Cover Story : Discourse Correction

Human Rights violations by Pakistan in the occupied territories were always a point of contention. In the discourse on the hyphenated relations between two South Asian neighbours the issues pertaining to Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Baluchistan did not get due prominence. PM Modi raising the issue of human rights violations and atrocities by Pakistan in occupied territories has shifted the focus away from the domestic issue of Srinagar Valley to real bilateral issue of Pak occupied Jammu & Kashmir

Dr Pramod Pathak

Since the day he was sworn in as India’s PM, Shri Modi has opened a new chapter in India’s policy of dealing with the neighbouring countries. For the swearing in ceremony he invited SAARC country heads including Pakistan. He normalised relations with Bangladesh pushing for the handover of land and population in the border areas. He tried to break thaw by attempting to establish personal relations with PM Nawaz Sharif by making a private visit on way back from Afghanistan. His initiatives with Pakistan have not worked. It was anticipated that they would not work, however he has given many opportunities to Pakistan and at personal level to Nawaz Sharif to think of normalising relations with India. After all these conciliatory gestures, Pakistan has continued with recalcitrant approach. The recent incidents of terrorist Burhan Wani’s killing, letting the rabble arousers like Hafeez Sayeed to lead march at SAARC meeting posing threat to the Bharatiya delegation and the Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a very unbecoming and undiplomatic behaviour of the Pak dignitaries there, confirmed the fact that Pakistan establishment which includes both the army and civilian administration is in no mood to reciprocate the friendly gestures. On the contrary Pakistan has aided and exacerbated the violent situation in Kashmir by labelling Burhan Wani as martyr and pushing more infiltrators in Kashmir. As the whole world is aware it can’t happen without active support from the Pak Army and political involvement. As it appears, reiterating for PoJK and Baluchistan was a turning in the foreign policy towards Pakistan.

Cover Story : Unmasking the Beast

Humanitarian turmoil in Pak
PM Modi earlier raised concern about human rights violations in PoJK and Baluchistan. The history records that Baluchistan was forcibly taken over by Pakistan although the rulers and the general population had not willed to merge with newly formed Pakistani State. For decades it was known that Baluchistan was treated like an occupied territory by Pak army after Air Marshal Ayub Khan usurped power there. Since then Baluch people and very prominent Bugti clan has been opposing the Pak takeover. Baluchis have been suffering at the hands of Pak army. So far more than 20,000 Baluch citizens have gone missing and as an unspoken truth, they were tortured and mercilessly killed. Still the Baluchis have not given up. They have spread worldwide and are raising voice against Pak army atrocities. Like Kashmiri Pandits, Baluchis too are persecuted in their own land, in spite of being followers of Islam. Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) are north-western parts of the erstwhile united Kashmir including PoJK territories. The people there had their own culture which distinguished them from the rest of the Pakistani culture and religion. They were able to keep their identity as the region is isolated and very thinly populated. From the political establishment point of view, these people did not matter for the rest of the country. Talibans have occupied part of this region indulging in terror. As the political system does not matter in Pakistan, the Pak army has bestowed thousands of square miles of the land in the GB region to China as if in a marriage gift. Chinese have deployed 10,000 troops in the region for the last few years. China is building strategically crucial road network in the region where the local people have no voice. PoJK has become fiefdom of Punjabi army with no say for the local Kashmiris who are longing for uniting with their brethren in India. For decades there have been no free and fair elections and voice of Kashmiris in PoJK is stifled. Pakistan is known not only as terror abating state but also a humanitarian disaster where sectarian and ethnic violence keeps on taking toll periodically. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar speaking ar Rewada in Haryana rightly pointed out that for every terrorist sneaking in Bharat, there are ten casualties of terror incidents in Pakistan.

Our Humanitarian Concerns
Any society or country has right to raise concerns about human rights violations anywhere in the world as citizens of the global village. In the most advanced era of instant communication, whole humanity is interconnected and concerned with each other. It’s not only for the powerful and advanced countries to show concern about the human rights and political subjugation. US is at the forefront to express such concerns and bring out annual assessment of human rights violation report on the countries in the world. It has openly castigated Bharat earlier, doing favour to Pakistan overlooking the human rights violations and abatement of terror. It has without fail aided Pakistan with military aid fully knowing that it will be used against its own civilians and not for the “war on terror”.

Bharat as emerging world power and active member of the UN too, has to show concern for human right violations not only in the neighbouring countries but anywhere in the world. It is right time that Bharat takes initiative to give moral support to the struggling societies and communities in the world. While Bharat has been deploying its peacekeeping forces on the UN assignments, time has come to assert implementation of human rights and preventing human rights abuse anywhere the world.
Expressing concern for the people of PoJK and Baluchistan is well within the Human Rights Charter of UN and also in the interest of the ethnic minorities there. On the occasion of the Independence day this year, PM Modi just expressed a sort of reciprocating gesture for the appreciation he received from the Baluch and PoJK people. Earlier he raised concern about their plight under the Pakistani (read Pakistan army) rule. It gave moral boost to their stand and struggle against the brute regime. Modi never reiterated that it should result in vivisection of Pakistan. It is however a fait accompli that kafirophibia inbuilt in the Sunni Muslim Wahhabi majority community of Pakistan will ever be able to keep the country united. But it does not mean that Bharat should look the other way at the persecution of the people there. On the contrary the then PM, Dr Manmohan Singh had performed guff while dealing with Baluchistan problem when Pakistan raised it at Sharm el Sheikh meet. He inadvertently accepted aiding Baluchi rebels. Now there is the major shift in the foreign policy of Bharat and that it is a welcome change. Earlier for decades Congress led government had kept silent on this problem because of fear that the Muslims here will go away from it and also out of inferiority complex of the psudo-secularist thinkers of the Congressi clique. Modi and the present government don’t carry the pre-Partition baggage. It has also shown that the right minded electorate will support for the policies that keep nation first. Assam results are the clear indicators where BJP won the elections.
New vistas in foreign policy
While PoJK are of direct concern for us a part of the erstwhile united J&K State and integral part of Kashmiriyat, Baluchistan is a bit different cup of tea. Baluchis are a separate ethnic group. They are spread over large tracts of land covering present state of Baluchistan a Pak occupied area, Southern Afghanistan and South-East Iran bordering Pakistan. It is only the Baluch in Pakistan are being subjugated the most. They are subjected to ethnic cleansing like Kashmiri Pandits. The Baluch are offering resistance tooth and nail to Pak army. Just to point out, while China could complete the Sri Lankan Harbour Project within the span of 2-3 years, Gwadar Port Project in Baluchistan has been going on for the decade and over. Pak army had to constitute and deploy special protection forces in Baluchistan after the Baluch rebels killed ten Chinese engineers a few years ago. If the Baluchis from Afghanistan and Iran come forward to demand for independent State of Baluchistan separating from all these three countries, it will lead to gravest turmoil as it is going on in Syria and Iraq. It will be disaster for the South Asian region. The war will be at our doorsteps.
Bharat should keep concerns alive about the human rights violations in these parts, project these on the world forum as humanitarian problem. Awareness at the UN should be built up to the level where major countries aiding Pakistan i.e. US and Arab States should be compelled to stop giving any aid to Pakistan on the moral grounds. Bharat can supply non-combating aid like medicines and transport facilities for civilian refugee movement tying with either Afghanistan or Iran as both these countries lack this infrastructure. We should take initiative to provide medical aid for the Baluch refugees. As such Bharat is involved in Chabahar Port construction in that region. Medical aid and related infrastructure can benefit both Iranian and Pak Baluchi residents there. The policy of humanitarian aid as given to Afghanistan can be extended to Baluchis right from the UN level with initiative from Bharat. That will set a good precedent for the other countries.
As clear from the PM’s statement, Bharat does not indulge in giving military aid to Baluch rebels. However, the moral support for the Baluch people and seeking UN aid to help them to procure humanitarian aid will go long way to help them. It will directly affect Pakistan which will be forced to deal with its own people in sober and democratic manner. Ultimately at some point of time the Sunni Wahhabi majority in Pakistan will have to learn that hate begets hate and as Mahatma Gandhi used to say “eye for eye will make the whole world blind”. Similarly Sunni Wahhabi majority of Pakistan will have overcome the kafirophobia from within. It will lead to normalisation of relations of Pakistan with all its neighbours. That should be the expected strategic outcome of the foreign policy of India.