Will
Pakistan ever allow peace a chance in Kashmir?
It
seems Pakistan is preparing to go for the jugular as weak governance seems to
prevail in the state
POLITICS
| 6-minute read | 18-07-2016
COLONEL
R HARIHARAN |@colhari2
The
answer to this question is a simple no, if we look at all the smoke and thunder
generated by Pakistan at home and abroad and even in the UN Security Council
after the Kashmiri militant leader Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter.
There
are many reasons why Pakistan chose to react so strongly with a grim-faced
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif describing Burhan Wani as martyr of Kashmiri
independence movement at a special cabinet meeting.
He
termed the movement of Kashmiris as a movement of freedom and said Pakistan would
continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris in
their “just struggle for the right to self determination.”
And
Pakistan cabinet decided to observe 19 July as Black Day to register its
concern.
Even
the hanging of Indian Parliament attack
convict Afzal Guru, decidedly a more prominent Kashmiri personality, evoked
less strident comments from Pakistan President Asif Zardari. He said "the
abuse of the judicial process has further aggravated and angered the people of
Kashmir."
The
protest against Guru’s death sentence saw communists coming out in support. The
Harkatul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), even exploded a bomb on 7 July 2011 outside Delhi
High court killing 17 people.
Then
why Pakistan decided to raise all the heat and dust over Wani's killing?
The
major internal factor encouraging Pakistan is Jammu and Kashmir's unnatural
ruling coalition of PDP and BJP formed to keep out Omar Abdulla's National
Congress and Congress from power.
With
vague clichés for goals it has been meandering from crisis to crisis, small and
big.
The
chief minister Mehbooba Mufti never seemed comfortable with the alliance. This was
visible after her father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed died in harness.
She
took too long to cogitate before deciding to continue with the alliance,
showing lack of confidence in her own political skills. Her father a past
master in politics deftly cobbled up the alliance with BJP.
Perhaps
the dissonance between the partners is showing up in their inability to take
decisive action when separatist elements egged on by Pakistan take advantage of
popular protests to escalate them into crisis situations.
The Chief
Minister faced the first major crisis at the National Institute of Technology
(NIT) at Srinagar when non Kashmiri students objected to semi-final of the T20
World cup in April 2016.
The non
locals wanted the NIT to be relocated when Kashmiris objected to the hoisting
of national flag. It became a confrontation Pakistan flag waving and calls
"Bharat Mata ki Jai" versus "Hum kya chahte, azadi" renting
the air. Police were called in and they lathi charged the non-Kashmiri group.
The
state government looked upon helplessly as a local incident was blown up into a
national and international one, till New Delhi intervened.
Two
weeks later, when rumours of an army man molesting a school girl provoked a mob
of 500 protestors to surround the army post at Handwara Chowk threatening to
burn it down.
Though
the girl denied such an incident took place and video coverage confirmed it,
the state government meekly gave in to the mob’s demand and asked the army to
shift the post. The girl later gave a statement before the DM that it was local
youth who molested her!
And an
army post that denied free passage to infiltrators from Pakistan for decades
was given up.
And now
the handling of the Burhan Wani episode by Mehbooba Mufti government has
provided the meat for Pakistan to appear as the saviour of Kashmiris!
Omar Abdullah,
Mehbooba's predecessor, perhaps in a moment of contrition over a similar but
bigger crisis he faced in 2010 gave some soul searching advice to the chief minister.
When he was the chief minister 116 young
protestors were shot dead in the summer of 2010 that caused his defeat in 2014.
He said
"Mehbooba Mufti has made the same mistake as me. I went into a shell and
she has also withdrawn into a shell. The first 24-48 hours are crucial. That is
when people need see and hear you.
"She
should have at least come on television and appealed for calm but she seems to
have retreated into a shell when she was needed to be seen and heard."
It
seems Pakistan is preparing to go for the jugular as weak governance and
political indecisiveness seem to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir.
We can
expect more crises situations in the coming days in the state. I am not too
confident the mismatched pair ruling the state will do any better as the Centre
also seems to equally inept in handling crisis.
But
there should be no illusions about Pakistan’s interest in Kashmir issue.
For
India the only outstanding issue is to reunite the two halves of Kashmir
severed by Pakistan.
But not
for Pakistan; there it's different strokes for different folks.
All the
Black Day shindig in Pakistan and Nawaz Sahib sporting a long face over the “martyrdom”of
Kashmiris should not obfuscate the
question: does Pakistan really want freedom for Kashmir?
The
litany Pakistan regularly sets on implementing the UN resolution on Kashmir and
carrying out a plebiscite. But it is only for the people of the state to choose between India and
Pakistan. It was not for the “freedom” of Kashmir. There is no third choice.
In
spite of this, “Azadi” (freedom) is the chant of Pakistan flag-waving mobs. Can
there be greater dishonesty in protest?
Forget
about India, will Pakistan ever concede freedom to the part of Kashmir it
controls?
Never;
not even as a ploy to gain moral authority to force India to follow suit for
creating a unified, independent Kashmir State. Because, it is not in its
agenda.
Pakistan's
problems with Kashmir are much more than its heart bleeding for Kashmiris.
For
Pakistan army it is a war of thousand cuts to bleed India - it doesn't matter
if Kashmiris also bleed in the process - to avenge its decisive defeat in the
1971 War against Indian army.
For Pakistan
politicians, Kashmir is rallying call to enrich their vote banks.
For
elected governments, it is an opioid to distract the masses from myriad problems
of Pakistan.
For the
masses who dreamt of Pakistan as a pan-Islamic nation carved out of South Asia,
Kashmir is a reminder of the failed dream. This is more so after East Pakistan
cut loose to become Bangladesh, aided by Indians.
So why
would Pakistan ever want “aman” (peace) in Kashmir?
Even if you give Kashmir on a platter to Pakistan, it will continue with its unfinished agenda, at least till the army calls the shot on how the country deals with India.
Even if you give Kashmir on a platter to Pakistan, it will continue with its unfinished agenda, at least till the army calls the shot on how the country deals with India.
But
whatever be the situation or conflict, ultimately it is the Kashmiri people who
bear the brunt.
As a
nation we simply cannot afford such a state of affairs.
Finding
an acceptable solution is going to be difficult in Kashmir; perhaps the time
has come for Prime Minister Modi to get into the act.
He
needs to bring all his political and strategic acumen, to think out of the box
and dirty his hands, to work it out.
Courtesy: India Today opinion portal DailyO
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