Zaheer Bhatti
THAT the Mountbatten-Radcliffe scheming dealt
a parting kick to the barter resulting in two Inde
pendent States after the forced colonial exit from the subcontinent, the spoils of which it continues to cash till date by somehow continuing with its exploitative influence in the region. But the fact remains that trampling the principle of religious majority for the Indo-Pak demarcation in the case of Kashmir through a tailored instrument of accession to India ought to have been undone by the United Nations at the very outset rather than leaving the matter to be decided through the ever elusive plebiscite.
But more significantly, the United Nations failed to recognize the stark fact that Pakistan being a lower riparian predominantly agricultural economy depending entirely upon waters flowing out of Kashmir, the fate of the State could not be left to the belligerent State of India which from day one has not reconciled to creation of Pakistan, and allowing it freedom to exploit the downstream flow which it was controlling to devastating effect. Flooding Pakistan during Monsoons by releasing excessive water and choking it during dry season while openly threatening to render Pakistan barren despite the World Bank guaranteed Indus Water Basin Treaty regulating flow and control of waters from upstream Kashmir are ominous signs the World Body was blissfully ignoring. For this very reason if not others, the Kashmir issue ought to have been resolved in favour of Pakistan for the prime reason of it being its jugular vein as aptly described by the Father of the Nation. Accession of the State to India is grossly flawed and illegal in many ways.
It is not just a territorial dispute between Pakistan and India, but one of a predominantly majority Muslim State bigger than dozens of Independent Member States of the United Nations both in size and population whose destiny has been criminally placed on the line due to the apathy of the World Body which was supposed to guarantee justice to all nations of the world regardless of their size. In leaving the matter to be decided through a plebiscite whether the State should accede to Pakistan or India, the most relevant stakeholder; the naturalized people of Kashmir which are supposed to decide their own fate are nowhere to be seen in equation during the last 72 years that the issue has been toyed around between Pakistan and India. It is a shame that successive Pakistan governments after the pre-mature departure of the Quaid-i-Azam have badly mishandled the Kashmir case which was a matter of life and death for Pakistan. Starting with agreeing to a ceasefire in 1948 and the UN mandated plebiscite which it failed to pursue and actualize, Pakistan in subsequent encounters with India fell into traps like the Tashkent Declaration after the 1965 War turning the ceasefire line into the Line of Control, and succumbed to the Indian schemed Simla Accord in 1971 to resolve the issue of Kashmir bilaterally which India has ever since conveniently stalled on one pretext or another.
Notwithstanding the fact that bilateral agreements do not override standing UN Resolutions on any issue, Pakistan has done nothing to highlight Indian retraction from a negotiated settlement under the fake smokescreen of terrorism in India blamed on Pakistan. Common sense says that any such incursion by Pakistan would be suicidal for its legitimate interests, but it seems that rather than Pakistan nailing the Indian lie, India has instead been allowed to sell its rhetoric against Pakistan to the world; so much so that for years now, instead of vociferously staking its claim to the State of Kashmir as the unfinished agenda of partition and working relentlessly with nations of the world to force the promised plebiscite, or physically and openly aiding the Armed Kashmiri Freedom struggle which it was obliged to support, Pakistan was reneging and taking the position that Kashmir was not a territorial but a humanitarian Issue. Pakistani leadership along with the Kashmiri leadership on both sides ought to know that the nation will not take this abject surrender lying down because Kashmir is a matter of life and death for Pakistan as it relies for its irrigation and energy needs upon waters flowing out of Kashmir which despite an Indus Water Treaty apportioning use of riverine waters, India was overtly and covertly choking Pakistan’s life line.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during his extensive visit to Pakistan has quite unambiguously reiterated the UN position to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with standing UN Resolutions and offered his good offices to mediate which India has promptly spurned as it has Trump’s mediation offer. India had for a good period of time succeeded in diverting world attention by blaming terrorism on Pakistan which it was itself perpetrating but now stands exposed. For all one knows, you run away from dialogue or mediation when you have something to hide and the reality you cannot face.
The long and short of the Kashmir case is that there is no bilateral solution to the issue nor can it ever be settled through mediation or negotiations. The only solution lies in the UN-mandated Plebiscite which all well-meaning world leadership must now force actualize. Kashmir is essentially the unfinished Agenda of Partition which has for years now been allowed to be transformed into a humanitarian issue culminating into a freedom struggle in view of universal apathy resulting in the unilateral usurpation of the State by India. The prolonged siege by itself is an indication of Indian frustration with the State whose hold it was fast losing control with the fundamental principle of freedom of choice of the people having been trampled for seven long decades. The Kashmir case is vividly summed up in the three-minute short documentary which demonstrates the resolve of the unarmed Kashmiri multitude of men, women, youth and even children staring the Indian gun and shouting for India to quit Kashmir; their heavenly motherland.
—The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
