by Nilesh Kunwar

Reviving Kashmir Issue

Seven years ago, Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that he would serve as an ambassador for the people of Kashmir by raising the Kashmir issue at every international forum including the UN General Assembly. This was after New Delhi had abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, a temporary provision that provided special status to the people of J&K.

Khan may have been unceremoniously removed from office but his promise on Kashmir endures and despite suffering the ignominy of being repeatedly ignored, Islamabad continues to rake up the Kashmir issue on every conceivable occasion. That this stratagem hasn’t worked is evident from recent news reports that Islamabad would be sending parliamentary delegations to the UK and Europe specifically for this purpose.

Pakistan’s Narrative

Pakistan’s Stand on Kashmir is based on the following claims- one, it’s a recognised by UN as “disputed territory;” two, resolution of the Kashmir issue should be in accordance with the wishes of its people through a plebiscite as recommended in UNSC resolutions, and three, abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by New Delhi violates UN resolutions.

Islamabad maintains that it follows a principled stance on the Kashmir issue by supporting a peaceful and just resolution on the same. It also justifies providing what it refers to as “political, diplomatic and moral support” to secessionist groups in J&K and considers the proxy war sponsored by it in J&K is not only “a legitimate and lawful struggle for freedom,” but also something “recognised by international law.” However, he failed to provide details of the law that sanctions terrorism.

New Delhi probably doesn’t get unduly perturbed by Islamabad’s threats to diplomatically isolate India by garnering international support for its Kashmir stance because it knows that Pakistan’s narrative is bound to collapse under the sheer weight of its intrinsic absurdity and utter selectivity. Nevertheless, there’s a need to debilitate Pakistan’s Kashmir narrative-war by logically exposing and destroying its fundamental inaccuracies, so that the world understands this issue better.

Analysing Pakistan’s Kashmir Narrative

1- J&K is UN recognised ‘disputed’ territory. Whenever any piece of real estate is declared “disputed” by an adjudicating authority, the parties involved forfeit all ownership rights till the issue is legally resolved. Therefore, if Pakistan contends that J&K is disputed territory, then it's axiomatic that it has no rights over Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK). So how did Islamabad cede 5,180 square km of land in Shaksgam Valley of J&K to China in 1963?

2- Islamabad is committed to a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. If this is really true, then why did the Pakistan army launch a military campaign codenamed Operation Gibraltar in 1965 in an attempt to seize J&K by force? If this was an aberration, what explains another attempt by Gen Musharraf in 1999 to alter the Line of Control (LoC) alignment by infiltrating army regulars and occupying dominating heights inside Indian territory?

3- The Kashmir issue should be resolved through a plebiscite. UNSC resolution 47 clearly stipulates that the plebiscite process can only commence once Pakistan takes the first step of withdrawing all its nationals from PoK, something that Islamabad hasn’t done till date. Hence, it’s not India but Pakistan which is stalling this process. But that’s not all. The preconditions for plebiscite contained in this UNSC resolution were meant to “provide full freedom to all subjects of the State regardless of creed, caste, or party, to express their views and vote on the question of the accession of the State.” However, Pakistan has denied this to the people of PoK.

When Article 7 (3) of PoK Constitution decrees that “No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the State’s accession to Pakistan,” how can its people freely express their views during plebiscite?

4- Article 370 abrogation violates UNSC resolutions. The Indian Constitution is an internally produced document passed by its Constituent Assembly and as such it has no link or connection with UNSC resolutions on Kashmir. Accordingly, abrogating Article 370 of the Indian Constitution by New Delhi is an internal matter on which nobody else can comment upon.

India’s Response

India needs to expose Pakistan’s hollow Kashmir claim by specific mention of its selective application of UNSC resolutions demolishing Islamabad’s duplicity. A few suggestions:

• Disputed territory claim. Pakistan ‘killed’ its ‘disputed territory’ contention on March 2, 1963, when it handed over Shaksgam Valley in PoK to China. Furthermore, by allowing China to develop the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through PoK without UNSC concurrence and despite strong objections from India’s, Islamabad has itself hammered the last nail on its ‘disputed territory’ coffin.

• UNSC resolutions. The UN has categorically ruled that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan that needs to be mutually resolved without any third party involvement. Thus it’s not India alone but even UNSC that officially accepts that its resolutions on Kashmir aren’t relevant today. Islamabad also needs to be constantly reminded that when it took the Article 370 abrogation case to UNSC, it was advised to bilaterally resolve this issue in accordance with the Shimla Agreement of 1972.

• Plebiscite. Islamabad needs to be reminded that it’s due to Pakistan refusal to comply with the mandatory UNSC resolution prerequisite of withdrawing its nationals from PoK that plebiscite could not be held. And today, UNSC agrees that resolution of the Kashmir issue is not through plebiscite but mutual consultations.

• Principled Stand. Whenever Pakistan waxes eloquent on its principled stand on Kashmir in accordance with UNSC resolutions, this barefaced lie needs to be vociferously called out by recalling its unsuccessful attempts to resolve the Kashmir issue through military intervention in 1965 and 1999.

• Article 370 Abrogation. Rather than be defensive, New Delhi needs to remind Islamabad about its failure to get support from the UN or international community and be told that why hasn’t it kept its promise of taking this issue to the International Court of Justice?

• Legitimising terrorism. Self-appointed Field Marshal Asim Munir’s aggressive statements like “what India labels as terrorism is, in fact, a legitimate and lawful struggle for freedom, recognised by international law” need to be widely publicised in every forum to expose Pakistan’s perfidy.

Pakistan continues peddling its pack of brazen lies on Kashmir primarily because India’s response, though precise and convincing, is incident-based. What’s required is the complete demolition of its unconvincing Kashmir narrative.

George Orwell’s cynical observation that "War is peace, freedom is slavery and Ignorance is strength," aptly sums up Pakistan’s outlook. That’s why New Delhi to needs to reciprocate Pakistan’s bombast on Kashmir in the same tone and tenor to put Islamabad in its rightful place on the Kashmir issue.

Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. He is a keen ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and after retirement is pursuing his favourite hobby of writing for newspapers, journals and think-tanks. Views expressed above are the author's own