Kashmir imbroglio needs a pragmatic solution

 

It seems destiny has ordained that Kashmir be denied peace. The events that started in the crucial last fortnight of October, 1947, in Kashmir were prelude to the first war between India and Pakistan that lasted the entire 1948 and the reason was: Hari Singh delayed the accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India or to Pakistan.

The State was never under direct British rule. It was under the statute of Maharaja Hari Singh, so much so, that Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, a Kashmiri Pundit, was stopped at the Kohala Bridge in 1946 and refused entry into the state. He and his companions were arrested on the orders of Maharaja Hari Singh when they entered the state anyway.

For the unfortunate millions of Kashmiris the accession of the State to India came a bit too late. By then Jinnah had sent his jihadis and later his troops to Kashmir and then Nehru forwarded the dispute to UN tables. Damage having been done, Kashmir is now the only peg where Pakistan can hang its more urgent issues of poverty and terror and India can side-track its urgent issues.

Today one-third of J&K is occupied by Pakistan; two-thirds is with India. In POK, only 5% speak the Kashmiri language. The 13,297 square kilometre  region, which has a population of about four million, is the cause of war, terror, loot, murder, rape, arson and loss of lives in Kashmir.

With China, India and Pakistan equipping themselves with nuclear weapons, the equation has undergone a change. Kashmir has gone through so much violence and injustice that it is now a ticking bomb which can explode anytime. It can make Pakistan — where the civilian government does not command the power it deserves — to inflict nuclear weaponry upon India. China may not oppose that. Pakistan’s use of nuclear weapons can cause damage to a major part of the sub-continent. Pak leaders and generals have, many a time, said that they will use nuclear arms against India. It can happen, particularly if a fanatic like Hafiz Sayed can hope to become the Pak PM. We have to realize that Pakistan is a bankrupt state; a weak enemy is more dangerous for it can panic easily.

We have to keep in view that while India was seeking return of POK area, Pakistan, conveniently, signed the Sino-Pakistan Agreement and ceded over hundreds of square kilometres of land in northern Kashmir and Ladakh to China in 1963.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farouq Abdullah stirred a hornet’s nest in a statement, in this context, he made recently at a gathering in Srinagar. He said: “Yes, I say it (PoK) belongs to them (Pakistan). Are they (Pakistanis) wearing bangles? They also have atom bombs! Do you want us to be killed by them? You are sitting in palaces. Think about the poor people living in border areas, who are bombed daily. He (Sharma, the interlocutor appointed by the Centre) has held talks but talks alone are not the solution. This issue is between India and Pakistan. The Indian government must also hold talks with the Pakistan government because a part of Kashmir is also with them,” Abdullah added that since the valley is landlocked by three nuclear powers, namely India, China and Pakistan, it is wrong to talk about an independent Kashmir. POK is part of Pakistan. Some patriots may feel that the trouble in Kashmir is of jingoistic flavour; yet the statement needs to be accorded consideration. A day after Abdullah issued that statement, Pak PM Shahid Khakaan Abbasi publicly held the idea that an independent Kashmir as ‘unreal’..

People of India and Pakistan are fed up of violence; presumably because the Hafiz Sayed spectre still looms large — not only on India but on Pakistan too. The Government has taken half- hearted attempts at peace and aggression. It is over 70 years now and common sense demands that a more down-to-earth approach be adopted. As of now, neither the Pakistan nor the Indian Government dare go soft on the Kashmir dispute, because that would mean a political suicide for political parties. Though the territory has no economic value for either country, it has now become a symbol of national identities for the two countries.

When one looks at its topography, one notices that it has high concentration of world’s highest mountains. PoK has limited approach from India but has better approaches from Pakistan. That is why we could not take its total control during the first war.

PoK residents have anti-India and pro- Pak sentiments. Even if India is returned the area, it may create problems. Some residents of that area might be a major security risk for the rest of India. China, too, has economic interests in the PoK region. That is another difficulty for India. If nukes are used, there will be Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Pakistan has been desperately trying to internationalize the border issue. Therefore, if we cross the LOC, it may be considered an act of war and the issue may become international. India can’t let go The image it is trying to project, of a responsible, pro-trade nation. Businesses do not like uncertainties.

Let us evaluate what POK has to offer to India if we are able to have it despite odds? Good relations between India and Pakistan will be able to divert many of their finances towards development. The two countries should aim at having prosperous countries and not big countries.

Though the U.N. ordered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in 1948, yet a plebiscite, desired by the U.N., could not be held because many issues had been left unresolved. Some people fear that, if we give away PoK, Pakistan will ask for more. But, Pakistan has borders with Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Pakistan did not try to take these. There is an agreed international border, breach of which is considered an act of war and that would be supported internationally.

(The writer is an internationally-known historian)

DISCLAIMER:                                                                                                                                                               

The views expressed in the Article above are Dinesh Kapoor’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.                                                    

Courtesy:    Sh. Dinesh Kapoor  and Koshur Samachar   February, 2018