Daily Times

For a world that has generally shown apathy towards the plight of Kashmiris, the recent uprising was a change from that norm, even if a very little one, as there was some attention given to it by a few foreign media houses. Moreover, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also stressed on the need for “an independent, impartial international mission” in both Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. However, Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts at highlighting the Kashmir dispute were not effective enough, and all that they achieved was worsen relations with India. This is not to internalise the blame for what essentially was Indian belligerence and its pandering to the jingoistic, warmongering sentiment within it. On the whole, Indian refusal to acknowledge Kashmir as a talking point between the two countries and its open calls for ‘isolating’ Pakistan pushed relations to a point from where rescuing them has become unlikely in the short run.

It is no secret that while the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly received praise back home it was met with lacklustre response by the international body of nations to whom it was addressed to. Moreover, the prime minister’s envoys who were sent to the capitals of the world to highlight Pakistan’s case of Indian atrocities in Kashmir largely came back with the same response: the perception in the international community of Pakistan’s role in providing safe haven to terrorists with the names of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohamed leader Masood Azhar frequently coming up. This perception has militated against any action on the part of the international community on calls by Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute. It makes Pakistan’s case for the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people appear hollow, and even insincere.

Amidst all of this, the Kashmiri struggle in the eyes of international community becomes more about the ‘rivalry’ between Pakistan and India than the plight of the Kashmiris themselves. As the world is made audience to the point-scoring between Pakistan and India, and the resulting chest-thumping jingoism on both sides, Kashmiris in the Indian-occupied Kashmir continue to suffer their fate of perpetual oppression. It is for humanitarian reasons that the Kashmir dispute must be viewed from the lens of the Kashmiri struggle itself, and in order to do this Pakistan would have to extend diplomatic support to it without appearing as a country that is only there to make political capital out of the situation.

Furthermore, Pakistan’s foreign policy has to become more holistic, and given substance by farsighted calculations. It is essential for Pakistan to have good relations with its neighbours and for that to happen it would have to address their concerns. At present relations with India are glaringly bad, with Afghanistan being in the same camp. As far as Iran is concerned there is great room for improvement as Pakistan has struggled to effectively manoeuvre itself through the Saudi-Iran rivalry as well as Indian closeness to Iran following the two countries deal over the Iranian port of Chabahar. When it comes to Afghanistan and India, improving relations with them would make the neighbourhood less ‘hostile’ and go a long way in eliminating terrorism, as only through cooperation can this transnational network of terrorists be completely destroyed. With Iran, a great deal can be gained by making Iran a partner in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It is such an interconnected and mutually cooperative neighbourhood that can not only catapult Pakistan on the highway to prosperity, but also even open avenues for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The way forward is simple: Pakistan has to appear strong and morally right if it wants the world to listen to it.*