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| Time to confront Zardari with facts | | Bilateral Talks | | Rustam
jammu, April 7: It is now almost clear that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet tomorrow in New Delhi and hold some talks on some bilateral issues. It is also clear from what the Pakistan Foreign Office said that Islamabad would not only insist on a solution to the so-called Kashmir problem that is consistent with its age-old stand on the issue but also go on asking New Delhi to grant right to self-determination to the Muslims of Kashmir maintaining that the United Nations (UN) security Councils resolutions do provide for such a mechanism.
It may be pointed that Pakistan has consistently accused New Delhi of going back on its commitment that it would give effect to the UN resolutions of August 13, 1948, and January 5, 1949, which mandated self-determination in Kashmir administered by the United Nations. Has Pakistan really read the UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir? Or, has Islamabad been trying to mislead the international opinion by withholding the truth? Pakistan has read the UN resolutions. It is simply withholding the truth with New Delhi not calling its bluff for reasons best known to it.
What did the August 13, 1948 resolution provide for? This was the most significant resolution passed by the UN on Jammu and Kashmir. It clearly stated that Pakistan had to vacate its troops from the whole of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It also mentioned, albeit indirectly, that Pakistan had consistently lied on the question of whether or not its troops were involved in fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. Once the then Pakistani Prime Minister conceded that Pakistani troops were indeed involved the UN had no other alternative but to ask Pakistan to vacate the aggression. That vacation never took place.
Part II: Truce Agreement: Simultaneously with the acceptance of the proposal for the immediate cessation of hostilities, both the Governments (Indian and Pakistani) accepted the following principles as a basis for the formulation of a truce agreement: A.1. As the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constituted a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the UN Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agreed to withdraw its troops from that state. 2. The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavour to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally residents therein "who entered the State for the purpose of fighting". 3. Pending a final solution, the territory evacuated by the Pakistani troops will be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the UN Commission.
B.1: When the Commission shall have notified the Government of India that the tribesmen and Pakistani nationals referred to in Part II, A, 2 hereof have withdrawn, thereby terminating the situation which was represented by the Government of India to the Security Council as having occasioned the presence of Indian forces in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and further, that the Pakistani forces "are being withdrawn from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India agrees to withdraw the bulk of its forces from the State in stages to be agreed upon with the Commission". B.2: Pending the acceptance of the conditions for a final settlement of the situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Government will "maintain within the lines existing at the moment of the cease-fire the minimum strength of its forces which in agreement with the Commission are considered necessary to assist local authorities in the observance of law and order". The Commission will have observers where it "deems necessary". B. 3: The Government of India will undertake to ensure that the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir "will take all measures within its power to make it publicly known that "peace, law and order will be safeguarded and that all human political rights will be granted".
Part III: The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan "reaffirm their wish that the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people and to that end, upon acceptance of the Truce agreement, both governments agree to enter into consultations with the Commission to determine fair and equitable conditions whereby such free expression will be assured".
All this shows that the UN Security Council resolution implicitly recognised the Indian sovereignty in the areas which Pakistan was directed to vacate. Pakistan has not only refused to vacate the aggression but has also ceded parts of the State to China. The UN resolution had nowhere suggested a plebiscite in a particular area/province of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It had suggested plebiscite in the whole of Jammu and Kashmir State as it existed on August 15, 1947. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would do well to confront the visiting Pakistani President with these facts so that the Pakistani bluff is called. Not only this, he should candidly tell Zardari that the only issue that still remains unresolved between India and Pakistan is the political future of the areas which have been under the illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947-1948, the so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. |
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