The drama of Pakistani Generals forcing PM Nawaz Sharif to read out their scripted draft before the United Nations General Assembly in its 69th session was fancifully counterproductive. The thin audience was unreceptive to his entreaties that the Assembly revive the moth-eaten Kashmir question. Nobody would be happier than Nawaz Sharif on the debacle. This is how Pakistan’s over- played obsession with Kashmir is contributing to the intensification of divisive culture of that country. The Generals, sensing that their plan misfired, played another hoax but only to make a buffoon of them. A long letter to the UN Secretary General orchestrating the old plaints of “Indian occupation” of Kashmir and supplicating for his intervention to revive bilateral talks with India proved a damp squib. The Secretary General, going by the procedures of the United Nations, turned down the application reiterating that the two countries should resolve their dispute bilaterally in accordance with the stipulations of Shimla Agreement of 1972 and that the UN had no locus standi once two contesting countries had entered into bilateral agreement over resolving their outstanding disputes. It should be noted that two previous Secretary Generals of the UN, namely Boutros Boutros Gali and Kofi Annan, made almost identical statements on Pakistani soil during their visits to Pakistan. From the standpoint of UN Secretary General, Kashmir issue is no more on UN’s agenda after the signing of the agreement.
The real question with which the UN should be concerned, provided it wants to use its legitimate powers and jurisdiction, is that Pakistan is not honouring the Shimla Agreement despite the fact that Pakistani Parliament has endorsed it. Shimla Agreement clearly states that all outstanding issues between the two countries will be resolved through peaceful means. In blatant violation of this clause, Pakistan launched proxy war in 1990 to grab Kashmir and then Kargil attack in 1999 for the same purpose. What sort of Parliament has Pakistan whose resolution is thrown to winds by the army? Mind you, Kargil war came close on the heels of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee to Lahore where he signed the Lahore Declaration with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. That was a sincere peace mission which Vajpayee undertook to find a solution to the elusive Kashmir issue. How then can Pakistan tell the UN Secretary General that she has been making efforts to resolve the issue through peaceful means? Pakistan Generals have made confession that they have created jihadi terrorist organizations as the frontline defence of Pakistan against India. It is this frontline defence outfit of Pakistani army and ISI that is engaged in illegal infiltration into our side of the LoC, unprovoked border firing and other acts of sabotage. This jihadi frontline outfit is the hardcore terrorist group with reach from Kashmir to Kabul and other places on the globe. Pakistani army is nursing the dream that she will wrest Kashmir from India through force of arms and hopes that these jihadi outfits will win her the prized territory. Even after Osama bin Laden was gunned down by the Americans at a place just few kilometres away from Pakistani Army Headquarter in Rawalpindi, Pakistani army and Government continued to deny vehemently that they had any idea where Osama was. And when the act was over, the army continues to state that it never knew Osama was their next door host. In the background of this ground situation, who on earth will believe that Pakistan wants to conduct peaceful dialogue with India to resolve Kashmir issue? Pakistan is the epicentre of world terrorism and there will be no peace in the world as long as the radical terrorist organizations in Pakistan are not uprooted lock, stock and barrel.
Yes, Kashmir issue is there, very much live and demanding a solution. The issue is that more than one third of J&K State of the Indian Union is under illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947, and more than 5000 square kilometers of this occupied territory called Aksaichin has been gifted away by Pakistan to China to win an ally against India. As long as the occupied territory is not taken back by India, Kashmir issue remains intact and any talk with Pakistan has to be only about return of illegal territory to India. Pakistan has begun to feel the suicidal consequences of raking up Kashmir issue in the hope of internationalizing it, and as such, she can do anything in desperation.
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