Features
Stepped-up dialogue between India and Pakistan could help resolve Kashmir dispute
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has made a thought-provoking pronouncement with regard to the long-simmering Kashmir dispute which could be considered as outlining new parameters for ending the decades-long crisis in India-Pakistan relations. ‘The US has a big responsibility as the most powerful nation in the world. Almost 1.4 billion people live in the subcontinent. We are held hostage by one dispute in Kashmir, the Pakistani Prime Minister was reported as saying. He was referring to the US as a possible mediator in resolving the Kashmir dispute.
The reference to the subcontinent’s 1.4 billion people marks a refreshing change to the usual perceptions a political leader of Pakistan could have on the Kashmir question. If the Kashmir tangle is managed effectively between India and Pakistan the people of the region, which is one of the most highly populated regions of the world, could benefit. The focus on the material relief that could be obtained by the people through a meeting of minds between India and Pakistan is tantamount to bringing to the negotiating table a veritably forgotten dimension to the Kashmir dispute, which should remain a core concern for the countries concerned. The countries are truly “held hostage by one dispute in Kashmir.”
The Pakistan Prime Minister took stock of global political realities when he called on the US to help negotiate an end to the Kashmir dispute but, though a US ally, it is open to question whether India would favour such a move without reservations. India is on record as stating that the Kashmir region is part of India and it is this policy position, among other factors, that has prevented a swift resolution of the Kashmir question.
As is known, identity politics led to the break-up of the Indian sub-continent in 1947-’48 with India and Pakistan having disparate and seemingly irreconcilable conceptions of their national identities. Basically, bridging this gap between the different self-perceptions of India and Pakistan is central to the task of managing the Kashmir dispute. India sees itself as a secular democracy and for India it is unthinkable to have within its fold a region that considers itself as enjoying a disparate identity based on religion, in this case Islam. The latter political project was seen by India as undermining its foundational principles. Hence, the long-running dispute between India and Pakistan. But time is of the essence and as pointed out by Prime Minister Imran Khan the future of more than one billion people is being steadily blighted.
The US could certainly try out its skills as peace-maker in this situation of veritable gridlock between two South Asian countries who see themselves as wedded to disparate national identities, but how effective would a US negotiatory role be? A Joe Biden administration could be expected to deal empathetically with a situation of this kind but it has its own political interests to protect in the region, such as, neutralizing the military threat from the Taliban and keeping Afghanistan as democratically-oriented as possible and the observer is left to wonder whether the US would be seen by the parties to the Kashmiri dispute as sufficiently impartial. Moreover, the mindsets of the main parties to the dispute and their conflicting concerns are likely to elude many a Western mediator.
However, by bringing the hapless situation of the over one billion ordinary people of the South Asian region into focus Prime Minister Khan has put the onus on the political leaders of India and Pakistan to lose no more time in working out a mutually-acceptable solution to the Kashmir conflict.
As this being written the UNHCR sounds a warning. ‘The number of people who have been forced to flee their homes around the world has risen to a record 82 million despite the impact of the pandemic, it said in a recent statement. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grande was even more specific: “We need much greater political will to address conflicts and persecution that force people to flee in the first place.”
“Many people were forced to flee because of persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations”, the UNHCR adds. These facts ought to add substance to Prime Minister Khan’s concern over the powerless of particularly the South. If the best interests of the people are to be served political leaders need the hard resolve to shelve ideological blinkers and work as one to meet the needs of powerless people everywhere. And as the UNHCR data reveal the lot of ordinary people is aggravating. Clearly, for them violence is a fact of life.
Containing Jihadist wars in the South Asian region would be pivotal in getting India and Pakistan to work with a degree of unity towards ending the Kashmir tangle. From this viewpoint India has acted pragmatically by making contact with the Afghan Taliban in Doha. It is a recognition that Jihadist militancy is a fact of life in the South Asian theatre.
Thus far, the perception that Jihadist militants are engaged in proxy wars in South Asia have got in the way of India and Pakistan working towards their common end of advancing democratic development. The realities on the ground are highly complex and the best of minds in India and Pakistan need to take the lead in putting the relations between the states on a less confrontational footing. Very rightly, the fortunes SAARC are seen to rest on India and Pakistan relating to each other more constructively and amicably. If the latter aim is achieved the fortunes of SAARC could be turned around bringing material relief to the region’s over one billion population. Now that the ordinary citizenry of South Asia has been brought into the picture as never before states need to stand up and be counted as the primary line of defense of the masses.