Daily Times

The Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India has presently taken centre stage in the bilateral relations between the two countries. In a series of statements and counter-statements by Pakistani and Indian officials, the two countries have reiterated their position on the issue and retained their intransigent positions. Quite recently, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, said that he is waiting for the day that Kashmir becomes part of Pakistan. Naturally, this struck a nerve with India, and its Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj retorted in her statement, “Kashmir can never become a part of Pakistan.” To this Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz replied that only Kashmiris have the right to decide their fate.

While some of this is, like before, political point scoring by the two states as the Kashmir issue has been made such an important part of their nationalist psyches that these statements satiates their increasingly jingoistic appetites, however, this time things are indeed different. And this is because of the international factor that has rarely been present before in the Kashmir dispute.

The present uprising in Kashmir and the heavy handed treatment of Kashmiris by Indian security agencies prompted Pakistan to extend its diplomatic support to the Kashmiris and urge the international community to pay attention to it. This was particularly necessary because Kashmir is seldom given its due share of consideration by the international community, and the cries of the locals for help does not go beyond the valley. However, as the eyes of the world are now slowly shifting towards India for its excesses in Kashmir, Pakistan decided to increase pressure on India by supporting the movement for “azadi” (freedom) there. It is in this light that recent statements by Pakistan and India need to be viewed. They are an attempt by Pakistan to show the world that the Kashmir issue is fuelled by local grievances for which India is responsible. Meanwhile, India is trying to block all information coming out of Kashmir, and trying to pin the blame of the uprising on fringe groups, which according to India have the support from organisations within Pakistan. However, amidst all of this diplomatic wrangling, the voice of Kashmiris is notably absent, and this is the part that needs to be worked on to give justice to them.

Interestingly, the resolution of the Kashmir dispute lacks an effective blueprint. It is not known what exactly the call for “azadi” is in Kashmir, and how that would be accommodated between the ‘national’ interests of Pakistan and India, both of which are unwilling to compromise. After all, Kashmir hardly is a self-sufficient region that can stand independently without the support of either Pakistan or India. However, one way to view the call for azadi of the Kashmiri people is through the lens of the struggle of Kashmiris themselves. For them, beginning from the Dogra rule, their struggle has not ended, and it will not end unless they are given the rights and the security that free citizens enjoy. Hence, this struggle should not be merely reduced to a territorial struggle between Pakistan and India, but the lives of Kashmiris must be made better through any settlement aimed at resolving the dispute.*