Daily Times

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, has called Kashmir a “flashpoint” in tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, saying the two countries should not only discuss their decades-old dispute but also negotiate nuclear confidence-building measures.

“I think that, realistically speaking, we should have talks not only on the future of Jammu and Kashmir and the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with international law and the U.N. Security Council, but we should also have nuclear confidence-building talks, so that we establish reliable communication channels, ” he told NEWSWEEK, a weekly American weekly magazine.

“Kashmir is a flashpoint,” the Pakistani envoy said. “And India thinks that it has taken care of it. But Kashmiris don’t think that, and Pakistanis don’t think that.”

Newsweek correspondent Tom O’Connor, who interviewed the ambassador amid Israeli war on Gaza, wrote that the presence of weapons of mass destruction on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) across Jammu & Kashmir adds another dimension to the conflict, and cited Masood Khan arguing that it needed to be addressed by Islamabad and New Delhi to avoid a major crisis, intended or otherwise.

“India and Pakistan should have some sense of where we are, what our capabilities are, what our intentions are, as a matter of fact, and so that our entire approach to the region is not accident-prone,” he added. “And as two responsible nuclear weapons states, we must resolve outstanding disputes in Kashmir as well.”

With India-Pakistan ties remaining virtually frozen, Newsweek pointed out that Pakistani officials have often lamented what they view as a lack of international attention being paid to the issue of Kashmir, where New Delhi carried out a mass crackdown since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in August 2019.

“We would say that attention from Kashmir is moving away because of Ukraine or the preoccupation of the Western world with China as a competitor, as a challenger to the existing order, and so on,” Masood Khan said. “Now, in addition to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific politics, you have the Middle East.”

“So, Kashmir is no more on the radar screen of the international community, and yet the oppression continues there,” he added. “So, I’ve always said this is a blind spot, and this is very dangerous, this is very perilous for the international community because the Kashmiris’ freedoms are as sacrosanct as the freedoms of any peoples in any part of the world.”

Pakistani officials have also often drawn connections between the Kashmir dispute and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, owing to some common historical roots, it was pointed out.

Masood Khan too referenced these commonalities, but also the “dissimilarity” as well, noting particularly how Palestinians, despite their ongoing struggle for self-determination, have garnered global support and even observer status at the United Nations as well as statehood recognition from the majority of U.N. member states.

“Kashmir used to enjoy that kind of support, but it is no more,” the Pakistani envoy said. “Because of that, I remain more worried, more concerned about Kashmir.”

While dialogue remains stalled with India, the report said Pakistan has engaged in ongoing talks with Taliban-led Afghanistan in hopes of ushering in a sense of security and stability for the region. But the ambassador noted, “For the rest of the world, the war on terror has come to an end, not for Pakistan.”

“(Masood) Khan also saw an opportunity, however, at the end of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, which deeply complicated the relationship between Islamabad and Washington. Now, he hoped to continue to build more substantive ties between the two nations, based not only on security but also in various other fields such as investment, education and climate change,” according to correspondent O’Connor.

“This comes as concerns remain in Pakistan over the increasingly robust relations developing between the U.S. and India. Khan said Pakistan was willing to put aside these uncertainties, however, just as he hoped to assuage Washington’s concerns over the strategic partnership forged between Islamabad and Beijing.”

The ambassador said, “At least, this is our endeavour, that India’s close ties with the United States should not negatively impact our relations with the United States, And similarly, we’ve been assuring Americans here that our relations with China are not at the expense of the United States.”

As for the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and India, Masood Khan emphasized that he felt only engagement could overcome their deep-rooted dispute and the risks associated with it.

“Where I am coming from is not jingoism, it’s not some anti-India rhetoric,” the ambassador said. “What I’m trying to say here is that we have a problem between India and Pakistan that involves fate, the destiny of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”

“As two civilized neighbours as two civilized nations, we should come to the negotiating table and try to resolve this issue through dialogue, through diplomacy, through multilateral diplomacy, bilaterally or through third-party mediation or some good-faith mediation,” he added. “That’s what ought to be done.”