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| Afghanistan situation has nothing to do with Kashmir | | Beating About The Bush | | Rustam
Jammu, Dec 31: Something is fundamentally wrong with the self-styled freedom fighter Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Of late, he has started making statements which are not just ridiculous and laughable but which also suggest that either he has lost his way or he has gone totally confused. One day he says one thing and the very next he makes a fool of himself by taking a complete U-turn. One day he says that the only way the Kashmir issue could be resolved is the implementation of the UN resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir and the very next day he says that the other alternative is a negotiated settlement on Jammu & Kashmir. One day he says that the Kashmiris will not accept anything short of Independence and the very next day he speaks altogether differently. Instead of insisting on right to self-determination, he talks about the already discarded former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's four-point Kashmir solution. Only the other day, he said in Srinagar that the Musharraf's formula could be considered as a solution to the Kashmir "problem". "If we have to find a solution of the problem, we have to look for all the options and Musharraf's formula is one of them," he said overlooking the fact that the Pakistani political establishment and Pakistani Army have rejected the four-point formula not once but a number of times. Yesterday, even Syed Geelani, who, like Mirwaiz, represents the minority view, rejected the formula. However, he is consistent as far as his attitude towards Pakistan is concerned: Pakistan is one of the three parties to the Jammu & Kashmir "dispute".
Confused and ambitious as he is, Mirwaiz, who otherwise lives like a prince (and that too on the blood and sweat of his handful of followers) on Saturday linked the situation in the war-ravaged Afghanistan to (Jammu &) Kashmir. "Kashmir issue has a connection with Afghanistan problem. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan (in 2014) will not only affect Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it will have its effect in India as well as Kashmir. Solution of Afghan problem is being related with better relations between India and Pakistan, but it can never happen until Kashmir issue is solved…(The United States) understand(s) that solution of Kashmir is key to better relations between them (India and Pakistan)," he told reporters on Saturday. This was his first interaction with Kashmiri media persons after his Pakistan 10-day-long visit, which was obviously facilitated by certain elements in the Indian establishment for reasons not difficult to understand.
What has the situation in the restive Afghanistan to do with the Indian Jammu & Kashmir? It's true that Pakistan wants to establish its stranglehold over Afghanistan, a goal it will never achieve considering the nature of the Afghan society. It's also true that New Delhi will try to improve further its relations with the Afghanistan government and the people of Afghanistan, barring a few Talibanized tribes, would surely reciprocate like today. New Delhi, unlike Pakistan, has no expansionist agenda to pursue in Afghanistan and the people of that country know it fully well. Besides, they recognize that India has all along stood by it and helped it in many ways. It's also true that the pull-out of American troops from Afghanistan has the potential of creating an alarming situation in the region, but it is also true that the United States and Western countries would not keep them aloof from the developments likely to unfold in that country post 2014. They will surely keep a close watch on Afghanistan and the developments it would witness. They know that there are dreaded Taliban in certain parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan who would pose a threat to the world peace like today and they would ensure that they do not take over Afghanistan government after the withdrawal of American troops from that country.
Mirwaiz, it appears, wants New Delhi to quit Kashmir so that Islamabad is able to pull out its troops deployed on the India-Pakistan border and Line of Control and use them for promoting its geo-political interests in Afghanistan. This is not going to happen even if certain elements in the establishment in New Delhi so desire. For, the people of India who have made supreme sacrifices in the state will in no time defeat such elements. The truth is that the situation in Afghanistan has nothing to do with Jammu & Kashmir, which is constitutionally, politically and historically an integral part of India. |
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