Following the deadly Pahalgam attack on tourists on April 22 which killed 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir, Pakistan and India continued to engage in war rhetoric and exchanged fire across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border in Kashmir, which ultimately led to a limited clash between the two nuclear neighbors.
On May 7, India announced the launch of “Operation Sindoor” a military strike targeting terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistani administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Muslims conquests of India started in 712 AD, and after more than 1150 years of Muslim rule in India, the British took over control of Delhi from the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1857, and imprisoned him in Rangoon, Burma (Now Myanmar) where he died in captivity in November 1862.
In prison, he wrote his famous Urdu couplet which may be translated as.
“The monarchs of the morning were the culprits of the evening………we saw destinies change in dayparts”
After the Second World War in 1945, when the British decided to leave India and divide it into two independent states India and Pakistan, the primary principle behind the partition of India was the division along religious lines to create separate states for Hindu and Muslim populations. The two separate states came into being in 1947.
It was decided that Muslim majority provinces and princely states would go to Pakistan and Hindu majority provinces and princely states would remain in India.This principle was not followed in Kashmir, as Hari Singh, the Hindu Maharaja (monarch) of the Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir opted to join India instead of joining Pakistan.
India says, the Maharaja of Kashmir initially sought independence, as Kashmir was neglected and subjugated for centuries by conquering empires. However, he ultimately agreed to join the Indian union in exchange for help against invading Pakistani forces.
Pakistan tried to prevent the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir from joining India and a war started in 1948.The result was a cease fire and the region being divided into Indian and Pakistani controlled territories. The UN Security Council proposed a plebiscite to determine Kashmir’s future, which was never held.
The two rivals fought again on the Kashmir issue in 1965 but without any result. Since then, there have been border disputes and internal revolts in Indian Kashmir.
After announcing the recent ceasefire, US President Donald Trump emphasized the need to resolve all existing issues between India and Pakistan including Jammu and Kashmir and offered his help.
In response to an editorial in the Toronto Star which ran on May 26, 2002, I wrote:
“At Canada’s behest, the United Nations security council voted in 1948 to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir to decide whether its people prefer to join India or Pakistan. Decades later, that would still be the healthiest way to resolve this dispute. But India refuses, arguing that the U.N resolution is no longer pertinent, and its own Kashmiri elections suffice.
When two nuclear powers are close to a deadly war, is it not possible for the U.N or those who have influence in world affairs to compel India, the biggest democracy in the world, to listen to the U.N and implement its 1948 resolution in letter and spirit?”.
Twenty-three later, Lloyd Axworthy former Canadian foreign minister wrote recently on Indo-Pakistan peace in Toronto Star saying ” Canada, and countries like it, cannot afford to watch from the sidelines. As a middle power with a proud history of diplomacy, peace keeping, and nuclear disarmament, Canada has both the credibility and responsibility to act. It means choosing peace as a guiding principle.”
I would suggest Canada to come forward again and play her role as a peacemaker.
Jammu and Kashmir is geographically and strategically a very important region as its lies at the foothills of Himalayas. It is the northernmost state of India. The state shares international borders with China, and Afghanistan in the north, Tibet in the east, and Pakistan in the west. The Indian states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh form its southern border.
The water of the Indus system of rivers begins mainly in Tibet and Himalayan mountains in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The latest Indian threat to Pakistan to abolish the Indus water treaty, signed by both the countries through the mediation of World Bank in 1960, has created tensions and a major challenge to peace again.
If we look at all existing issues with a neutral approach, and the two neighbours sit together to resolve issues in accordance with UN resolutions, World Bank agreements and on the ground realities, they can reach a viable solution and may focus on economic development. But again, the economic, military, political and regional interests of big powers sometimes doesn’t allow for this to happen.
The best way for India and Pakistan is to be realistic and wise to choose the path to peace and development instead of destruction. This will save billions of dollars unnecessarily spent on military equipment on both sides of the border.
This money could be spent on economic development, education, health and social welfare to improve the quality of life in the region.
The two countries share similar cultures, languages, living styles, and value systems, which are enough to join hands and live like good neighbours. They should look for the commonalities not for the differences, to be successful in the world.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
