It is appalling to see how the struggle for self-determination in Kashmir has been reduced to bitter recriminations between Pakistan and India. The Indian army recently accused Pakistan of targeting civilians in Indian-held Kashmir, a charge Pakistan termed as baseless and as ‘unethical’. The Indian army lodged the protest through the hotline recently established between the Director Generals of Military Operations of both countries. The bitter fact is that any initiative that Pakistan and India could take on Kashmir will always be plagued by political exigencies and jingoism of the two nation states where ownership of Kashmir precedes the sanctity of human lives. Little heed is paid to the toll cross border firing takes on the civilian population. Indeed, Pakistan army’s rebuttal to Indian claims predicated on the fact that Pakistan would never target civilian populations in Kashmir because ‘Pakistani civilians live across [the LOC].’ Such statements are at variance with the political aspirations of the Kashmiri people as our official position has been strive for the right of self-determination of Kashmiris. Therefore, highlighting Pakistani nationalism and its ‘right’ over Kashmir serves no purpose other than fueling the Indian response. Pakistan has also implored the United Nations to mediate in the crisis. Although this claim has now been reduced to a mere trope, it is significant because it comes at the heels of a statement by former Chief Minister of Indian-held Kashmir and president of the National Conference Farooq Abdullah which claimed that third parties such as China and the United States should mediate in the Kashmir dispute. Farooq Abdullah’s statement comes as a major surprise and can perhaps initiate discourse in Indian held Kashmir over viewing the resolution of the Kashmir dispute as not simply a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India. It is however, important to realise that the UN has utterly failed to address the plight of the Kashmiri people. If Pakistan is truly sincere in supporting the Kashmiri cause, it must not simply beseech the UN to do more, but must also shun its own designs on the region. We must view the Kashmiri people as Kashmiris, and not simply Pakistanis. That decision is only for the Kashmiris to take. Published in Daily Times, July 24th 2017.