Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is right that the recent debate about the Kashmir conflict in the United Kingdom’s (UK) House of Commons proves that it is not, according to New Delhi’s position, India’s internal issue. It is no doubt a great success of Islamabad’s diplomatic offensive under the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) administration that a debate was moved in the House by one Sarah Owen from Luton North on 13 January 2021 on the situation in occupied Kashmir. And now that the British parliament has, effectively, put its seal of recognition on the matter it has been globally recognised as a dispute.

The foreign minister has also logically stated that the most prudent step now would be for delegations from the US Congress and UK and EU parliaments to visit the occupied valley and decide for themselves what is really going on there. So far the international community has been reluctant to make India fall in line largely because of the latter’s immense market pull, but now that the Indian economy is collapsing like never before, at least since partition, and there’s no telling how or when it would get back on its feet, this could be an opportune moment for a change of heart in countries that can help make a difference.

The main success of PTI’s diplomatic strategy is making the world realise that it is because of India that the dispute is stuck in an endless cycle of accusations, counter-accusations and unwarranted violence. Pakistan has, especially over the last two-and-a-half years, forwarded the sensible argument that it is only through comprehensive talks that the matter has any chance of moving forward. Yet that is impossible because India refuses to accept any international arbitration and also rules out talking about the matter with Pakistan. So it is India, not Pakistan, that is responsible for this status quo the cost of which has to be paid every day with innocent Kashmiri blood. Hopefully the British parliament has just got the ball rolling on what will become an avalanche of international proportions that India is unable to resist. And the whole world will see the truth in Pakistan’s argument that the Kashmiri people must be liberated from this occupation of tyranny. *