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A Gallup Outlook opinion poll in Pakistan reveals that there is no solution to Indo-Pakistan hostility unless the Kashmir issue is resolved to the satisfaction of Pakistan. Seventy nine per cent of Pakistanis feel no other option is acceptable to them; and 54 per cent of Pakistanis consider India as their enemy. Forty seven per cent consider Indian Prime Minister’s recent peace initiative as a "Gimmick". A peace formula brokered by the USA is acceptable to 62 per cent of the population; and 69 per cent are unwilling to accept the LoC as the International border between the two countries.
In view of such a hardened posture the peaceniks comprising members of parliament and media who recently visited Pakistan should be disappointed. For over five decades Pakistanis had been taught to consider Kashmir as the territory India had occupied by force; and as a Muslim majority state, the state should have been an integral part of Pakistan. Moreover, the Kashmir issue is a staple diet whether it is a democratic dispensation or military dictatorship in Pakistan. The talk of the rights of Kashmiris by Pakistan is a big joke when such rights are denied to people in Pakistan. It is indeed much easier to seal a hole in a baby’s heart, a la Noor Fatima, than to "liberate the future from the past". If Pakistani rulers want American intervention in Kashmir, they should know what is happening in Iraq.
History is witness to the fact that to a large extent the Western world is responsible for the plight that Pakistan today finds itself in. Right from Independence, Pakistan was pampered, both politically and militarily, due to a subtle US strategy to make Kashmir a Cold War issue so as to forge a ring around the erstwhile USSR as a policy of containment.
To a large extent, the "Kashmir problem" has been exacerbated by the open partisanship of the West towards Pakistan within and outside the UN. Unfortunately, Pakistan has all along played into the designs of thrusting an ideological wedge in the psyche of the people of the subcontinent. Fifty-six years ago, a populace exploited by the invaders and plagued by poverty was forced to choose an independent albeit mutilated homeland for the fear of communal violence, which ultimately brought into existence two nations, which have everything common to each other except their name. The hostility engendered by Partition has been aggravated by active hate provoking propaganda and inherited poverty, making a rapprochement all the more difficult.
With the end of the Cold War, and Pakistan now having been reduced to a pawn for serving America’s strategic interest, how do we ignore that Kashmir, being strategically important for access through land to China and Central Asia, will be eyed by the US? Who knows by withdrawing our claim over the occupied portion of Kashmir as a solution being pushed forward by the US, we are stepping into a big trap? How can we deny the fact that in our eagerness to be on high moral ground we have bundled the Kashmir issue politically, diplomatically and militarily not once but several times and can hardly repeat the same blunders? J&K’s accession to India is as irrevocable as the accession of any other princely state like Patiala, Cochin, Mysore, etc.
We must understand that the slight American tilt towards India is more tactical and expedient in accordance with its foreign policy dictated by self- interest. Sine in today’s unilateral world what is good for the US is not appropriate for India, can we truly allow a benefactor who feigns to be a honest broker to dictate us? Therefore, Mr. Vajpayee should keep in mind that any compromise on the basic complexion of J&K and its territorial limit as it existed in 1947, would cast aspersion on our own existence. He must insulate himself from American self-interest so that both the neighbours can move towards lasting peace.
Despite a Muslim majority, the people of J&K had closely identified themselves with the Indian National Movement. Even during the subsequent wars with Pakistan, the local population threw in their lot with the Indian forces and provided them with all possible help. After years of militancy, the Kashmiris are today tiered of bloodshed. Therefore, the Prime Minister must concentrate on discussing the occupied portion while talking to Pakistan. He should make efforts to make the Pakistani leadership realise that in the altered world scenario they could suffer US wrath any time just like Iraq. And who knows the consequences for agreeing to be another pawn in America’s diplomatic armoury might be a devastated Pakistan? Mr. Vajpayee should carry with him only one message, in the words of Richard Bach: "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each others life. The miracle is this the more we share the more we have."
For the last 56-years India has
been nurturing a dream–where the people of the Valley and elsewhere sleep
in the warmth of serenity. But this dream should not be fulfilled at the
expense of our sovereignty and territorial integrity. INAV
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