A recent statement by Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj is a strong-worded rebuke to Pakistani leadership for “masterminding” destabilisation in the Indian-held Kashmir as the valley remains engulfed in the latest episode of lethal violence. Harsh rhetoric marked Swaraj’s statement when she addressed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for voicing his “dream” of merging Kashmir with Pakistan in his speech given on Friday in Muzaffarabad. Pakistan has also been accused by the Indian minister of “exporting dirty money and dangerous terrorists” to advance its “despicable design(s).”
While it predictably does not go down very well with India, Pakistan’s condemnation of the ongoing atrocities against civilian Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian forces holds significant weight. The unrest that has prevailed in the troubled region in the aftermath of the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, a 22-year-old, pro-freedom militant leader has already claimed as many as 45 lives — the number varies in various reports — and more than 3,000 have been injured, some with severe eye injuries, by pellet guns fired during confrontations between the law enforcement agencies and protesters. Furthermore, the entire valley continues to suffer from an abominable siege where a strict curfew, press censorship, and communication blackouts mark everyday lives. Such blatant human rights violations call for a unified response from the world community as well as peacekeeping institutions in support of the Kashmiri civilians in their time of desperation. While India terms the situation in Kashmir as its internal matter, the region’s status of being a disputed state notwithstanding, the apparently apathetic silence of key global players towards the ongoing atrocities in Kashmir is a reality that is not to be brushed aside. As India blames Pakistan for supporting and funding militancy in Kashmir, India’s adamant refusal to accept the need to look at the bigger picture is not merely insensitive, it is also in gross contradiction to its efforts to rebrand itself as the major power in the region and on the world stage. Resolving the Kashmir dispute through a peaceful political solution is a far effective mechanism when compared to the present state of affairs, and attention to the plight of Kashmiris should be the first step in that direction.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, politicking of the current circumstances by its mainstream politicians will only undermine its own stance. Pakistan’s leadership is indeed required by both moral and humanitarian obligations to pursue support for Kashmiri civilians on all international human rights forums. However, raising slogans that sour Pakistan’s already precarious relationship with its neighbour is not a solution that could work in either short or long run. The military establishment in Pakistan has been previously accused, especially during the 1990s, of engineering separatist movements in Kashmir. Pakistan should also refrain from giving the impression that it supports any kind of armed struggle in Kashmir, as no issue on regional or international level has ever truly been resolved through warfare. Kashmir is not to be treated as a chessboard between two hostile neighbours, and the lives and wellbeing of Kashmiris must be the top priority of both Pakistan and India in the context of the issue of Kashmir. There is simply one solution to this festering problem that has not been resolved through wars, a proxy war, and ongoing militancy: a political settlement acceptable to all parties. And for that Pakistan and India must put their egos and hardline stances aside, and figure out a long-term solution for the well being of the entity that suffers without respite: Kashmir. *