Iqbal Khan
Pakistan has always been seeking bilateral talks with India, at times Ad nauseam, even in the face of humiliating rebuttals from Indian side. Bilateral talks have seldom delivered during recent years. Whenever such talks enters a decisive phase, India walked away from the parleys on flimsy ground.
However, in the post August 05 setting, Pakistan has rightly refused to engage in backdoor diplomacy with India after some powerful countries as well as certain Muslim states sought de-escalation in the brewing tensions between the two neighbours. Pakistan has made it clear that it would only engage with India through quiet or conventional diplomacy after New Delhi was persuaded to meet certain conditions. These conditions include lifting of the curfew and other restrictions imposed in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), a day before India stripped the disputed region of its special status on August 5. When the deputy foreign minister of Saudi Arabia and the foreign minister of UAE travelled together to Islamabad on September 3, they came with a ‘message’ on behalf of their leadership as well as some other powerful countries urging Pakistan to engage in backchannel diplomacy with India.
Experts in international law agree that the UN and the global community at large does appear to have woken up to the long drawn out plight of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Pakistan has once again endorsement of the recommendations of two Kashmir reports issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Pakistan submitted at the UN Human Rights Council a statement on September 11 on behalf of 50 countries, expressing concern over the illegal annexation of occupied Kashmir by India. Pakistan is likely to present a resolution to the council for consideration by the end of the ongoing session on September 27. In several earlier reports, the UN rights chiefs have requested the establishment of a COI, which is one of the UN’s highest-level probes, generally reserved for major crises like the Syrian conflict. If India has nothing to hide, it should allow unhindered access to the COI, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner.
Prime Minster Imran rightly expressed his frustration over futility of such talks. In his interview to The New York Times on August 21, captioned: “Pakistan Leader Vents Frustration at India: ‘No Point in Talking to Them’”. Imran Khan said he had rightly “intensified his criticism of India” “over its Kashmir crackdown, saying he would no longer seek dialogue with Indian officials and raising the threat of a military escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbours”. In his interview Khan “complained bitterly about what he described as repeated rebuffs” from Modi at former’s “entreaties for communication, both before and after the Aug. 5 crackdown on the disputed territory of Kashmir”. He added, “There is no point in talking to them. I mean, I have done all the talking. Unfortunately, now when I look back, all the overtures that I was making for peace and dialogue, I think they took it for appeasement,” and “There is nothing more that we can do”.
On August 23, the Indian occupation forces tightened curfew and other restrictions to prevent people from holding a protest demonstration outside the UN office in Srinagar after Friday prayers against India’s provocative August 5 move and its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. Security forces were deployed at strength in many places to maintain law and order amid unrest. However, sporadic demonstrations rocked some parts of Srinagar, with clashes between stone-throwing protesters and Indian security forces leaving more than 100 injured. A call for this protest march was given by the resistance leaders through posters appearing in Srinagar and other parts of the occupied valley. “Preachers in all mosques [in their Friday prayers sermons] should make the people aware of India’s plans to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir,” handbills written in Urdu said. People were urged to join the march to convey to India and the world that the Kashmiris would not accept Indian occupation over their territory. The protest was also aimed at resisting the Indian attempt to change the demography of IOK by settling outsiders in the occupied territory. Residents of the IOK have complained of a stifling environment as well as the inability to get in touch with family and friends worried about their wellbeing.
IOK residents have waged over seven decade-long armed rebellion against Indian rule with tens of thousands of lives, mostly civilians, lost in the conflict. Ahead of its illegal annexation, India rushed tens of thousands of extra troops to the restive region to join at least 700,000 already in the valley, and imposed a strict communications clampdown. The near-total communications blackout has triggered global concern, with a group of UN human rights experts warning it amounted to “collective punishment” and risked exacerbating regional tensions.
Since August 5, Indian authorities have imposed a communications blackout and heavy restrictions on movement in IOK, arresting at least 4,000 people and raising growing alarm about rights violations. There is growing international concern over a flare-up in violence in IOK. The UN is persistently urging an end to IOK lockdown amid genocide fears. On August 22, UN rights experts said they were concerned about “massive numbers” of troops brought in to enforce restrictions and about the apparent rise in arrests of political figures, journalists, human rights activists and protesters. They called on India to lift the lockdown and communication blockade it had imposed on Occupied Kashmir.
In a strongly-worded statement released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the rights experts urged India to end what it termed a form of ‘collective punishment’ on Kashmiris. “The shutdown of the internet and telecommunication networks, without justification from the government [of India], are inconsistent with the fundamental norms of necessity and proportionality,” the statement quoted the experts as saying. “The blackout is a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence.” “We remind the Indian authorities that the restrictions imposed by the Indian Government are intrinsically disproportionate, because they preclude considerations of the specific circumstances of each proposed assembly,” the experts added.
Meanwhile, global advocacy group Genocide Watch issued an alert for Occupied Kashmir, calling on the UN to “warn India not to commit genocide in Kashmir”. It mentioned India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindutva ideology and the “authoritarian military rule by a minority military force (Hindus and Sikhs) over a majority Muslim population” as alarming factors that could act as triggers for genocide in Occupied Kashmir.
PM Imran has underlined concerns that India would in all probability attempt a false flag operation to divert attention from its massive human rights violations and the unleashing of a reign of terror in Kashmir. He added, “India’s actions have serious implications for peace and security in the region and the international community has the responsibility to act urgently.”
In his second letter to UN Human Rights chief, FM Qureshi has conveyed Pakistan’s ‘deep concerns’ over human suffering in IOK. Under these circumstances, it would be futile to enter into any bilateral talks with India on Kashmir, unless India rolls back its August 05 steps which led to illegal annexation of Kashmir.
International players have not yet given up efforts to encourage both sides to open some bilateral channels of communication. Pakistan needs to resist such persuasions. Entering into bilateral talks at this stage would be a fatal blow to what little has so far been achieved for the Kashmir cause.
