Kashmiri People's Hearts Cannot Be Won With Military Force: Analyst

Kashmiri people's hearts cannot be won with the military force as peace is only possible if India, Pakistan and Kashmir sit down and talk each other to resolve the decades-old Kashmir issue, Rabi Sankar Bosu, an Indian freelance contributor to Chinese media outlets said on Friday

BEIJING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Aug, 2019 ) :Kashmiri people's hearts cannot be won with the military force as peace is only possible if India, Pakistan and Kashmir sit down and talk each other to resolve the decades-old Kashmir issue, Rabi Sankar Bosu, an Indian freelance contributor to Chinese media outlets said on Friday.

"If dialogue does not take place, the Kashmir issue will never be resolved. Kashmiri people's hearts cannot be won with the military force. Peace is only possible if India, Pakistan and Kashmir sit down and talk to each other," he said in his article for CGTN while commenting on the latest situation in Occupied Kashmir following revocation of its special status.

"At the same time, the UNSC should have come forward to sitting the two countries together to redress the 70-year old Kashmir conflict without adopting rhetoric of politics," he added.

He remarked that the powerful 15-nation Security Council failed to reach a unanimous statement after the meeting. It is another blow to democracy in support of Kashmiri people as the Kashmir dispute has been under the UN's monitoring since 1948.

With the abrogation of Article 370, the Hindu nationalist BJP may have fulfilled one of its long-pending political promises, but at the same time it can be said that it can never be a good advertisement for democracy in India. The basic question that divides the nation now is whether revoking Article 370 will bring peace and stability to the log-disputed Kashmir Valley, he opined.

The revocations of Articles 370 and 35(A) have earned strong criticism from most of India's mainstream political parties, the people of Kashmir, and its two close neighbors, Pakistan and China.

Bosu said that the opposition parties slammed the Indian government for dividing Jammu and Kashmir without consulting all stakeholders, including the people of the Valley while criticizing the guillotining of Article 370 as "murder of democracy", "unabashed majoritarianism", "the trampling of fundamental rights of Kashmiris", etc.

But what is more surprising is that the permanent five members of the Security Council have miserably failed to put an end to India's present government's highhandedness in the Kashmir Valley which is now reeling under chaos.

Notably, the long-standing Kashmir problem has been at the UNSC since 1948 following the outbreak of the first war between India and Pakistan. The UN passed a resolution imposing an immediate ceasefire between India and Pakistan while allowing Kashmiris to decide their future for themselves under the aegis of the UN but India has never implemented the resolution, he pointed out.

Over the seven decades, the Kashmir Valley has only seen turmoil, terrorism and bloodshed due to the self-interested Kashmir policy, as well as the UN's persistent failure to redress the Kashmir dispute.

Notably, the territorial dispute over the region involves three neighbors � India, Pakistan and China.

However, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan government has raised strong objections to Indian actions, downgrading diplomatic relations with India, and put the Kashmir issue with renewed vigor to the international bodies such as the UNSC and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in support of Kashmir.

Even Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi paid an unscheduled visit to Beijing on August 9 and sought China's support against India's unilateral decision for revoking the constitutional article and human rights abuses in the region at the UNSC.

After the closed door meeting of UNSC to discuss Kashmir, China's permanent representative to the UN, Zhang Jun urged the two neighbors to settle their differences peacefully.

From Pakistan's perspective, it can be said that the UN Kashmir talks is a diplomatic win for Pakistan as it finally managed to "raise the voice of the Kashmiri people at the Security Council".

Judging by the tenor of the India's Ambassador's statement, it can be said that as a democratic country, India should thus be committed to the principles of dialogue and peace with Pakistan for the greater interest of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the same time, the UNSC should have come forward to sitting the two countries together to redress the 70-year old Kashmir conflict without adopting rhetoric of politics.