Daily Times

Seventy two years on, the fate of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) is still hanging in balance. We hardly see any significant progress towards the right of self-determination for the natives of the Indian-occupied Kashmir over the decades despite the UN resolutions were passed long back in 1948 and 1949. Repeated dialogues between both sides of Kashmir – India and Pakistan could not break the ice required for the resolution of the dispute that the people of IOK termed a struggle for independence from the Indian occupation, and accession with Pakistan.

I surely believe that the latter part of the Kashmiri people’s aspiration is the only bone of contention that hindering the solution. India had not occupied the Kashmir territory if it has to be part of Pakistan in the latter years. Keeping an army of 700,000 in the IOK for decades is not a joke for India. It has been consuming bulk of national resources that could have been used for eliminating poverty from India and to improve the social sector services. The free-will for Kashmiris would have brought many economic benefits to the region.

I generously accept that I am not an ‘expert’ on the Kashmir dispute but still believe that the conflict is much deeper in the strategic nature than what is seen commonly. Water, tourism and other natural resources of IOK could be the attraction for India and Pakistan. Peaceful living, Muslim solidarity with Pakistan, and joining relatives in what we call Azad Jammu and Kashmir could be the foremost and lifelong aspiration of the Kashmiris living across the Line of Control (LoC).

Peeping into the sequence of incidents happened in the IOK over the decades, it is concluded quite sanely that keeping Kashmir as a ‘living volcano’ is in the best interest of those fuelling the rate-race of armed-conflicts worldwide. It’s a lucrative business for the weapon sellers where the parties on both sides of the conflict get engaged intentionally for meagre benefits in comparison to the human and capital costs.

Same is the case of Kashmir conflict where parties on the both sides shall give peace a chance. Especially India needs to realise and understand it as soon as possible before the UN human rights violation in Kashmir report, released last year on 14 June, becomes a point of international lobbying campaign against it. India can rest assure that it would not be launched and pursued by Pakistan government. Perhaps it does not have the diplomatic capacity to do it but might be reluctantly supporting the international community groups from the Kashmir origin.

Raja Faheen Kiyani, president of the Kashmir Movement (UK) dared to ask Syed Fakhar Imam, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, to have a five-year roadmap for Kashmir conflict if Pakistan seriously wants to contribute something meaningful. The segregated efforts of the parliament of Pakistan, its foreign office and people would remain unfruitful until these initiatives are integrated and synergised to boost the objective. Certainly, the campaigns and movements need strategically integrated lobbying, supported by a rationally sequenced action plan and dynamic teams of statesmen, professionals and strategists if need to have any significant results after sometime.

Syed Fakhar Imam is one of the rare breed of Pakistani politicians who have the agenda-based diplomatic wisdom, historic knowledge on Kashmir dispute and political advocacy skills enriched with the craft of dissemination and negotiations. With such a set of skills and wisdom, we shall assume that he would be able to set a first integrated roadmap to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

It is an opportunity for Syed Fakhar Imam to set a new tune to the right of self-determination for the natives of IOK. Only a multi-stakeholder integrated roadmap would lead to some awakening interventions to defuse the Indian lobby statements on the Kashmir conflict

Ironically, Pakistan could not harness on the first ever 49-page UN report on human rights violations on both sides of Kashmir. It mainly speaks of the atrocities in IOK and some mild violations in the Azad Jummu and Kashmir.

ZeidRa’ad Al Hussein, then the first ever Muslim and 6th UN High Commissioner for Human Rights while releasing the report said: There is an urgent need to address past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir, who for seven decades have suffered a conflict that has claimed or ruined numerous lives.

“The political dimensions of the dispute between India and Pakistan have long been centre-stage, but this is not a conflict frozen in time. It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering. This is why any resolution of the political situation in Kashmir must entail a commitment to end the cycles of violence and ensure accountability for past and current violations and abuses by all parties, and provide redress for victims.”

Zeid also urged the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to consider establishing a commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir. No step forward in this regards since no one pursued and followed the UNHRC.

For the first time someone (Zeid) from the UN called on Indian security forces to exercise maximum restraint, and strictly abide by international standards governing the use of force when dealing with future protests. It is essential the Indian authorities take immediate and effective steps to avoid a repetition of the numerous examples of excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir.

The UN Human Rights Office – which, despite repeated requests to both India and Pakistan over the past two years, was not given unconditional access to either side of the Line of Control – undertook remote monitoring to produce the report, which covered both sides of Kashmir.

The report stated that Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries during July 2016 to March 2018, citing civil society estimates that up to 145 civilians were killed by the security forces with up to 20 other civilians killed by armed groups in the same period. Pellet-firing shotgun was declared as one of the most dangerous weapons used against the Kashmiri protesters. According to official figures, 17 people were killed by shotgun pellets and 6,221 people were injured by the metal pellets between 2016 and March 2017. Civil society organizations believe that many of them have been partially or completely blinded. It also mentioned that 27 women were raped.

The statics mentioned in the UN report were sufficient evidences to take up the case against the Indian carnage in IOK, but no one planned nothing so far to harness on the highly significant report. While planning a five-year roadmap for Kashmir conflict the data compiled by the Kashmir Media Service may also help in highlight the mayhem. It states that from January 1989 till May 2019 the total killings in IOK have reached to 95,383 that left 22,905 widowed and 107,771 children orphaned. It included 7126 custodial Killings while 11,125 women were gang raped or molested, 146,764 civilian were arrested and 109,357 structures were destroyed in the same period.

It is an opportunity for Syed Fakhar Imam to set a new tune to the right of self-determination for the natives of IOK. Only a multi-stakeholder integrated roadmap would lead to some awakening interventions to defuse the Indian lobby statements on the Kashmir conflict. No other solution but the implementation of UN Resolution of 1948 and 1949.

The writer is the Director Devcom-Pakistan, an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach consulting