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TODAY'S PAPER | OCTOBER 30, 2021

Kashmir dispute

‹ A.G. Noorani | Published October 30, 2021 - | Updated about 4 hours ago 15
›

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai.

“A QUESTION like this cannot be solved unilaterally,” Prime

Minister Jawaharlal Nehru categorically declared in the Lok Sabha
on Feb 25, 1955. His sharp retort was in response to a member
Lakshmi Charan’s now all-too-familiar demand. “In view of the fact
that the Kashmir constituent assembly has ratified the accession of
the state to India, what will be the terms of discussion on Kashmir
with the Pakistani prime minister?”

Shortly before that, on May 15, 1954, after Pakistan had concluded a military
aid package with US, Nehru continued to maintain that “India still stands by
her international commitments on the Kashmir issue and will implement them
at the appropriate time”.

Krishna Menon stated in the UN Security Council on Feb 8, 1957, that “the only
international engagements that exist are two resolutions of the UNCIP dated
[Aug 13, 1948] and [Jan 5, 1949]. These are the engagements. If they were of a
formal character, they might be treaties, but, at any rate, they are the
engagements we have entered into.”

Amit Shah was Modi’s ally in the

destruction of Kashmir’s autonomy.

Successive governments of India have touted the Shimla Agreement of July 3,

1972, as if it forecloses the Kashmir dispute. Far from it. Its concluding Para 6
envisages negotiations on Kashmir. It says: “Both governments agree that their
respective heads will meet again at a mutually convenient time in the future
and that, in the meanwhile, the representatives of the two sides will meet to
discuss further the modalities and arrangements for the establishment of
durable peace and normalisation of relations, including the questions of
repatriation of prisoners of war and civilian internees, a final settlement of
Jammu and Kashmir and the resumption of diplomatic relations.” The Kashmir
dispute is yet to be settled finally.

Read: Distorting Shimla

It bears mention that Kashmiris universally accepted leader Shaikh

Muhammad Abdullah criticised both countries India and Pakistan for
discussing a solution in the Kashmir dispute behind the back of Kashmir’s
representatives. New Delhi has consistently cited the Shimla Accord content
that it wipes out the past and renders Kashmir a dead issue.

The actual ground position today was well described by The Economist’s New
Delhi correspondent in a hair-raising report in a recent issue. He reported:
“Roughly half a million India troops have become a permanent presence. Tens
of thousands of Kashmiris have been killed in the process. Millions more are
angry about living in what has come to resemble occupied territory.”

This has ever been the Achilles heel — the rejection of the people to which
successive governments of India have shut their eyes. The latest in the line is
the voluble confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his Gujarat days,
Amit Shah. Modi appointed him the ruling party the BJP’s president by a
personal fiat no sooner he became prime minister.

In his second innings as prime minister, Modi made him union home minister.
He was an ally in the destruction of Kashmir’s autonomy and even its territorial
integrity on Aug 5, 2019.

Read: Why Kashmir matters

As The Economist tersely summed up “Narendra Modi, pushed two bills

through parliament that cleave the state in two and scrapped what autonomy it
still enjoyed. Under the new regime, Kashmir is ruled directly from Delhi, the
national capital. The reorganisation promised to replace corrupt politicians, to
attract investment and prosperity and to bring lasting peace.

“Two years on, none of these aims has been realised. No new political class has
been mustered to represent the Kashmiri people at home or in Delhi;
unemployment, at 21 [per cent] is the highest in India; and killings of all kinds
rattle Srinagar….”

This did not inhibit Amit Shah when he descended on the Kashmir Valley. On
Oct 25, on the conclusion of his tour, he boasted, “Dr Farooq Sahib has
suggested that I talk to Pakistan. If I will talk, I will talk only to the people of
J&K and its youth, no one else.”

This is the latest in a series of fiats in the last 50 years or so — in effect he is

saying that there is nothing about which to talk to Pakistanis ie it is not a party
to the Kashmir dispute.

It was a BJP government which set up a backchannel on Kashmir in 1999. In

2001, it was this very government which held summit talks with president
Pervez Musharraf at Agra. In 2005-2006, president Musharraf and prime
minister Manmohan Singh came within inches of a settlement of Kashmir.
Small men on all three sides sabotaged it. Kashmiri separatists misled by Shah
Geelani opposed it tooth and nail. Manmohan Singh had to battle within his
cabinet and party. And in Pakistan some retired diplomats whipped up
opposition.

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2021

15

Read more

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‫ﮔﺮدے ﻓﯿﻞ ﮨﻮﻧﮯ ﮐﯽ ﻋﻼﻣﺎت ﺳﮯ واﻗﻒ ﮨﯿﮟ؟‬ ‫ﮐﯿﺎ ﺳﻌﻮدی ﭘﯿﮑﺞ ﭘﺎﮐﺴﺘﺎن ﮐﻮ اﻣﺮﯾﮑﯽ ﮐﯿﻤﭗ ﻣﯿﮟ ﻟﮯ ﺟﺎ رﮨﺎ‬ ‫وﺳﻄﯽ ﮐﮯ‬
ٰ ‫ ﺑﮭﺎرﺗﯽ و ﻣﺸﺮق‬،‫ ﭘﺎﮐﺴﺘﺎﻧﯽ‬:‫ﻓﻠﻢ ﻓﯿﺌﺮ ﻣﮉل اﯾﺴﭧ‬
‫ﮨﮯ؟‬ ‫اداﮐﺎروں ﮐﮯ اﯾﮏ ﺳﺎﺗﮭ ﺟﻠﻮے‬

Comments (15)
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Fastrack
about 5 hours ago

The awaiter "magic wand" of 370 move and inhabiting outsiders in Occ J&K has been tried. Has
backfired.

Reply Recommend 0

Fastrack
about 5 hours ago

The only option left with the fascist occupiers of Kashmiris native land is to kill each every native
Kashmiri.
Failure is their destiny.

Reply Recommend 0

TimeToMovveOn
about 5 hours ago

Why these Kashmir apologetics do not mention that the first act of the Kashmir resolution is Pakistan
withdrawing its troops from AJK and GB. In fact, Pakistan does not even ack that GB is part of the
princely state of J&K. Enough of this one sided narrative. Kashmir is never going to Pakistan. Ever.

Reply Recommend 6

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