Pakistan can’t sell fake reality anymore

Arun Joshi

tribune news service

Jammu, September 23

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s speech at the UN General Assembly, like that of his predecessors, was a reinforcement of its reliance on terrorism in destroying Kashmir in all forms and manifestations.

Abbasi was either ignorant or deliberately distorting facts. His swan song was stuck on the UN resolutions of 1948-49 on Kashmir envisaging plebiscite for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir’s history did not start from there. Tribesmen’s invasion of J&K under Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule was against the Standstill Agreement between Pakistan and J&K on August 15, 1947.

The UN resolutions were not fundamental to J&K. These were a byproduct of Pakistan’s invasion in a bid to change the geographical boundaries to bring the state’s rivers in its fold to quench the thirst of its Punjab.

Today, if Kashmir is bleeding, Pakistan should blame itself. It is due to Pakistan’s greed for water and its perennial anti-India agenda. Its role in arming Kashmiri youth and telling them that their goal is just a few steps away has brought all destruction.

Kashmir is not excited by Pakistan’s utterances at the UN or other international fora where it uses Kashmir as a shield to hide its own terror machinery. Kashmiris know what they have undergone and who is responsible for it. They squarely blame Pakistan for it.

Streets of Kashmir are abuzz with whispers that Pakistan has paid a lip service to Kashmiris while it was pursuing its anti-India agenda. That they were used as a pawn by Islamabad and Rawalpindi is clear to them though they do not even for a moment absolve India of its response to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. They are caught in a bind.

Pakistan has done more harm to the Valley by making the ‘Kashmir struggle’ as a consistent theme at the international fora. Pakistan is known as an underlined terror state not only by India but also the US and most of the European countries. When Pakistan talks of Kashmir, it is seen as a voice of terror. That makes Kashmiris look part of the grand terror design that Pakistan has woven for the world.

It is time to turn the corner. Pakistan should have understood. Nothing is going to come through rhetoric and use of guns, grenades and killing on streets and the turnout at funerals of slain militants or shutdowns. That is a fake reality.

Truth cannot be exaggerated. It can neither be underplayed nor told with caution. Pakistan needs to understand that Kashmiri Muslims have started identifying the real and the original culprit responsible for their troubles. Of course, India is not in an unenviable position either. It should also see the reality of Kashmir beyond the bayonets.