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It is
Pakistan,
Stupid
Editorial Team
For the past few weeks,
the international media has seen a number of so-called
South Asia
experts expound on the
Kashmir
issue. However, their lack of a full grasp on the history of
Kashmir
is particularly shocking, and leaves the audience without sufficient
perspective on the most critical front of the international war against
terror.
Let us try to make it
simple and explain the issue for common people as well as these
so-called South-Asia political experts.
-
In August 1947, before
India’s
partition by the British, Jammu & Kashmir was an independent state ruled
by a King.
-
In October 1947,
Pakistani guerilla forces (known as Kabalis’ or Tribesmen) attacked
Jammu and Kashmir
state, with the intention of wresting
Kashmir.
They looted, killed and raped as they marched towards the state’s
capital,
Srinagar.
-
At that time, Jammu &
Kashmir’s king requested
India’s
military help to root out the Pakistani guerilla forces from
Kashmir.
-
India
responded and helped drive the Pakistanis back from portions of the
state.
-
At the same time,
Jammu & Kashmir’s king acceded to
India.
-
Since that day, Jammu
& Kashmir’s accession to
India
is complete and irreversible. Since that day Jammu & Kashmir is part and
parcel of
India.
-
During various wars
since 1947,
Pakistan
has annexed parts of
Jammu & Kashmir
State,
known today as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) in
India
and Azad Kashmir (Free Kashmir) in
Pakistan
respectively.
-
The so-called Azad
Kashmir has never had a democratically elected government.
-
Pakistan-occupied
Kashmiri territory has been used as a base for Al Qaida-related
terrorist groups that are under the supervision of
Pakistan’s
military and intelligence wings.
-
These terrorist groups
orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of about 350,000 Kashmiri Hindus in
1990 from
Kashmir
valley, and continue to target Hindu and Sikh minorities as part of a
Pakistan-sponsored effort to complete the Islamization of the state.
People who quote United
Nations resolutions on
Kashmir
need to read the United Nations resolution in totality [http://www.ikashmir.org/LegalDocs/UNresolutions.html].
The United Nations itself described
Pakistan
as an aggressor. The United Nations resolution in Part II (A) says the
following:
1. As the presence of
troops of
Pakistan
in the territory of the State of
Jammu and Kashmir
constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by
the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of
Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.
2. The Government of
Pakistan
will use its best endeavor to secure the withdrawal from the State of
Jammu and Kashmir
of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who
have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.
Only after
Pakistan
met these two conditions, all other clauses of this resolution would have
come into effect. Now how difficult is that to understand? Why do these
so-called
South Asia
experts miss these points? Are they ignorant of South Asian history? Or is
it not convenient for them to speak the truth?
In
United States
and its allies’ current war against global terrorism, international policy
makers need to dig deeper and go after the sources of these terrorist
activities. The real threat is not from people like Osama bin Laden, who
is more of a symbol. It is from the states that harbor and sponsor people
like bin Laden and Al Qaida-related groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and
Jaish-e-Mohammed.
It was Mullah Omar who
gave bin Laden all the shelter and logistical support to launch his
so-called jihad. Even if the United States get hold of bin Laden (dead or
alive), as long as those States who thrive on sponsoring terrorism
continue to exist, many more bin Ladens will emerge. The International
Coalition against Global Terrorism (ICGT) needs to go after these rogue
states. And the country that tops the list is
Pakistan.
It has been well established that
Pakistan
has used POK to foster terrorist groups that collaborated with the
Taliban, Al Qaida, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Ansar,
Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Toiba. In last few weeks, countries within
the International Coalition against Global Terrorism have seen credible
evidence of Pakistani ISI’s (Pakistan’s
CIA) involvement in recent terrorist attack on
India’s
Parliament.
The US State
Department's counter-terrorism office, in its April 30th
report, noted that "Pakistan's
military government, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, continued
previous Pakistani Government support of the Kashmiri insurgency, and
Kashmiri militant groups continued to operate in
Pakistan,
raising funds and recruiting new cadre. Several of these groups were
responsible for attacks against civilians in Indian-held
Kashmir,
and the largest of these groups, the [LeT], claimed responsibility for a
suicide car-bomb attack against an Indian garrison in
Srinagar."
It also noted that the
United States
"remains concerned about reports of continued Pakistani support for the
Taliban's military operations in
Afghanistan.
Credible reporting indicates that
Pakistan
is providing the Taliban with material, fuel, funding, technical
assistance and military advisers.
Pakistan has not prevented
large numbers of Pakistani nationals from moving into
Afghanistan to fight for the
Taliban.
Islamabad also failed to take effective
steps to curb the activities of certain madrassas, or religious schools
that serve as recruiting grounds for terrorism."
This is the right time for
India to push its advantage
and expose
Pakistan’s sponsorship of
Global Islamic terrorism.
India is taking all the right
steps and it has to continue to build up the pressure. If it backs down
now, it will lose all the momentum it gained from finally flexing its
muscles, and then it should be ready for dealing with decades of
insurgency in
Jammu and Kashmir and terrorist
destruction of the nation.
After years and years of terrorist sponsorship,
Pakistan has finally started
to take baby steps at the point of the gun. It is not going to give up its
malicious ways if it sees
India weakening at this
crucial juncture. Arresting Masood Azhar for 90 days or Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed for a week are superficial actions. Both Lashkar and Jaish have
cadres numbering in thousands and unless all of them are identified,
imprisoned and extradited to
India, there can be no
'peaceful resolution' of conflict in
South Asia.
India has demanded that
Pakistan hand over 20 of the
main terrorists. It should stick to that demand, as well as a complete,
verifiable end to the training, incitement, logistics and material support
for all terrorists in J&K and any others that target
India.
India's intense ! pressure in
the form of the military buildup and threat of imminent attack can not end
unless
Pakistan has acceded to those
demands to prove that it is serious about getting out of the terrorism
business. Otherwise it will get duped by
Pakistan yet again, and this
golden opportunity to force a complete Pakistani break from terrorism will
be lost, perpetuating the danger that
India now faces.
Based on historical facts, the only pending issue from 1947
has been the regaining of Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir. In 1994,
India passed a resolution in
its parliament declaring the whole of Jammu & Kashmir as part and parcel
of State of India. And this is the right time to fulfill that resolution.
Pakistan has forfeited any
remote claim to the state through its oppression of POK residents and its
misuse of POK territory for terrorist operations.
India is within its right to
regain POK militarily at this point, and the international community
should provide full backing for this course of action. |
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