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| PoJK, Gilgit-Baltistan | | Not protest, Implementation of 1994 Parliamentary resolution needed | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 12: The other day, BJP-led NDA Government claimed that it had lodged a strong protest with Islamabad over any "action to alter the status" of territories illegally occupied by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir and asked it to vacate all such areas.
The Government of India was reacting to the changes to the "Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution' (13th Amendment) Act, 2018", which abolished the so-called Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) Councils' administrative and financial powers and reduced it to an advisory body.
The Government of India conveyed to Pakistan that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, which also includes the "so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir" is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947.
"Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever, and is completely unacceptable. Instead of seeking to alter the status of the occupied territories, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation," the statement of the Ministry of External Affairs said.
It needs to be underlined that earlier this month, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) dominated a joint sitting of the PoJK Legislative Assembly and the PoJK Council approved the amendments to the PoJK Constitution.
It is appreciable that the Government of India explained to Pakistan the status of PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan vis-à-vis India, but it was just not enough. Pakistan is not going to vacate the aggression and allow India to reintegrate PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan into India or restore the August 15, 1947 position. The Government of India has to implement its three resolutions on PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan in letter and spirit. These resolutions were adopted in 1994 and 2013, all during the time of the Congress. The 1994 resolution was adopted during the time of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and two more such resolutions were adopted during the time Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government.
All the three resolutions were categorical: All said that the Government of India would use all means to retrieve the illegally occupied areas from Pakistan. However, nothing was done by any government in India to translate these resolutions into an act. Contrarily, New Delhi hardly made these resolutions the core of its Kashmir policy. Besides, it on occasions more than one indicated its willingness to negotiate even the future of this part of J&K. The BJP government of Vajpayee appointed interlocutor after interlocutor to discuss the future of J&K. The Narendra Modi Government also has appointed Dineshwar Sharma as interlocutor and he is knocking at the doors of every Tom, Dick and Harry. He has not even once talked about PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Mere statements by the Government of India will not help New Delhi retrieve PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. It has to look beyond hollow politics of statements and take concrete steps which force Pakistan to vacate all the illegally occupied areas. The first step could be the scrapping of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 under which Pakistan uses our precious Indus Waters. |
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