Pakistan has put Jammu & Kashmir on the table again, with renewed aggression.
Pakistan has put Jammu & Kashmir on the table again, with renewed aggression. Having faced growing international pressure to fight terrorism since the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and the growing Talibanisation of Pakistan, prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday shifted the focus back to Kashmir in the India-Pakistan agenda.
“Kashmir holds the key to durable peace in the region,” Gilani said. “Pakistan remains committed to finding a just resolution to the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”
Gilani asked the “occupying forces” in Jammu & Kashmir to stop repressing the people of the region. He further offered Pakistan’s political, moral, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination and said the issue must be resolved through a constructive, purposeful dialogue with India.
The timing of these comments is significant. US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is expected to reach Pakistan on Wednesday, to assess the humanitarian crisis that has been triggered by the army action in Swat. This is clearly an opportunity for Pakistan to rake up the issue and reiterate its importance to the Americans.
Kashmir has been a useful tool for successive Pakistani governments to divert attention from domestic issues.
With the US forcing the Pakistani Army to act against the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in the tribal areas, the government wants to appease its hard-line domestic constituency, which accuses the civilian government as well as the army of toeing the US line. Gilani wants to reassure his people that there will be a quid pro quo on Kashmir and the US will be forced to support Pakistan on this.
The effort to leverage the Kashmir issue was made even before US president Barack Obama formally took office. Obama had suggested during a campaign interview that Kashmir had to be resolved so that the Pakistani Army could concentrate on fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda without worrying about India.
But New Delhi is unlikely to be a pushover for the US. Strongly objecting to Pakistan’s attempt to link the Kashmir issue to terrorism in the region, India said bilateral dialogue would resume only when Islamabad created the conditions for it. “It (terrorism) has nothing to do with Kashmir. Terror whether it is in Kashmir, in Mumbai or elsewhere, it is abominable,” external affairs minister SM Krishna said.
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