Bharat should expose the evil design behind Pakistan’s insistence on demilitarisation and put the unrealistic and unworkable proposal to rest once and for all.
Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, during his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), came up with a “four point peace initiative” for the resolution of the so-called “Kashmir problem.” The mainstay of his proposal was demilitarisation. This, according to him, would entail withdrawal of the Pakistani Army from the occupied territories of the state and also redeployment of the Bharateeya Army out of the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
A similar impractical and hare brained scheme was put forth by General Pervez Musharraf in 2006 (when he was military dictator of Pakistan) as a part of a “four stage interim solution.” He had also advocated ‘withdrawal’ of Bharateeya and Pakistani forces from both sides of Kashmir. Khurshid Kasuri, who was the foreign minister during the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf has come out with a book, Neither A Hawk, Nor A Dove, in which he is said to have given an insight of Pakistan’s foreign policy during the Musharraf era. It is well known that Kasuri was an energetic votary of the “four stage interim solution” set forth by his boss (Pervez Musharraf). In his book, he has advocated demilitarisation as a viable step towards lasting peace. “We looked at the interest of Kashmiris, Kashmiris wanted demilitarisation,” Kasuri said during an interview with Karan Thapar.
One would not condone the “inking of Sudheendra Kulkarni” in Mumbai, but, facilitating a book launch for Khurshid Kasuri in Bharat does not come across as a good idea at all. Kasuri was never known to be pro-Bharat when he was in power. It cannot be expected that in his book he would contain the Bharateeya point of view; so why this overreaching hospitality? Kasuri could have gone to sell his book in the US, Europe and countries forming the Muslim Ummah but he chose to come to Bharat. He knew that some peacenik here with the support of the Bharateeya electronic media would ensure publicity for his book. He has, by no means, been disappointed.
We now have two sworn enemies from the political landscape of Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif and Khurshid Kasuri) singing the same tune so far as Kashmir is concerned. It is quite obvious that, despite strong internal enmities, the political establishment in Pakistan comes on the same page insofar as Kashmir is concerned. A typical example of an enemy’s enemy being a friend! Under the circumstances would it be too far-fetched to surmise that the twin events (Speech by Nawaz Sharif and the book launch by Kasuri) have been carefully orchestrated to, once again, raise the bogey of demilitarisation internationally?
By constantly using the word demilitarisation Pakistan is trying to create, in the international community, a fallacious impression that Jammu & Kashmir is militarised. Bharat has deployed its forces in the State, especially in the Kashmir Valley and Siachen, in accordance with it defence plans, threat perception and security requirement to safeguard its sensitive frontier state. This is the unalienable right of every country and cannot be termed as militarisation.
It is quite apparent that Pakistan is determined to sell demilitarisation to the international community as a viable alternative. This is because Pakistan has much to gain, should Bharat, under pressure, succumb to this idea.
Should such a plan be implemented, Pakistan would simply send in its well trained, motivated and large force of terrorist Jihadis into Jammu & Kashmir and thus create a situation wherein Bharat would lose control of the state.
Pakistan is using its military force to subjugate the people of POJK. In blatant disregard of international norms and ethics, it has illegally ceded large portions POJK to China. If Pakistan is really keen to normalise relations with Bharat, it should, cease the practice of infiltrating terrorists into J&K. It should also put an end to the incessant ceasefire violations, which cause great damage to lives and properties of civilians who reside there.
The only honourable solution to the J&K issue is to return to Bharat all territories illegally occupied by Pakistan so that all people of the State can enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy as enshrined in the Bharateeya Constitution, and in accordance with their legitimate rights as citizens of the country. Bharat should expose the evil design behind Pakistan’s insistence on demilitarisation and put the unrealistic and unworkable proposal to rest once and for all.
Jaibans Singh (The writer is a defense analyst)
