Several wars on Kashmir between India and Pakistan, Kashmiris' ongoing struggle against illegal Indian occupation and the resultant Indian troops' state terrorism are the factors that illustrate that neither the Kashmir dispute can be resolved through wars nor the Kashmiris' can be subdued through oppression. For that matter, Pak-India talks are going on for more than three years, the longest ever spell of dialogue between these two countries. As a matter of fact, we have to take a realistic look at the entire situation and spell out what needs to be done in this regard.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's 4-point formula on Kashmir has generated a dynamic discourse among people of all shades of life in Indian occupied Kashmir. The proposals have been welcomed not only at the international level but also among the pro-liberation Kashmiri circles as well as those who so far had been opposing Kashmiris' right to self-determination while taking sides with the Indian stance.
The objectivity of the President Musharraf's proposals and their wide-spread acceptance have resulted in mounting pressure on India to respond positively to these proposals, which include the identification of the areas of Jammu and Kashmir, their demilitarization, self-governance and joint-supervision. The overwhelming majority of the Kashmiri leadership has categorically stated that the proposal will indeed allay the agonies of Kashmiris by creating an atmosphere of lasting peace and pave the way for Kashmiris to decide their own future.
The sad part of the saga is that India still remains intransigent and even after the proposals, statements like “Kashmir is integral part of India” by different spokespersons have been emanating from New Delhi. India is still reluctant to show any positive and flexible approach towards resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with Kashmiris' aspirations.
India has also failed to bring a radical change in the ground situation in occupied Kashmir. The situation of human rights violations is as grim as it was before the dialogue process that started in January 2004 when Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Pakistan. Thousands of people including many women and children and several in custody have been killed during this period. People of occupied Kashmir did not witness any let up in Indian troops' acts of state terrorism. Obviously, the dialogue process cannot move forward in tandem with this situation.
The draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA), Public Safety Act (PSA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) enforced in Indian occupied Kashmir have given full impunity to the occupying forces to kill Kashmiris and destroy their properties. Under the shield of these laws, Indian troops are accountable to none for killing, torturing or keeping in custody any Kashmiri civilian.
The political leaders are not even allowed to carry on their political activities in the second week of May when the draconian PSA was slapped on four Hurriyat leaders after they were arrested in Srinagar on their way to a local hotel to address a press conference. Under this act, a person can be detained for a period of two years without producing him in a court of law. India in order to show seriousness needs to repeal the black laws, release all the political detainees and disclose the whereabouts of thousands of disappeared Kashmiris.
India has tried for many times to hoodwink the international community by making false shows of its seriousness. The so-called roundtable conferences are one of those tricks. APHC leaders have boycotted such conferences convened by Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh on the valid ground that the agenda items of the conferences were related to the internal problems of the occupied territory and had nothing to do with the basic conflict. These leaders contend that they are ready to any talks but the exercise should be result-oriented to resolve the dispute once and for all.
One of the developments at the international level regarding Kashmir is about the report prepared by European member of Parliament, Emma Nicholson. The initial report was totally objectionable as it carried biased and lopsided observations and was marked by Pakistan-bashing. It had even ignored mentioning the basic cause of the conflict in Kashmir i.e. their universally recognized right to self-determination of the Kashmiris that has constantly been denied to them for over six decades now.
While preparing her report, Nicholson had evaded meetings with the APHC leaders during her visit to IOK. Following strenuous efforts by Pakistani and Kashmiri circles in Europe and the West, the Foreign Affairs Committee of European Parliament (EP) passed several amendments to the report making it balanced to a great extent. These amendments incorporated Kashmiris' right to self-determination, relevant UN resolutions and human rights violations by Indian troops, which were ignored earlier. The report will be put to vote in the EP on 24th of May though efforts are still underway to make it more balanced and objective.
Now, it is very clear as to which path leads to a lasting resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which can guarantee permanent peace, progress and prosperity to the South Asian region. Changing the ground situation of the occupied territory is the only threshold to the path of resolving the Kashmir dispute and to rescue over ten million Kashmiris from the den of misery and destruction and vandalism of over half million Indian troops.
*The writer is a freelance columnist and pursuing doctorate from National University of Modern Languages.