Daily Times

BJP, the political face of Hindu terrorist organization RSS has unlawfully repealed Article 370 from the Constitution of India, which granted special and autonomous status to the Indian-occupied Kashmir. This fanatic move predicted since Modi took the oath as the prime minister of India for the second time. This Indian move is not the violation of Indian constitution but also a clear abuse of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution, which declared Kashmir as a disputed territory. Under the article 370 the disputed territory had enjoyed the decision making rights for all affairs expect defense and foreign relations. The Article “limits Parliament’s powers to make laws to those matters in the Union and Concurrent Lists, in consultation with the state government, as declared by the President, which should correspond with matters specified under the Instrument of Accession.” Along with it Article 35-A kept the demographic structure and the Muslim majority in the state secure and intact.

The reaction on Pakistani side was quite dynamic. A joint parliamentary session was called to discuss the way forward. Government declared the diplomatic emergency to deal with the emerging situation. Foreign Office engaged all the capitals of the friendly states to raise the importance and the sensitivity of the situation. Immediately, Pakistan has snapped diplomatic ties with India and sent Indian high commissioner back to India. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited Beijing and met his Chinese counterpart Mr. Wang Yi. In the meeting China assured Pakistan for the complete support in motion against India at UNSC. FM Qureshi said in press briefing “after the meeting that foreign ministries of both the countries have named a focal person each at the director general level who will be responsible for coordinating “a joint strategy”.

China has firmly played its part to bring this sensitive issue to UNSC. Along with it, being an important power in the region it is the core responsibility of Russia to play its part in resolving Kashmir issue

On the other hand, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China was highly concerned over the current situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir and escalating conflict between India and Pakistan. Similarly, Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the UN said that issue of Jammu and Kashmir is internationally recognized dispute which should be resolved according to the UN Charter. He further added that India’s unilateral step has aggravated the situation in the region. Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing while criticizing Indian government already denoted that Jammu and Kashmir was internationally recognized disputed territory. Talking to journalist, Yao Jing also criticized Indian government for unilaterally revoking the special status of occupied Kashmir.

On 16th of August after 5 decades Kashmir issue is discussed in UNSC with the diplomatic efforts of Pakistan and the assistance of China. On Pakistani side, the meeting of UNSC is declared a diplomatic victory. Especially the permanent representative of Pakistan in United Nations Dr. Maleeha Lodhi said that the voice of innocent people of Indian occupied Kashmir is highlighted “in the chambers of the world’s highest diplomatic forum.” Without the shadow of doubt Kashmir is an international dispute between the two neighboring nuclear powers. Indian oppressive policies are making the dispute more critical not only for Pakistan but also for the entire region. In my opinion more than the western world regional powers must play their role to resolve the dispute for larger regional interests. Particularly, it is the prime responsibility of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to play its significant part in resolving Kashmir issue because Pakistan and India both are the part of SCO and the other regional states including Russia and China which are the founding members of the organization.

SCO is a vital forum and in near future it is going to become a strong economic and security bloc because of infrastructure development under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other bilateral and multilateral security agreements between the member states. Being a significant member of SCO and the key economic power China is an important stakeholder in the geo-economics and geo-strategic landscape of South Asia. And I am not reluctant to say that China has firmly played its part to bring this sensitive issue to UNSC. Along with it, being an important power in the region it is the core responsibility of Russia to play its part in resolving Kashmir issue. And being the permanent member of UNSC, Russia for the first time did not veto the call for meeting on Kashmir and in my opinion it is because of China that Russia did not want to annoy its strategic partner.

Modern day Asia is quite different than past, today’s China is the hub of economic development from which the whole region can be benefited. Secondly, 21st century’s Russia is not the older Soviet state rather it is modern and dynamic Russia and these two powers manifested their rationality in UNSC meeting on Kashmir. Here, it is the clear diplomatic lesson for Pakistan that along with making good ties with other parts of the world, Pakistan must align its strategic interests with those powers which exist in the region and have complete calculation of results of any non-violent and violent conflict like Kashmir which can be highly fatal for regional peace and prosperity.

The writer is IR Analyst based in Islamabad