By Amir Zia
Monthly News
September 2019
As far as the Indians
are concerned, they have settled the Kashmir dispute for good in their favour.
Now they have to manage the fallout of their decision. The Indians are
convinced that as time goes by, the world will accept Kashmir as an integral
part of India and they will be able to bully their way into the lives of
Kashmiris – if not win their hearts and minds.
In times of crisis, one
should not dwell on the past. It is akin to deflecting the real issue and
evading the fundamental question of what needs to be done now? Therefore,
I will rephrase the question from, ‘Has Pakistan failed Kashmir’ to, ‘Should
Pakistan abandon Kashmir?’
My two-word answer: “No,
never.”
Pakistan should never
abandon the Kashmiris in their struggle to end the Indian occupation and demand
the right of self-determination, in line with UN resolutions. Standing up and
fighting for Kashmir is our moral duty and a national cause. We need this kind
of sharp clarity of mind, emotional belief, conviction and an unyielding
commitment to stand up for Kashmir as a nation – come what may.
With one stroke of the
pen, India’s Hindu extremist government, has unilaterally changed the status of
Occupied Kashmir: it has divided and made this Muslim-majority state part of
its union territory, without taking into account the will of the Kashmiris and
violating the United Nations resolutions and its bilateral agreements with
Pakistan.
This criminal Indian move
to assimilate occupied Kashmir is an open act of war. And it must be seen as
such. Resorting to pseudo-intellectual debates revolving around ifs and buts or
discussing the past, is a futile exercise. Yes, we know that Pakistan faces an
economic crisis and diplomatic challenges. We know our constraints. Let’s now
zero in on our enemy’s limitations and weaknesses.
And let’s not waste time
waiting for the world conscience to wake-up or international organisations like
the United Nations to take any practical steps to help the Kashmiris.
The bitter fact is that
there is no justice in history and no room for morality in politics and foreign
relations. History is overwhelmingly made by the mighty and the powerful on the
blood of the weak and the oppressed, while politics and international relations
are driven by national objectives and interests. The moralist sloganeering is
best left for peace times. In the real world of politics, it never works.
It is up to the Kashmiris
and Pakistanis now to choose to act or not to act against the backdrop of the
Indian design to make Kashmiri Muslims a minority in their own land.
As far as the Indians are
concerned, they have settled the Kashmir dispute for good in their favour. Now
they have to manage the fallout of their decision. The Indians are convinced
that as time goes by, the world will accept Kashmir as an integral part of India
and they will be able to bully their way into the lives of Kashmiris – if not
win their hearts and minds.
Indian calculations are
based largely on the presumption that internationally, the tailwind remains in
their favour because of the size of their economy. They expect a muted response
to their move from the world powers; they expect them to act only to keep the
two South Asian nuclear powers at bay from an all-out war.
Secondly, Indians think
that the crisis-ridden Pakistan will not go beyond mounting conventional
diplomatic efforts, which may earn Islamabad some useless brownie points but
will not change the situation on the ground. Empty words and meaningless
statements or resolutions will not help the Kashmir cause. Neither will our
demonstrations in Pakistani cities and some western capitals hurt New Delhi nor
our jihad on the social media, the virtual world and on the local television
screen. And New Delhi knows this.
By lowering the threshold
of their response to the armed struggle of the Kashmiri mujahideen and using
forums like FATF, India has cleverly kept Pakistan under pressure. They assess
that without Pakistan’s active and practical support, they will be able to
crush any political or armed uprising of the Kashmiris.
The Indian game is apparently
flawless.
Pakistan can only put a
spanner in India’s plans and attempt to turn the tide by resorting to
unconventional means and restrained brinkmanship. This does not mean abandoning
conventional diplomatic and political efforts, but Pakistan has to up the ante
– if its leadership is serious about Kashmir.
To begin with, Pakistan
must shun their apologetic attitude as regards the armed resistance of
Kashmiris and provide active diplomatic, political and moral support to this
indigenous movement. At the same time, Pakistan should adopt an uncompromising
defensive stance – in case India strikes, using the bogey of terrorism.
Pakistan should make it clear to the world that it will climb the escalation
ladder swiftly and deliver the hardest blow possible in case India resorts to
adventurism on the international frontier or at the line of control.
The Pakistan government
has to look within to draw for strength and bank on its armed forces and people
for the country’s defence, sustenance and survival rather than towards the
western capitals and our “brotherly” Muslim countries.
Pakistan does not seek
war. A war between two nuclear-armed neighbours would be sheer madness, but if
it is thrust upon us, then let’s give India a war instead of settling for a bad
peace.
Pakistanis and Kashmiri
need to be clear on one score: if we are not able to stand up for Kashmir now,
we will not be in a position to do so a couple of years down the road, when the
Indian grip on Kashmir will have been consolidated and demographic changes been
orchestrated. It is now or never.
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