During his address delivered during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meet, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concerns and spoke about various troubled spots around the world. He even made special mention of Israeli-Palestinian conflict by saying how replacing the “two-state solution with a one state construct would spell doom.” That is why by not mentioning anything at all about Kashmir in his address the UN Secretary General may have both surprised as well as disappointed Islamabad and the Hurriyat. But ask any rational Kashmir-watcher or even a novice following the events here and you will be told that this was expected all along.
Why is it that despite the heartrending mounting casualties amongst civilians in the continuing protests in Kashmir, the UN Secretary General still chose to maintain a stoic silence on this issue? Dismissing it as an oversight or a motivated act to appease Washington and New Delhi may comfort Islamabad and the separatists but by doing so both will (like always) never learn the lesson they need to and thus continue tilting at windmills. Unpalatable as it may sound, but in all probability the real truth is that the strategy of prolonged protests adopted by the Hurriyat and the psychological support that Islamabad provided has possibly made the UN Secretary General steer clear away from commenting on the current crisis in Kashmir.
Why is it that despite the heartrending mounting casualties amongst civilians in the continuing protests in Kashmir, the UN Secretary General still chose to maintain a stoic silence on this issue? Dismissing it as an oversight or a motivated act to appease Washington and New Delhi may comfort Islamabad and the separatists but by doing so both will (like always) never learn the lesson they need to and thus continue tilting at windmills
While the protests in the aftermath of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s death in an encounter with security forces are understandable, the decision of the Hurriyat to repeatedly extend the same made no political sense and neither did Islamabad’s decision of observing July 20 as a ‘black day’ to protest against “Indian atrocities” in Kashmir. To add to all this, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made two other declarations that were diplomatically very immature; first, to hail a slain militant commander as a “Kashmiri leader” and second, to announce that in the face of the “freedom wave in Kashmir” India had no other option but to “accept defeat.” Neither Islamabad nor the Hurriyat realised that due to these actions a negative narrative emerged which greatly harmed the Kashmir cause.
By incessantly extending the protest duration without specifying any reason, the Hurriyat has created the impression that this was being done only to ensure that Kashmir continues to remain on the boil when the UNGA is in session. The Hurriyat has constantly been lamenting the mounting casualties amongst agitating protesters and calling for international intervention to end the same. However, on its own part the separatist leadership didn’t even make a single serious appeal to the people not to indulge in acts of violence like attacking police and security forces posts, pelting stones or committing acts of arson as the same would expose them to retaliatory action by the law enforcement agencies.
By demanding that the international community must act to stop casualties in Kashmir but doing nothing by themselves to ensure the same the ‘Unified’ Hurriyat has unwittingly conveyed an extremely sinister impression. Besides being taken as a sign of their lack of concern for the people, their inaction is also being interpreted as a well calculated move by the Hurriyat since it was banking heavily upon the large number of civilian casualties amongst protesters in order to attract attention of the international community. Similarly the way Islamabad has reacted to the Kashmir protests is viewed by many international community members as indirect instigation the people in Indian administered Kashmir by an opportunist Pakistan who rather than pouring oil was fishing in troubled waters!
Saying that the Uri attack helped New Delhi to gain sympathy of the international community would be an understatement. In fact, whatever little support that the UN and international community may have had for the Kashmir cause has been frittered away by militancy related incidents. To make matters worse, with UN designated terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba openly threatening to eliminate ‘collaborators’ and ‘agents’ of New Delhi and the security forces, it is clear that those who aren’t pro-Pakistan camp followers aren’t safe in Kashmir. This paints a very grim picture and raises doubts in the minds of the international community that under such coercion by pro- Pakistan entities, the people of Kashmir may not be able to freely exercise their ‘right to self determination’ !
Tailpiece: From the widespread condemnation that the Uri attack has evoked from all over the world it is evident that this incident has swept Kashmir under the carpet. Islamabad may be right in its claim that New Delhi is trying to use the Uri incident to divert world attention from Kashmir. However, the credit for this excellent ‘diversionary ploy’ to push back Kashmir into the backburner just before the UNGA should rightly go to the militants and masterminds behind this attack, not New Delhi.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
