MUZAFFARABAD: On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made the disclosure that a plan had been devised to put a 20-year freeze on the Kashmir dispute, but he rushed to say that no Pakistani would even consider allowing this to happen.
“Someone told me a few moments ago in the speaker’s chamber that a plan was made to put off the plebiscite in Kashmir for 20 years. In his address to the special session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly here, he stated, “There cannot be any conspiracy or cruelty with the Kashmiris that is bigger than this.” Speaker Chaudhry Anwarul Haq presided over the session.
The premier added, “I think, no Pakistani politician, serviceman, or soldier can even think anything like this.”
He continued in the same breath, ” We can get the Kashmiris their right if we adopt this course, employ all of our resources, and have complete faith in Him. The Almighty has ordained that sagaciousness and consultations be used to resolve issues.
The rumors that have been going around for some time about backchannel diplomacy freezing the Kashmir issue for 20 years were veiledly confirmed by PM Sharif’s disclosure. He did not, however, elaborate on it.
The special session of the AJK legislature was held to commemorate “Kashmir Solidarity Day,” a national holiday marked by a slew of activities to show support for and solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which is held by India.
As one example of these activities, bridges connecting the AJK territory with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, as well as formations of symbolic human chains, were used to demonstrate the brotherhood between Kashmiris and Pakistanis.
At one such event in Kohala, hundreds of people from all walks of life and one cabinet member each from AJK, KP, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan were present.
Mr. Sharif and AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas visited the “Monument to the Martyrs” after landing in Muzaffarabad, where he laid a wreath and offered fateha.
AJK premier Ilyas, opposition leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar, PML-N president Shah Ghulam Qadir, PPP president Chaudhry Yasin, JKPP chief Sardar Hassan Ibrahim, and former AJK premier Raja Farooq Haider also spoke briefly inside the assembly hall before the PM was given the floor. During their brief remarks, they made a number of suggestions regarding the issue of Kashmir.
PM Sharif said that the Kashmiri leadership from all parties had shown “unity, consensus, solidarity, and unanimity.” He said that this would send a troubling message to the Indian government and [other] enemies because these characteristics encouraged and empowered nations and societies to achieve their goals.
“No problem will remain unresolved for long if similar gestures are replicated in the rest of the country.”
He stated that the innocent Muslims’ blood had turned Kashmir, which was held by India, red over the past 75 years.
“On August 5, 2019, Narendra Modi turned occupied Kashmir into a prison and took away its special status. However, this oppression will end soon. The Kashmiris’ unwavering bravery and great sacrifices will undoubtedly pay off.
Conflicting response
PM Sharif maintained, citing East Timor and South Sudan as examples, that world powers had facilitated religious plebiscites to separate these territories from Indonesia and Sudan. However, he added, this “civilized world” did not act before hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed and buried in mass graves in the case of Bosnia.
PM Sharif lamented that efforts were being made to equate the oppressor and the oppressed in India-held Kashmir and occupied Palestine, claiming that their only “fault” was that they were Muslims. Because Kashmir was Pakistan’s jugular vein, he stated categorically that, despite all odds, the governments and people of Pakistan had always advocated the cause of Kashmiris from the bottom of their hearts.
“I want to make it clear that there is not a single instance that the 220 million people of Pakistan have forgotten them for a single moment.” “Certainly, Kashmiris must be seeking for a distinct support [for their emancipation] from us, and their grievance is justifiable.”
He stated that even though the Almighty had bestowed upon Pakistan and other Muslim nations an abundance of resources, Kashmiris had a genuine concern about the unresolved Kashmir and Palestine issues after 75 years of worse atrocities.
Unity is the key
“This answer is not easy. We will have to hold ourselves accountable to find it,” he said, and added: “If the Muslims – from Muzaffarabad to the last corner of Africa – make a determination that we have to gain freedom for Kashmir and Palestine, I swear both areas will certainly gain it. But this has to be done by deeds, not by mere words.”
Recalling the commitments of India’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru about plebiscite, he said the Indians had hoodwinked the whole world by lying and dilly-dallying at all forums.
While warning India that it could get a crushing response for casting an evil eye on nuclear-armed Pakistan, he repeatedly underlined the need of gaining economic and political stability to get freedom for the Kashmiris.
In response to some fiscal demands by PM Ilyas, Mr Sharif invited him to Islamabad along with his team to discuss the demands with him.
‘IMF combing every book’
We face significant financial difficulties. An IMF delegation is combing through every book and subsidy in Islamabad while I speak with you here.
We must live, but not in a begging bowl like the living nations do. Over the past 75 years, this has continued, but it must stop somewhere. This will come to an end when the entire nation will band together to combat poverty, hunger, and other problems and generate the nation’s internal resources.
