11/2/2018 Kashmir dilemma - Newspaper - DAWN.

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Kashmir dilemma
Touqir Hussain | October 31, 2018

The writer, a former Pakistan ambassador, is adjunct faculty Georgetown University and Syracuse University.

WE commemorate the Kashmir Black Day every Oct 27. In ceremonies at home and
abroad, we speak with pain and sorrow about the unspeakable human tragedy in
the held area. In between, we live an illusion that equates the depth of our anguish

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and moral outrage with our support for the Kashmir cause. The sad reality is this
is not getting the Kashmiris anywhere.

The Kashmiri leadership is disappointed. Here is what Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted on Oct 21
in response to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s condemnation of the latest round of Indian
atrocities. He said “people of Kashmir appreciate Pakistan’s concern, but to put an end to the
appalling grind of repression and human rights abuse that Kashmiris are suffering at the hands
of Indian state urgently requires Pakistan as a party to the dispute to do much more”.
Meanwhile, on Oct 27 at a function in observance of the Black Day in Muzaffarabad, Syed
Salahuddin, head of the United Jihad Council (UJC), called upon Pakistan to announce full
military support for Kashmiris.

The Mirwaiz has a point. Indeed, Pakistan needs to do much more. But what many may not
appreciate is that there is no military solution to the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan’s internal
security challenges of recent decades are a testimony to the ill effects of such strategies in the
past.

Our present approach is not getting the

Kashmiris anywhere.

But Pakistan’s dilemma is that a peaceful solution is not on the horizon either. Its voice for the
Kashmiri struggle has been enfeebled by the diminution of its own international stature and is
getting drowned in the unconscionable silence of the international community. Not just big
powers, almost every country has come to see the Kashmir dispute in terms of relations with
India. Pakistan is further squeezed between India and the US that are using each other to put
pressure on it for their own vested interests.

So what can Pakistan do? The plain truth is that the Pakistan of today cannot really do much
more than it is doing already. The only way it can help the Kashmiris peacefully is through a
dialogue. But India does not want to talk. Instead, it is tempted to put a vulnerable Pakistan on
the defensive and off balance. The answer to Pakistan’s dilemma is a stronger, stable and more
prosperous Pakistan that is beyond harm.

India has to be compelled to change its position on Kashmir. But that will not be enough. It has
to be offered an incentive as well to do so. Pakistan may not be in a position to compel India but
can offer an incentive. Kashmiris cannot offer incentives but can compel. That will make India
talk and change its attitude on Kashmir. And it will take time.

Only a stronger Pakistan can offer an incentive to India. And here is what Pakistan could do to
become stronger. It is difficult to handle serious domestic and external problems
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simultaneously. In this situation, countries usually end up prioritising domestic challenges and
focus on such foreign policy issues that are aggravating internal difficulties. Let us put relations
with India on the back burner. Pakistan can hold itself up against India. We should instead focus
on internal challenges and on Afghanistan which is as much of an internal as an external
challenge.

Pakistan holds the key to Afghanistan’s stabilisation. An unstable Afghanistan means an

unstable Pakistan and hostile Pakistan-US relations that are likely to get worse. In such a
situation, even CPEC will remain a pipe dream.

A stable Afghanistan on the other hand will enhance Pakistan’s own stability and can contribute
to its becoming a hub for pipelines and trade with Central Asia. It will ease US pressure on
Pakistan, leaving India to deal with Pakistan on its own. With prospects of MFN status, transit
rights to Central Asia, access to pipelines, and the potential of Central and South Asia as an
integrated market, Pakistan’s value as an economic partner for India that is seeking to rise as an
economic power would be obvious. That will be the incentive.

What about compulsion? That will come from the Kashmiris. They need to consider their
limitations, learn from other movements, and even raise the level of their resistance. They
should energise and organise the Kashmiri diaspora abroad. Their elevated and sustained
struggle will force India to change its approach.

Ultimately, the solution of Kashmir will have to be in the context of friendly relations between
India and Pakistan. India has to be given confidence that its loss in Kashmir will be its gain
somewhere else. No one should feel defeated. This has to be a win-win situation for India,
Pakistan and Kashmir.

Both Pakistan and the Kashmiris have to travel some distance before they reach their
destination. The Kashmiris have already embarked on their journey. Let Pakistan begin its own.

The writer, a former Pakistan ambassador, is adjunct faculty Georgetown University and
Syracuse University.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2018

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