THE media in Pakistan has asked that country to determinedly support Kashmir’s liberation struggle which has come into focus with the kidnapping of the daughter of India’s Home Minster, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
In a rare departure from the general thrust of Press opinion, possibly the sole exception, The Frontier Post has cautioned Pakistan that “it is wrong to indoctrinate people to fight when issues need peaceful resolution.”
A Pakistan Times editorial says: “the kidnapping of the Home Minister’s daughter, worrying as it was, has introduced. A new tactic into the simmering conflict and it will be idle not to allow for the possibility of its becoming a stock instrument as the pressure mounts whenever it mounts … The speciousness of it fools no one; least of all the Kashmiris themselves who now look likely to opt for desperate ways to give expressions to the way they feel.
“If (VP Singh) can do no more than lump Punjab and Kashmir together and set up a ministerial committee to examine both the issues on similar patterns then he is obviously making a false start. Far from resolving the issue he may see it get even worse during his time. ‘The approach will be as insincere as his country’s quarrelling with Pakistan is absurd every time the latter reminds the world of its pledge to the people of Kashmir. Having quieted the Kashmiris in its own way, it believes that all it now needs is to somehow silence Pakistan over that issue. No presence can last forever. Must it then keep playing the charade until an intifada envelops the place? VP Singh should do some honest thinking on this issue as well. He owes it to his own people.” The Frontier Post editorial on the other hand warns that “the nationalists of the Kashmir Liberation Front have done no service to their cause by kidnapping the daughter of their brother Muslim Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. In the 20th century; a disputed territory is a mirage for the nations, for which they thirst for years, at times decades shed futile blood and tears, but never possess. The recent history of the world proves it. Iran and Iraq have fought a decade long war over Shattal Arab. Argentina has wrecked itself fighting a war over the Falklands with Britain. Ireland has been fighting Britain for Northern Ireland. Afghanistan has been fighting with us on Pakhtunistab. No one has been able to get the territory but politicians and dictators have used these deadlocked disputes to perpetuate themselves in power. It is wrong to indoctrinate people to fight when issues need peaceful resolution.” For the rest the dominant theme is to act tough and confront India. The Nation says: “Two things have emerged clearly from one week of dramatic developments in the Kashmir Valley. There is a virtual uprising against the Indian rule and nothing short of a milmilitary crackdown can cope with the situation. The Kashmiri Muslims struggle for freedom is at cross roads and a historic opportunity awaits them to transform it into the decisive assault for breaking the shackles of Indian bondage,
Their friends in Pakistan, which include the people as well as the government, cannot shy away from their moral and political obligation of expressing solidarity with the heroic battle now being waged in the Kashmir Valley. Instead of letting the present state of benign neglect continue it would be in the fitness of things for the Prime Minister to come out with forthright Kashmir policy.
To reassure the nation those principles will not be sacrificed at the altar of expediency and to send the right signals to our brothers in arms, a categorical policy statement from Islamabad is required.
An edit page article by Mr. Ghani Jafar in The Muslim advises Pakistan that “no options should be foreclosed with reference to the intertwined dynamics of the Sikh and Muslim movements in the areas adjoining Pakistan.”
It is the considered view of Mr. Jafar that “the current stage of Kashmiri Muslims freedom struggle in the Indian occupied territory has acquired dimensions which call for most careful and calculated policy adjustments by Islamabad. In this context, it would be well worth remembering that the undercurrents of insurgency in North West India of today are increasingly forming a joint stream of Sikh secessionism in Punjab and Muslim militancy in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan may soon find itself confronted with a situation which could necessitate the making of an open choice.”
In an earlier editorial The Muslim had said: “It is about time New Delhi woke up to the purely indigenous dynamics of Kashmiri Muslims freedom struggle in its occupied territories. It can only be hoped that New Delhi would learn to be more realistic in the conduct of its policy with Pakistan, instead of unnecessarily vitiating the climate without any valid reason.”
The Nation editorial says: “The message from Srinagar is loud and clear. New Delhi’s writ is no longer operative in the Valley and Dr. Farooq Abdullah has more glamorous pursuits to chase than putting the act of his crumbling administration together. Mr. VP Singh may try to ‘build bridges’ with the Kashmiri Muslims by making goodwill gestures, like his drive to placate the Sikhs, but nothing short of freedom from Indian hegemony will satisfy the people held under bondage for 42 years. The people in the valley have risen in revolt and there can be no two opinions about their ultimate destination.
“It has also been comprehensively brought home as to who calls the shots in Srinagar. However, the irony of the situation is that while the rulers in New Delhi have been forced to admit that there still exists a Kashmir problem the mood in Islamabad reflects a benign attitude of sympathy for a distant cause.”
Article extracted from this publication >> January 12, 1990
