There is an atmosphere building in which the world community can no longer go on overlooking the injustice being done to the Kashmiri people by the Indian occupation forces, and must act to ensure they get their inherent right of self-determination. This should also act as a warning to thePakistangovernment that the time for anodyne statements whose primary aim is to avoid makingIndiauncomfortable, if ever there, is now past. As President Asif Zardari told All-Parties Hurriyet Conference representatives in their meeting on Friday, in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the problem must be solved according to the UN resolutions on the subject, which provide for a UN-supervised plebiscite so that the will of the Kashmiri people may be determined. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told an Asia Society seminar on Thursday that the issue should be resolved, showing how a solution was needed. The USA has identified Kashmir as ‘one of the most sensitive issues in the Indo-Pak dialogue’, as disclosed by its Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Robert Blake, while interacting with reporters at the UN Press Centre on Friday. He also tried to point to the improvement of relations due to improved trade ties, something on which theUSAhas been placing great emphasis. He himself had shown that the relations would not be improved by makingPakistansacrifice its industry and commerce to further Indian mercantilist aims, but by solving the sensitive issue justly and equitably.
Pakistanmust not subordinate itsKashmirpolicy at this juncture, when the world is realizing that new injustices owe themselves to the international community’s failure to remedy old ones.Kashmirhas been on the international agenda since 1948, and is crying out for a solution in accordance with the will of the Kashmiri people. By repeating its worn atoot ang mantra,Indiais merely denying the world opinion on the subject, but more importantly, that of the Kashmiris themselves.
However, this development in the Kashmiri freedom struggle means thatPakistanhas an even greater duty to play a proactive role. The government must not look atKashmiras a pawn to be used in the game it is conducting along with theUSAandIndia, but as a sacred cause involving a people’s right to self-determination, and thus must proactively work towards one.http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/editorials/30-Sep-2012/kashmir-comes-to-the-fore
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