Pakistan’s Knee-Jerk Reaction

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India’s revocation of Article 370 of its Constitution has flummoxed Pakistan. The country has gone overboard, as it had never contemplated such an action from New Delhi. The revocation of Article 370 and forming of two Union Territories i.e., Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, respectively is surely, India’ s internal matter. But, the move has completely taken Islamabad by surprise. Pakistan knows that the entire dynamics of Kashmir could change with this move. Therefore, the Imran Khan government has gone on an unusual overdrive.

It has “downgraded” its ties with India, recalled its High Commissioner from New Delhi, expelled India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan and suspended trade ties with India. For the umpteenth time, Islamabad has threatened to move the UN especially the Security Council over Jammu & Kashmir. However, this is not going to help Pakistan, as no one has taken Pakistan’s actions seriously.

Kashmir has always been part of Pakistan domestic politics. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US and President Trump’s offer of mediation on Kashmir was looked upon as a success to bring the issue of Kashmir back on the table. But the Indian government’s the decision to do away with the special status of Kashmir and bifurcate it has changed the narrative and political atmosphere in Pakistan.

Pakistan convened a ‘Special Session’ of its National Assembly over the Kashmir issue. Both the civil government and military have upped the ante against India. However, some voices in Pakistani opposition are questioning the real motive of Imran Khan’s visit to the US and openly stating that “the visit was meant to scuttle efforts of Kashmiris for their freedom”. The opposition is raising questions over the usefulness of the joint session when half of its Members are lodged in jails for various corruption cases. The Imran Khan government, is advising the opposition not to play politics on the issue of Kashmir.

The electronic, English, vernacular and social media in Pakistan propagate a common concern that any demographic change in Kashmir will drastically and forever change the narrative of Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. In other words, the Kashmir issue was a bargaining chip for Pakistan to collect funds from Islamic countries in the name of ‘Jihad’ and on the other hand from western countries to fight terrorism. The Indian government’s the decision to make Kashmir a UT has forever closed the door for Pakistan as well as its religious organisations to use Kashmir as a tool for attracting funds.

A Pakistani analyst opines, “In case of New Delhi’s federal control over Kashmir and its assimilation with India at the administrative level; political justification of Kashmir in Pakistan would die down”. In fact, some analysts are of the view that during the last decade there has been a significant decrease in the support of Kashmiri struggle and blames the subsequent Pakistani governments for not raising the issue often at international forums. After this political debacle, no one from the international community would bother to side with Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan has tried reaching out to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries. He also called the leaders of Turkey and Malaysia.

India has pushed the panic button for Pakistan as it has changed the status quo of Kashmir issue, making it an internal matter of India. It now ceases to be a part of the bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, which for Pakistan is a huge loss politically and strategically.

Pakistan should remember that it has done worst in the illegally occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan a long time back in history. It has to be noted that GB was separated from PoK deliberately and has been kept void of any constitutional and democratic rights even till now. The routine affairs of the northern regions are controlled from Islamabad. So today, when Pakistan talks about the right of the people of Kashmir and Ladakh, will it also look inwards at GB and PoK and talk about their rights?

Script: Dr. Zainab Akhter, Analyst on Pakistan

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