UN Resolutions ask Pakistan to vacate Kashmir

UN Resolutions ask Pakistan to vacate Kashmir
Shabir Choudhry

Many people think that the UN resolutions on Kashmir ask India to withdraw her forces from Kashmir. This is not true. And more disturbing is the trend of distorting the facts. It is possible that some of these people have a little knowledge on Kashmir; and some of course, deliberately distort facts to please others.

Mr Farooq Kitchlew often expresses his opinion in your paper, and he has every right to do that, but he must not fabricate the facts. In his letter, Only one solution (1 March 1999), he wrote: “Let the Kashmiris decide their own future through a fair and impartial plebiscite conducted by the United Nations. That is the only wise and sane solution of this most difficult and thorny problem. Let India withdraw her forces from Kashmir and face the verdict of the people of Kashmir”

Mr Kitchlew and many others who think that only India has to withdraw her forces from Kashmir should read little more on Kashmir. The resolution of 13 August 1948 accepted by both India and Pakistan, clear asks Pakistan to withdraw her forces, and India is to withdraw only ‘bulk’ of her forces, not all of them as assumed by many. For the benefit of readers I quote from the UN resolution, part 2, section A, paragraph 1: “ As the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from the State.”

Paragraph 2: “ The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavour to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistan nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.”

Section B, paragraph 1: “When the Commission shall have notified the Government of India that the tribesmen and Pakistan nationals referred to in Part 2 A2 hereof have withdrawn, thereby terminating the situation which was represented by the Government of India to the Security Council as having occasioned the presence of Indian forces in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and further, that the Pakistan forces are being withdrawn from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government of India agrees to begin to withdraw the bulk of their forces from that State in stages to be agreed upon with the Commission.”

One can see that it is Pakistan who has to withdraw all of her forces from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and once that is completed, India has to withdraw ‘bulk’ of her forces in stages to be agreed with the Commission. We all know that Azad Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan are parts of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and these areas are under the direct control of Pakistan. This being the case how on earth can we ask India to withdraw all of her forces which we seem to be demanding all the time. By all means criticise India for her wrong doings and especially wide - scale human rights violations in Kashmir. But when we start distorting the historical facts it goes in India’s favour, they say other things like human rights violations are also distorted.

I hope people reading this take it as an attempt to correct the historical facts, not to criticise any individual. We should also learn to criticise Pakistan government and the Kashmiri leaders for their wrong doings. By criticising India alone and raising slogans like “crush India” we are not helping the situation. We must learn to solve our differences through continued dialogue and live like good neighbours. People of the Indian Sub – Continent are among the poorest in the world and instead of spending huge amount of money on arms we need to channel these resources for the welfare of the poor people.
End.