JK News Today Commentary
What is it that made Pakistan to react strongly to Indian bill envisaging countrywide delimitation , including Pakistan occupied Kashmir, which Islamabad calls “ Azad Kashmir” or “free Kashmir”? The answer is simple , this very move by India will unsettle all claims of Pakistan on the occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir , it will expose the military-run country in illegal occupation of the Indian territories that how it treated or mistreated the people of PoK , despite calling them as residents of “ free Kashmir.”
The fact may not be known that so-called “ Azad Kashmir,” which Pakistan rules with its military might has no representation in the bicameral legislature of the country- National Assembly and Senate . At this point in time when the PoK people have come to know that they are being included in the Indian delimitation exercise on their territory too, that would refresh their memories that they have zero representation in the Pakistani Parliament.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi called this intention and action of the Government of India to include PoK in the delimitation process as an “ illusion.” He also repeated the “ Kashmir solution as per UN resolutions.”
There are two major points that deserve attention , in fact three. First , Pakistan is hiding behind the now irrelevant UN resolutions , second it is trying to deflect the attention from non-representation of the people of PoK and Gilgit Baltistan in the Pakistani Parliament , and above all it continues to ignore the historical facts .
On India’s part, it was very essential and important to include the people and land of POK into the delimitation exercise , because of the historical fact that PoK and GB are part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. That state was acceded to India by Maharaja Hari Singh. The Maharaja was the sole authority to have taken decision on accession, and that he did in favour of India. Pakistan showed its ill-intentions by mounting an invasion of the State in October 1947, to which he had to respond. That eh did by requesting the Union of India ‘s help and acceded the state to India, as the Indian troops could not have been sent until Jammu and Kashmir was part of India. The rest is history. Had India’s Prim Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru not moved the UN while war was on and the Indian army was recapturing one after another territory of J&K that had fallen into the hands of enemy , the history and geography of the region would have been different; entire J&K would have been part of India , which it still is, but geographically PoK is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.
The UN resolutions have lost their relevance . this was stated by the UN Secretary General Butros-Butros Ghali in 1994 and again repeated by his successor Kofi Anan in 2001. Ghali had stated that these resolutions on Kashmir , were not applicable . That had rendered the UN resolutions on Kashmir to nothing .Pakistan continues to whip dead horse . It has its own illusions and nothing can be done about it except to show it the mirror .. It is a different matter that it refuses to look into the mirror.
What is disturbing Pakistan the most is that while PoK has no representation in Pakistani Parliament , Jammu and Kashmir contributes to five MPs to Lok Sabha and four to Rajya Sabha . The current delimitation bill has made the PoK people to look at the difference .Pakistan is scared that such a thing would aggravate anti-Pakistan protests in PoK .
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has 24 seats reserved for PoK.
These facts hurt Pakistan and that explains its objections . But as Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that these are internal matters and no country is allowed to interfere, showing Pakistan its place that it has no locus standi on J&K and PoK. All these territories legally belong to India and India alone can take decisions about these.
