Anand Kumar
The way Indian parliament decided to unanimously pass the constitutional amendment Bill to resolve the border issue with Bangladesh is appreciable. It sorts out a long-standing issue between India and Bangladesh and helps to streamline the border in certain areas. While resolving border issue with Bangladesh was of great importance, it is equally important to resolve issues related to Kashmir which has given opportunities to our ‘not so friendly’ northern neighbour to create problems there.
Pakistan has tried to dispute the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. It lays its unfair claim on the territory of the state. In the aftermath of partition Pakistan also managed to illegally occupy a large tract of land of J&K which is known in India as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Interestingly, in last few decades especially since 1990 Pakistan has managed not only to keep the pot boiling in Kashmir but also project it as if the area of J&K with India is the only dispute that remains to be resolved.
Despite the atrocities committed by Pakistan on the population of PoK that area has never been the focus of attention of the international community. Pakistan has managed to transfer population from other areas to PoK. This step of Pakistan along with growing Islamisation of the region has managed to strengthen the hold of Pakistan over it.
On the other hand, in India no body from rest of the country can buy land in Kashmir while Kashmiris can do the same. What is more obnoxious is the law that says that if a Kashmiri girl marries outside Kashmir she loses all the rights conferred upon Kashmiris. But in the case of Kashmiri men it is alright if they bring their wives from anywhere in the world.
Kashmiri Pandits who are the original residents of the valley were driven out in one of the worst ethnic cleansing that has happened in independent India. Recently, when the proposal was made to resettle these hapless people in their own land, some political parties of Kashmir tried to create huge controversy over it, without realizing the fact that it is not easy for these people to resettle even in separate townships given the situation prevailing there. Finally, government had to say that the townships would not be exclusively for Pandits but other communities will also be living in them. While there is nothing wrong in other communities living with Pandits in such townships what is interesting is that this issue brought separatists who wave Pakistani flags now with more regularity along with some mainstream parties on the street. A statement also came from Pakistan which said that resettling of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley would change the demography. This comment is not only a blatant interference in the internal affairs of India but it also shows the larger designs of Pakistan in the valley.
The non – assertion of India in Kashmir has allowed other interested parties to create trouble there. China is issuing stapled visa to people from Jammu and Kashmir who visit that country. It has started huge infrastructure projects in PoK. It is trying to construct all weather roads and rail links through the region that would connect Gwader port with Xinjiang province of China. China-Pakistan economic corridor was the major focus of Xi-Jinping’s visit to Pakistan. The construction of the corridor would not only strengthen Pakistan’s hold over the territory of PoK it would also bring an external power China in the region. China with so many stakes in PoK would then like to work for the status quo. India on the other hand instead of trying to strengthen its claim over PoK which can get the country important access to Central Asia is contemplating building port at Chabahar. While Chabahar is a good alternative route to central Asia, India should not give up exploring the possibility of link to central Asia through PoK.
It is true that under the present circumstances strengthening claim over PoK is not going to be easy, but what is worrisome is that we are not even making any effort to do so. By continuously supporting terror activities in the valley and by hobnobbing with the separatists Pakistan in last few decades has managed to create a situation where only the Indian part of Kashmir appears disputed. There is no doubt that a major reason behind it is article 370 which imposes many restrictions. The way politics of India and Kashmir has evolved after India’s independence it’s quite clear that if Kashmir has to be stabilized and mainstreamed like every other part of India the article 370 has to go. It has been argued in the past that only this section links Kashmir with India, but then there is also possibility of constitutional change. No doubt, this possibility looks under the present political reality difficult. It also however raises an important question that why India and its politicians can’t come together and display the same unanimity which they have shown in the case of resolution of border dispute with Bangladesh.
(The author is Associate Fellow Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses)
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