Delhi Talks – Last Chance To Resolve Kashmir Dispute Peacefully

The Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh at a news conference on Monday reminded Pakistan that the whole of Jammu and Kashmir was India’s own internal affair, effectively saying that the issue could be discussed but not negotiated. Has somebody still doubt on the outcome of Musharraf’s forthcoming visit to India?

If the core issue, Kashmir Dispute will be not negotiated, then what is left to negotiate for General -prices of Cashmere shawls for his wife?

This shows that invitation to Musharraf is just a tactic to divert the world’s attention away from atrocities carried out by India in Occupied Kashmir. Indian Prime Ministers, starting from Nehru to Vajpayye, have all used similar dilly dallying tactics to prolong their illegal occupation over Kashmir. The invitation is only just the latest trick from Vajpayee’s hat. The last trick, the cease-fire was a false gesture because it did not stop killing of Kashmiris at the hands of brutal Indian security forces. Like the previous cosmetic gestures, this one too will soon be proved empty.

I can’t see Vajpayee offering Musharraf any serious peace initiatives. The real Indian interest is not in resolving the issue, but in getting rid of the pressure that the freedom movement has been exerting on it for the last 11 years and because of which the Indian army and the political elements are in the search of some way out. Instead of attending to the real causes of the problem, the Indian leadership is quite cleverly paving the way for “mock-talks” .

The Kashmir problem is not a land dispute. Nor is it a product of a conflict over land grabbing between the two countries i.e. India and Pakistan. It is about freedom and right of self-determination of some 12 million people whose state has been annexed by a colonial country through brute force. Thus the agenda of the Partition of the subcontinent was sabotaged. India is occupying the state through its brutal use of force. This oppressive power is adamant on establishing the fascist and colonial rule of ‘might is right’ in total negation of its own pledges, the UN resolutions, and the unprecedented movement and sacrifices of the people of Kashmir for freedom. Even in the article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan it is laid down clearly that the future of the state of Jammu & Kashmir is to be determined only through plebiscite and that its relation with Pakistan are to be according to the will of its people.

The governments of Pakistan and India, too, cannot, by themselves or under external pressure, decide on their future. Their duty and that of the UN is only that they provide for the exercise of the right to self-determination through a bipartisan plebiscite under international auspices. It is this right the Kashmiri people are fighting for. When all the doors of political and peaceful struggle were shut on them, they launched an armed struggle to regain their right as warranted in the international law. Based on the principle that the whole world has accepted, on the basis of which the American people had revolted against the British rule. In the form of the Philadelphia Declaration they had announced the principle of the right to self-determination for themselves and for all people of the world by waging an armed struggle. On this was founded the United States of America and after the first world war American President Woodrow Wilson announced this principle for all the nations of the world. The Partition of the subcontinent took place on the same principle and the same would decide the future of Kashmir.

Knowing India’s dilly dallying tactics, it is quite clear that the Kashmir dispute can’t be resolved by negotiations. Come July, and you all will see it. The failure of talks will worsen the situation in valley. All hopes for a peaceful solution will die and the freedom struggle will flare up. Then no body can accuse freedom fighters for militancy. That is the only course left for them and they are fully justified to opt that. How long India will shed the blood of Kashmiris and if they cry or resist then declare them ‘militant’ or ‘terrorist’. In fact Kashmiris are only protecting themselves from State terrorism. It is reported in media that Israeli experts will visit Kashmir to assess the security needs of the troubled state.

If India gets assistance from Israel to suppress the freedom movement, it does not come under cross country terrorism, but if Kashmiris from Pakistani side fight along with their brothers to end the hegemonic occupation, it is termed as a ‘cross border terrorism’. What a shameful dual policy?

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