London, UK. Islamabad, Pakistan. Jammu, India. What is common among cities of London, Islamabad and Jammu here? Well, for the past few days, Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK) occupied the mind space of very many people at these locations. Of course, at these places, the perspective of participants about the debate of POJK was very different.
The debate was triggered in London following External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s comments about how to resolve the J&K issue. His comment was terse and to the point. Speaking at Chatham House, he schooled a Pakistani, who claimed to be an author and a journalist, at what needs to be done to resolve the issue.
He said that the first step towards solving the issue was abrogation of Article 370. The second and third steps, according to Dr Jaishankar, were restoring economic activity and holding elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan returning the “stolen land’’ of J&K to India, which it has been in illegal possession of for decades, constitutes a simple final solution. “When this is done, I assure you, Kashmir solved,’’ Jaishankar said.
(Since 2015, the Central government ministers have been participating in programs related to Sankalp Diwas (February 22). On this day, in 1994, the Indian Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution of Jammu & Kashmir. Participating in one such programme in New Delhi, Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS in PMO, had stated that taking back POJK would become possible during Modi regime alone.)
The Pakistani journalist had couched his words in gibberish about possible intervention of US President Donald in J&K issue. The doctor was at his ruthless and charming, best when he chose not even to respond to and touch that part regarding third party meditation between India and Pakistan on the issue. His ignoring references to Trump in the context of J&K spoke more than perhaps words could have defined India’s stance.
His comment created a deep sense of unease in faraway Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, as Foreign Office (FO) spokesman had to clarify. “We reject the remarks made by the Indian external affairs minister on Jammu and Kashmir during an event held at Chatham House, London, on March 5, 2025,” FO spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said on Friday.
The FO official said Jaishankar’s remarks “misrepresent the ground realities and contravene the international law”. He did not explain as to how Jaishankar has contravened international law by saying that taking back POJK will solve the issue. It needs to be mentioned here that Maharaja Hari Singh had acceded his whole state of Jammu & Kashmir to India.
This accession settled the legality of the area accruing to India in perpetuity and Pakistan has not been able to question that. Incidentally, all territories of J&K, with boundaries as they existed on August 15, 1947, when Pakistan was born, had returned to the Maharaja that day. It was through treachery and war that Pakistan acquired what is called POJK, including Gilgit and Baltistan, besides areas Pakistan gave to China in March 1963. All these areas are in illegal possession of Pakistan and China for long but that does not alter the illegality the two countries have been committing all these years.
In Jammu, during a debate in the Legislative Assembly, National Conference (NC) legislator Saifullah Mir made some remarks about POJK being more developed that Jammu & Kashmir in India. This led to strong protests from the BJP members in the House, with Sunil Sharma, party legislator from Padder Nagseni constituency, leading the verbal assault. He later wrote to Speaker A R Rather requesting him to expunge some remarks made in bad taste.
Mr Sharma said some NC members asking the Centre to Pakistan and such other things were totally extraneous and reeked of glorification of Pakistan. He pointed out that Dr S Jaishankar was the right person to speak about POJK as it was his domain as the External Affairs Minister. It needs to be mentioned here that Dr Jaishankar had stated in August 2024 in Delhi that the “era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan’’ was over. This also became clear when he participated in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Pakistan but there were no bilateral talks.
In a nutshell, for a considerable period of some years, no talks with Pakistan has been the consistent stand of the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That stand remains unchanged though there have been some multilateral events at which the politicians of the two countries have come together. Most Pakistani experts have repeatedly urged that their Federal government led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif should start bilateral trade with India in a bid to normalise relations. However, these entreaties, made unofficially, have been ignored by the Indian side.
