Daily Times

In a daring attempt, Pakistan has released a new political map formally declaring all the disputed territories with India to affirm its undisputed claim of ownership. It is a bold and aggressive step that had been taken long before, followed by a strategically suitable action plan to get required global support.

Contrary to Indian claims, all these territories have been part of Pakistan’s map ever since the dispute erupted after the Indian forces occupied two-third of Jummu and Kashmir in the armless infancy of Pakistan. Now, Pakistan only affirmed its principled position on self-determination for Kashmiris according to the UN Resolutions dusting in the shelves. While India has termed it a ‘political absurdity’, I believe this move would ring the high alert alarm on the multilateral and global forums. If priority is not attached to the Kashmir issue now, the international community would have to regret for ages.

Undoubtedly, the new political map has strengthened Pakistan’s claim over all parts of the erstwhile territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has now extended its international border eastwards along the border between Indian Occupied Jummu and Kashmir (IOJK) and India. It leaves the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as undefined territory subject to the settlement of the Kashmir dispute under UN resolutions. It formally extends the LOC to Karakoram Pass as per our stand under the Karachi Agreement and WB is shown to demonstrate territory where India is illegally occupying territory.

In the new political map, Pakistan has also maintained its principled position on Sir Creek according to Sindh Government agreement with the State of Kutch in 1914 demarcating the boundary on the Eastern Bank of the Sir Creek securing our claim on all the waters of the Creek and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). An Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a concept adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982), whereby a coastal State assumes jurisdiction over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in its adjacent section of the continental shelf, taken to be a band extending 200 nautical miles.

Pakistan has formally shown the boundary between Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jummu and Kashmir leaving their eastern borders open, which will be finalized on the settlement of the Kashmir dispute under the UN resolutions. The new map also reinforced Pakistan’s claim on Junagadh and Manavadar. Both territories were illegally occupied by India.

Fine, it’s done. A bold step is taken after a long time. But what next? What reaction Pakistan could expect from the world as individual countries? How do the UNSC members take it? If Pakistan has the capacity to get sufficient support in the UNSC? Most importantly, what would be Pakistan’s strategic plan to translate the new political map into a reality on ground? And even, if Pakistan has the resources, skills and capacity to do it? These are vital questions that need clarity sooner than later.

Guts to develop a cluster of global community on the Kashmir issue and consistently engaging them on is a long term commitment. Who will be ensuring a dynamic and vigorous cluster development of the global community in Pakistan’s politically volatile environment and the engagement of state institutions in it?

Strategic depth of the planning; engagement of right stakeholders; wider, consistent and principled communication; reaching out to global leaders and influencers could be some of the urgent action points for Pakistan

The first challenge has already emerged on the global scene and that is the Indian claim that “Pakistan’s issuance of a new map, which includes much of Kashmir and Junagadh, ……… [and it is] ….. For the first time, a Pakistani map includes Gilgit-Baltistan as part of ‘Kashmir’, something that India has been claiming since the beginning of the dispute. That’s peculiar, to say the least, and may just mean an opportunity for India if played right.”

Secondly, Pakistan needs to review if it would be in its best interest to attach the strategic importance of the Kashmir dispute to the strategic interests of China in the region. The Indian media is quoting from a recent interview of veteran Pakistani politician and former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri saying, “[the] ‘reckless statements’ by India on reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as the reason for Chinese aggravation at Ladakh. The possibility that Pakistan has Beijing’s blessings in producing the map is, therefore, entirely likely, especially given similar border claims by Nepal recently. The trick, however, is to turn all these calculations on their head by using this map in negotiation-counters to solidify India’s claim to the whole of Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan.”

Thirdly, Pakistan has to face Indian ‘propaganda’ on the status of Gilgit-Baltistan as well. Ever since it is miscommunicated that Pakistan’s northern parts were not independent states but annexed to Hari Singh’s State of Kashmir. “This area, abutting Afghanistan, China, and then-Soviet Union, was strategic enough for the British to become part of the ‘Great Game’. The newly formed Pakistan was quick to realise this, and it secretly signed the Karachi Agreement of 1949, which took a small rump of area to create the ‘Azad Kashmir’, with some 75 per cent of an estimated 78,000 sq km territory innocuously called the ‘Northern Areas’. Decades later, Pakistan renamed it Gilgit-Baltistan. Even today, Gilgit-Baltistan remains in a legal limbo. The Constitution of Pakistan doesn’t identify it as a ‘territory’, and it is also excluded from the section on fundamental rights and definition of the State. That translates into no rights, barring what Islamabad grants the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan from time to time; they carry Pakistani passports but can’t vote in national elections.”

S0, very intense and inclusive homework is ahead. Strategic depth of the planning; engagement of right stakeholders; wider, consistent and principled communication; reaching out to global leaders and influencers could be some of the urgent action points for Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance journalist and Director Devcom-Pakistan, a policy advocacy and outreach think tank in Islamabad. His email: devcom.pakistan@gmail.com Twitter Handle: @EmmayeSyed