India and Pakistan On Warpath Once Again!
25 September 2016
By Saeed Qureshi
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's speech at the 71st Session of UN General
Assembly on 21 September instant was resounding and historic by all standards.
It exemplified a robust and unconditional advocacy of the right of
self-determination of the Kashmiris.
He called upon the UN to hold the plebiscite in Kashmir in compliance with the
UN Security Council Resolution 47 passed on 21 April 1948. He vociferously
highlighted the grave atrocities being committed by the Indian army in the
Indian held Kashmir.
At the same time, he offered full cooperation to the international community
in resolving the outstanding Kashmir issue as well as to uproot the terrorism
in all forms. He even pleaded with India for a constructive bilateral
interaction to resolve all the outstanding issues including Kashmir between
the two neighboring countries in an amicable and peaceful manner. Prime
minister Sharif has certainly made a mark and pushed the burden of positive
response on India now heavily banking upon brute use of force to silence
Kashmiris.
India and Pakistan are perennial adversaries and there are several reasons for
that animosity. Pakistan is an Islamic state. It came into existence for the
Muslims of the sub-continent. India is known as a Hindu majority state
although it professes secularism. Democracy has always been there in India
barring state of emergency declared by prime minister Indira Gandhi from
1966-1977.
Out of Pakistan's existences of 69 years thus far, it remained under the army
and semi-army rule for 31 years. India and Pakistan fought four wars. These
were in 1947(first Kashmir war), in 1965(all-out war on Kashmir),
1971(Bangladesh) and 1999(Kargil war). Unfortunately, in all these military
confrontations, Pakistan suffered more harm than India.
The 1971 conflict was most devastating for Pakistani that resulted in the
separation of East Pakistan and surrender of 90,000 Pakistani military cadres
and civilians before the Indian army. Following the recent anti-Indian upsurge
in Indian occupied part of Kashmir there is a possibility of another military
flare-up as well as unleashing of diplomatic tussle between the two inveterate
neighbors.
The Line of Control(LOC) between India and Pakistan is a temporary
arrangement. It means the control of the respective governments in their under
control areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan. Both countries are
obliged under the above-mentioned Security Council Resolution to hold the
plebiscite for eliciting the will of the people of Kashmir either to join
India or Pakistan.
At the time of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Kashmir valley
was under the Sikh ruler Maharaj Hari Singh. On his own accord he acceded to
India and thus depriving the Kashmiri people to exercise their right of
self-determination to join either India or Pakistan.
This is the bane of contention between India and Pakistan, each having claim
on Kashmir. But India has been avoiding such a plebiscite because the majority
of the population in Jammu and Kashmir and Northern areas is Muslim by faith.
India's fear is that by consenting to the plebiscite, Jammu and Kashmir as
well as the Northern areas would opt for Pakistan. That is why three out of
four wars have been fought over the issue of Kashmir and not through the
ballot as was the case in other states and regions.
In the aftermath of the 18 Indian soldiers killed in Uri on September 19, in
the Indian Administered part of Kashmir(IAK) there have been inflammatory and
coercive statements from the India leadership of revenge and retaliation.
Pakistan COAS (Chief of Army Staff) General Raheel's statement that Pakistan
would go to any limit for defense of the country against the foreign
aggression, should serve as a clarion call for India to heed. It is clear that
the incumbent government of PMNL and the armed forces of Pakistan are on the
same page as far as the issue of Kashmir and defense of Pakistan are
concerned.
Prime minister Narendra Modi is known as a fanatic Hindu. He has the infamous
backlog of killing thousands of Muslims in the state of Gujrat when he was the
chief minster then. He has been having whirl-wind tours of the globe for
winning international support and goodwill for India and boosting trade
relations. He has succeeded in inking several important economic and bilateral
trade agreements in favor of India. He has yet to come up with his stance on
the continuing protests of the Kashmiris against the brutalities of the Indian
army killing and maiming scores of local population.
It is hoped that sensing the changing scenario in the backdrop of the Indian
brutal measures in Indian held Kashmir, he may desist from a military
adventure. If he goes for a military option, it might be a rerun of the 1971
episode but may cause irreparable setbacks to both Pakistan and India
militarily and economically.
In this extremely volatile and complex situation the reaction and role of the
United States is quite crucial. Of late America has been tilting towards India
and abandoning its age old ally Pakistan by connecting her with terrorism. The
fact is that Pakistan is not sponsoring terrorism but a strong bulwark in
stopping it. There is clear-cut leaning of USA towards India as evidence by
crucial multifarious agreements one of which is known as U.S.–India Civil
Nuclear Agreement. America is the second largest trade partner of India.
In case of Kashmir it is not Pakistan alone but the world community that
supports the legitimate cause of Kashmiris and the inhuman treatment by India.
How long half a million Indian army would keep the Kashmiris at bay and
silence them by bullets and barrel of gun.
It is to be hoped that America would prefer to play the role of a neutral
mediator and use her influence in prevailing upon India to desist from use of
army to subdue the Kashmiris but agree to a plebiscite for permanent solution
of this thorny issue hanging fire for the last 69 years.
It is time for both the neighbors to desist from wasting their resources and
manpower on mutual destruction and annihilation. With the resolution of
Kashmir dispute both the countries can enter into a phase exemplary peace,
friendship and leading partners in trade and tourism. Let them convert the
sub-continent into an abode of peace and fraternity.
Both India and Pakistan are beset with serious problems such as grinding
poverty, corruption degradation of life, poor governance etc. The money saved
from wars can be diverted to improve the lives of the citizens on both sides
of the divide. India in comparison to Pakistan has another grave problem of
huge population estimated to be 1.20 billion. It is one billion or six time
more than that of 200 million of Pakistan. Its area of 3.3 million sq. km is
three fold more than that of Pakistan's 881000 sq. km.
Despite ''impressive economic growth during recent decades, India continues to
face socio-economic challenges. India contains the largest concentration of
people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per
day. 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight. 15% of
Indian population is undernourished. [ In comparison 21.04% of the population
of Pakistan lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments