(The Pakistani View) By Khalid Akhtar
OVER the years the Kashmir issue has gradually receded into the background. Pakistani leaders now only make a casual reference to it and that too on selective occasions such as in their annual address at the UN General Assembly or in policy statements before Parliament or Shoora at home. The pattern of Junejo’s speech to the General Assembly was no different. Most of his time was consumed by the Afghan crisis, while the Kashmir issue, as has been the case in the last few years, got less than the secondary position in the P.M.’s otherwise comprehensive and well balanced speech.
SETBACKS
The setbacks for Pakistan on the Kashmir front have been disconcerting to say the least and India’s gains ‘equally startling. The UN resolutions calling on India to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir have been lost in the dustbin of the world body. Nobody now talks about the plebiscite and even Pakistan’s closest friends and allies avoid taking a clear position on the issue. India has clearly been on the offensive, claiming Kashmir as its integral part and repeatedly asking Pakistan to vacate Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas.
What a transformation in the situation! What is more, the world community has hardly taken any notice of India’s Machiavellian ‘twist of historical facts and realities. The Indian claim is absurd but what we should not forget is that Delhi, swayed by hegemonic aspirations, can become dangerously serious in advocating its new line on Kashmir Sadly. India will always find some support at the international level to promote its designs in Kashmir, This is primarily due to the reason that Pakistan has all along looked vulnerable on the international diplomatic front, and at times has been isolated at crucial moments. How Pakistan was turned into a diplomatic outcast during the time of the East Pakistan crisis, is now a matter of history.
There are few precedents in modern-history where a country has suffered a comparable diplomatic reversal that Pakistan has on the Kashmir front. No single movement can be held responsible for this, Disrupted repeatedly by frequent military coups. The political proves in the country has_ remained Weak and fragile, a State of affairs, that) bus thirdly, been conducive tor, at the home and foreign fronts.
OBJECT LESSON
There have been two types of regimes in the country: the totalitarian governments resulting from military takeovers and occasional civilian democratic order. The former for most of the time have remained busy in evolving a mechanism to prolong their rule and in the process have inevitably compromised on vital foreign policy issues, (Ayub Khan’s surrender at TAshkent is a glaring evidence of this painful reality). And the few civilian governments that have ‘emerged on the scene have remained too insecure and unstable to initiate bold foreign policy measures. (Z.A. Bhutto’s regime was the sole exception. A positive approach remained the hallmark of his foreign policy). A wily neigh our like India could not have been expected not
To benefit from Pakistan’s weaknesses and it has made the most of the opportunities that have come its way.
Comparisons are a futile exercise and often misleading. But what China has been able to achieve on the Hong Kong and Taiwan fronts should serve as an ‘object lesson to Pakistan. China was probably pitted against heavier odds in its quest for reunification with Taiwan than Pakistan had been visa is India over the Kashmir issue, What eventually gave China an edge was its internal stability and skillful handling of foreign affairs, America has already abandoned its two China policy, until now the main stumbling block towards reunification, ‘The merger of two Chinas remains far off but the important move has been set on a definite direction and Beijing can wait for the desired results
Pakistan very nearly lost Kashmir during the 197071 crisis, it goes to the credit of Z.A. Bhutto that he was able to salvage much for Pakistan through resolute and skillful diplomatic maneuvering in Shimla. (It is doubted that under the circumstances Z.A. Bhutto could. have secured a better deal for Pakistan). The Shimla accord has been one of the legacies of the late Premier that have Survived him. The accord may notates all but none can dispute or deny that it has managed (6 keep alive the Kashmir issue, Both President Zia and Premier Junejo vouch that they have raised the Kashmir issue Whenever they have found the occasion to do so, but unfortunately! their doing so has not formed as part of any planed> strategy to regain what has been lost at the Kashmir front.
TACTICAL MOVE
More often they have done so to pacify the popular opinion at home and at times to embarrass India diplomatically. On all such ‘occasions India has acted promptly, summoned the Pakistan Ambassador or Charge Affaires to the Foreign Office in Delhi and conveyed “big brother’s” displeasure ‘over Pakistan’s reference to what it calls the integral part of India. Significantly the Foreign Office in Islamabad has never protested to India for laying claim to a territory which according to UN resolutions and the Shimla accord is a disputed area and where Delhi has remained committed to holding a plebiscite. In contrast to Pakistan’s ‘halfhearted and haphazard approach, India has a definite strategy on Kashmir and it has gone on to implement it.
Pakistan will need tremendous efforts to salvage its position on the Kashmir front. (What has been lost may not be regained but what has been left can still be saved. In the first place Pakistan must setts house in order. The country has paid heavily for the frequent and lengthy rule by military regimes.
Vicious circle must end now. The nation’s energies, instead of being depleted in fruitless controversies over equally irrelevant issues such as nonparty polls and Eighth Amendment, should be channelized for some productive ‘purposes. We don’t need to introduce innovation in accepted democratic orders, If Pakistan needs innovations, and it is on the external front win battles on vital issues.
Secondly, it is the Kashmiris and not Pakistan who should beat the vanguard of the liberation struggle, the freedom movements have inevitably found their all the world over, The Kashmiris ‘movement will not remain without friends catcher. The existing pattern wherein Pakistan has remained at the forefront and the Kashmiris.in the background has ‘not produced the desired results. Instead it has annoyed the more enthusiastic Kashmiris and prompted them to indulge in desperate acts (Qayyum Butt episode is a ‘clear example of this), at the same time it has discouraged Kashmiris in general {rom taking part in the Liberation striate.
Finally the role of the Kashmir Affairs Ministry must be reviewed and reassessed. Manned and dominated by bureaucrats, the Ministry has found fiscal fit case when a technocrat or bureaucrat has been at the helm of affairs in Muzaffabad. But things have not been the same when politicians have occupied the seat of authority there. The AK politicians are bitter about the way the Kashmir Affairs Ministry has acted and behaved.
Some Kashmiri leaders have even accused it of indulging in “divide and rule” tactics; In any case it is not a body fit enough to take care of Kashmir affairs. A ‘more competent cell is needed to handle the Kashmir sector. The Kashmir Council, which is represented among others by the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and the State, is better equipped to oversee and supervise Kashmir affairs.
DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE
Whether Pakistan can launch a rearguard diplomatic offensive on the Kashmir front remains to be seen. There was a time when Pakistan enjoyed massive international support on the issue and this was repeatedly expressed in UN resolutions. But the Pakistan’s internal problems put the country off balance and it could not drive home the advantage. Pakistan is today facing more or less a similar situation on the other side of the border. Islamabad at the moment is enjoying overwhelming support on the Afghan issue. But it is always advisable to go for a solution of a given problem at the right time, this is the lesson that Pakistan should have learnt from its ‘experience on the Kashmir front.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1987
