Daily Times

On May 5, the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore organized a webinar titled “Kashmir in the Age of Detention: What Changes for the Kashmiris Pre and Post-Pandemic ?”. The webinar was graced by some of those professionals who have spent their lives dealing with the Kashmir issue as scholars, diplomats and leaders. All speakers, rather poignantly, enunciated that COVID-19 has added to the trials and tribulations of the Kashmiris, while predicting no reprieve for the beleaguered Kashmiris in the post-COVID-19 world. That said, none of the speakers neither prescribed inaction nor advised to leave the campaign for Kashmir as a bad job. As a matter of fact, all were pretty sanguine due to the advent of new conduits of dissemination, terming them vital tools of space-creation for Kashmir and Kashmiris.

Needless to say, the machinations of the powers that be, coupled with the COVID-19-induced insularity, will push the Kashmir cause farther away from the table and off the radar .While the task to keep the issue alive is a gargantuan one in an inhospitable international landscape, it is certainly not impossible. Regardless of the difficulties involved in keeping the conundrum on the agenda of those that matter, its importance is immense. If anything, it is in times like this that stakeholders in Pakistan can ill-afford to lose momentum, and hence, must engage with multilateral fora, opinion-makers and other organizations.

The question then is this: how do we manoeuvre into open spaces and create new avenues for the Kashmiris and the Kashmir cause? There are a number of ways to go about doing that. Firstly, there is a need for Pakistan to fathom the changing conduct and nature of diplomacy. Gone are the days when traditional diplomacy carried the day. In this digital day and age, Pakistan must embrace and imbibe new processes of engagement. Using new tools of diplomacy will allow Islamabad to engage with multiple audiences. The addition of new linkages and networks in Pakistan’s diplomatic ‘despatch list’ will go a long way in helping it craft public opinion in its favour. It is noteworthy that this point was also made by two panelists of the webinar, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, and Dr.Maleeha Lodhi, two officials who have been part of parleys on the Kashmir conflict at the biggest forum of global diplomacy.

Needless to say, the machinations of the powers that be, coupled with the COVID-19-induced insularity, will push the Kashmir cause farther away from the table and off the radar .While the task to keep the issue alive is a gargantuan one in an inhospitable international landscape, it is certainly not impossible

Thus, the forced entry into the digital world in the wake of COVID-19 is just the tonic that Pakistan needed to press ahead. With conference-hosting platforms like Zoom at its disposal, Pakistan can precipitously expand its outreach throughout the globe. What could be a more propitious time to talk about the lockdown in Kashmir than now when all countries in the comity of nations are feeling the pangs of detentions and isolation? The point that needs to be highlighted is that the COVID-19 doesn’t stifle Pakistan’s diplomatic manoeuvring on Kashmir. It opens up new, uncanny ways of effective communication for Pakistan to exploit. A lackadaisical approach during this pandemic would make things very difficult for Pakistan; talking about Kashmir after a hiatus would be too little, too late.

However, it is an opportune time for others to step up and lead the way. Webinars like the one the University of Lahore organized on May 5 are important in keeping people hooked to and interested in the events in Kashmir. As part of the academic community, the author can say with certitude that, the interest in a webinar is way more than that in regular conferences. Webinars like this transcend boundary, and are free from the usual constrictions. Given that the current government has given greater space to academia after including some of its leading lights in policymaking processes, it can play a significant role in generating just the right kind of discourse on Kashmir.

It is important to state that the nexus between the government and academia needs to catapult to the next level. The onus lies on the government. The academia can only do so much. Unless the government does not believe in the need for complementarity and multi-pronged approaches to policymaking, advantages cannot be exacted from the digital age. The adversary will go quite a few notches up, which will result in the further evisceration of Kashmiris’ autonomy and freedom. By no means can other forms of engagements supplant the formal streams. It is only that an all-element and all-inclusive direction supplements government in the robust conduct of diplomacy in fora across the world.

All these non-kinetic options become all the more important in a region where the use of force could be disastrous. Unfortunately, rather than internalize what Robert Jervis called “The Nuclear Revolution” our eastern neighbour is trying tooth and nail to escape it. While Pakistan must never lower its guard, it must mix caution on the battlefield with aggression on the diplomatic front, that too, smartly and adroitly.

Digital diplomacy and discourse-generation is beset with impediments. A similar webinar on Kashmir, conducted by an Islamabad-based think tank, was infiltrated by Indian hackers. There are two things to learn from this experience. One, cogent analyses on Kashmir are dubbed threatening by India,something that should allow Pakistan and Azad Kashmir to push for more of such events. Two, cybersecurity should be given due focus and attention by Pakistan’s security managers.

Every crisis provides sets of opportunities; COVID-19 has brought with it a plethora of openings. It is about time those are tapped into through a consistent, cohesive and comprehensive policy framework.

Syed Ali Zia Jaffery is a research associate at the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore. Twitter @syedalizia1992