiscites. The sub-regions would have had their own administration, police, security and legislator. The Kashmiris would freely move and engage in local commerce across sub-regions. The effort, however, stalled in early 2007, with the judicial crisis in Pakistan which unsettled Musharraf. Later in November 2008, the Mumbai terror attacks dealt a fatal blow to the initiative. The foregoing reality again insinuated that India accepted the existence of Kashmir dispute and the need for its resolution.

However, since the arrival of Narendra Modi as prime minister of India, the security situation in the region has become extremely grave due to the continued bellicose posturing against Pakistan, scrapping of articles 370 and 35 A of the Indian constitution changing the special status of the state and its subsequent annexation through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019. Modi in his speech on the Independence Day of India emphatically claimed that he had accomplished within seven months which could not be achieved in seven decades. This Indian action and continued lockdown in the valley is simply unacceptable to the people of IOK and Pakistan. The continued resistance by the people of Kashmir is a ranting testimony to this fact.

Baffled by the resolve of the resistance leaders in IOK and in the wake of some retaliatory actions initiated by them against Indian security forces, India has now also started accusing Pakistan of sending infiltrators from Azad Kashmir to carry out these attacks. Pakistan rightly fears that these allegations could be a premonition to yet another false flag operation against Pakistan with a view to divert attention of the world community from the ever deteriorating human rights situation in IOK.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has been persistently warning the world about the designs of the Modi government and the threat it poses to regional peace and security. In a number of tweets recently, he maintained that India was trying to create an opportunity for a false-flag operation against Pakistan while detracting world attention away from Indian state terrorism in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan, though being capable of thwarting any aggression, does not want confrontation with India and therefore has continuously made peace overtures without any reciprocity. It is fully cognizant of the horrors of a clash between two nuclear states. The madness exhibited by the Indian government needs to be stopped in its tracks by Indians and the global community before it is too late.

Indian leaders must also understand that posturing and acting as a war-like state is fraught with grave dangers for India itself besides jeopardizing regional security and the chances of shared economic prosperity for which there exists an enormous potential. Regional instability has infinite cost in the shape of consigning millions to perennial sufferings and poverty.

The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: ashpak10@gmail.com