The KASHMIR dispute between Pakistan and India requires to be on,President .Mr.Obama's agenda too,while being on tours !
Yes,it is certainly heartening to view the relentless efforts which .President Obama is taken upon himself by embarking upon a great mission to trot around the Muslim states in particular and the African country's to remedy the pending issues and disputes and evolve solutions for economic development and uplift programs within those regions and as well improve relations between them and the USA.
I sincerely remain hopeful that since he is attending one of the oldest dispute pending in the that region the other tough and long over due settlment of the struggle of the Muslims of Indian held Jammu Kashmir dispute will not escape his agenda too.
It must be kept in mind that The Kashmir dispute is the oldest unresolved international conflict in the world today. Pakistan considers Kashmir as its core political dispute with India. So does the international community, except India.
In 1947, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. During the war, it was India which first took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948. The following year, on 1 January 1949, the UN helped enforce ceasefire between the two countries. The ceasefire line is called the Line of Control. It was an outcome of a mutual consent by India and Pakistan that the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) passed several resolutions in years following the 1947-48 war. The UNSC Resolution of 21 April 1948--one of the principal UN resolutions on Kashmir—stated that “both India and Pakistan desire that the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite”. Subsequent UNSC Resolutions reiterated the same stand. UNCIP Resolutions of 3 August 1948 and 5 January 1949 reinforced UNSC resolutions.
KASHMIR ISSUE IN A NUTSHELL
The current agitation in Indian-Held Kashmir is rooted in the struggle of the people for the exercise of the right of self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom were fired upon by Indian Army and police. Thousands of men, women and children have been killed or wounded.
1. New Delhi's allegation of assistance to the Kashmiri people from the Pakistan side is unfounded. Objective reports in foreign media testify that the Kashmiri agitation is indigenous.
2. Pakistan upholds the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to self-determination in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. These resolutions of 1948 and 1949 provide for the holding of a free and impartial plebiscite for the determination of the future of the state by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. The basic points about the UN resolution are that:
• The complaint relating to Kashmir was initiated by India in the Security Council;
• The Council explicitly and by implications, rejected India's claim that Kashmir is legally Indian territory;
• The resolutions established self-determination as the governing principal for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute. This is the world body's commitment to the people of Kashmir;
• The resolutions endorsed a binding agreement between India and Pakistan reached through the mediation of UNCIP, that a plebiscite would be held, under agreed and specified conditions.
1. The Security Council has rejected the Indian contention that the people of Kashmir have exercised their right of self-determination by participating in the "election" which India has from time to time organized in the Held Kashmir. The 0.2% turn out during the 1989 "elections" was the most recent clear repudiation of the Indian claim.
2. Pakistan continues to adhere to the UN resolutions. These are binding also on India.
3. The Simla Agreement of 2 July 1972, to which Pakistan also continues to adhere, did not alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory:
· Para 6 of the Agreement lists “a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir" as one of the outstanding questions awaiting a settlement.
· Para 4 (ii) talks of a "Line of Control" as distinguished from an international border. Furthermore, it explicitly protects "the recognized position of either side." The recognized position of Pakistan is the one, which is recognized by the United Nations and the World Community in general.
· Article 1(iv) obviously refers to the Kashmir issue when it talks of "the basic issues and causes of conflict which have bedeviled the relations between the two countries for the last 25 years"
Politicians of India and Pakistan need to sit down with commitment and a perfect time period assigned to resolve this issue.All ,sane politicians of the countries involved in this dispute should act wisely!! We have paid extremely heavy price of our mishandling of this core issue. We lost our great amount of wealth in building armies and ammunition stockpiles. We fought wars and but this time it is different scenario for the reason that both the Country's are now Nuclear states with stock pile of nuclear arsenal.In view of the same war isn't and cannot be a wise way to sort the matter out only dialogue is the best and the wisest method of resolving it.
While concluding I must add that resolution of the Kashmir dispute is without any doubt a key to a durable peace in South Asia,at least to the extent of these two neighboring country's,India and Pakistan. It is also a fact that Pakistan remains committed to finding a just settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the people of Indian occupied Kashmir. It should be resolved through sincere dialogue in order to open up vast opportunities for socio-economic development of the region.
It is the people of this region who should come out and pressurize their respective Government to resolve this bleeding issue once and for all. It is our responsibility otherwise our generations would be thrown in trauma and distress for another long and endless period
Moral of the tale: Kashmiris should be allowed to choose their own destiny. Enough blood has been spilled already. India is the belligerent one here to the point of embarrassment. But all belligerent nations have had to eat the humble pie at some point.
Written By Mushtaq Sethi
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