Too many problems at home, Sharif govt puts Kashmir on backburner
Nawaz Sharif's move to go
out of his way to offer friendship to New Delhi even before the votes were
counted in an election where Kashmir didn't figure at all represents a new
ground reality in Pakistan. There is a Kashmir fatigue within Pakistan's India
discourse, largely because Pakistan is embroiled in more urgent and immediate
issues. But if Sharif fails to deliver on his poll promises — a quick
resolution of the energy crisis, the end of Tehreek-e-Taliban terror and a halt
to US drone attacks — the mood on the ground could shift.
Though the predominant
narrative inside Pakistan is that people don't care about sidestepping of
Kashmir, it isn't an absolute consensus — and these fissures would become more
evident if Islamabad fails to tackle the other pressing issues.
"The failure of our
governments has compelled us to make existence and survival the number one
priority," said 28-year-old Afshan Rafiq, who won't name the multinational
company she works for in Lahore. "Who will spend time thinking about
Kashmir when we are forced to live 18 hours without electricity? India is doing
well and we know we also have a genuine possibility of a prosperous life.
Kashmir isn't an issue for my friends or me. We are facing much bigger
issues."
It's not just the
chattering classes. Politicians of most leading parties — except Jamat-e-Islami
and other religious groups — feel the same, and this is the reason behind the
near absence of Kashmir during the high-voltage poll campaign. "There were
references to Kashmir in the manifestos of parties but nobody except
Jamat-e-Islami raised Kashmir during their campaign," United Jihad Council
chief Syed Salahuddin told The Indian Express during an interview in Islamabad.
"There was just lip-service on Kashmir and we have lodged a strong protest
over it."
However, senior PML(N)
leader and Sharif confidant Pervaiz Rashid (now information and broadcasting
minister) believes the party's stand reflects what the Pakistani people want.
"In 1997, Nawaz Sharif said the same thing — his emphasis was on
friendship with India. In 1997, he said that the only way to resolve issues was
through negotiations. We got a two-thirds majority. We said the same thing
during this campaign again. You should appreciate that our political party
sticks to its belief in negotiated settlements," he said.
Rashid added that he hoped
New Delhi would respond in kind. "We are convinced there is a need for a
proper and thorough investigation into the Mumbai attacks. The spirit of friendship
that we are showing must get a positive response from India. We have concluded
that politics can be successfully done without India bashing; India too needs
to move away from Pakistan bashing."
Salahuddin isn't the only
separatist upset with the stance. In his first congratulatory message sent to
Sharif on his election, senior Hurriyat leader in Pakistan Farooq Rehmani
warned the new premier against advocating "close trade and cultural
relations with India at the cost of the right of self-determination of Jammu
and Kashmir". He said that when the US invaded Afganistan,
"exploiting Pakistan as a front-line satellite country", Islamabad
had "preferred to start commercial and cultural CBMs (confidence-building
measures) along the Line of Control instead of using this occasion for
resolving the Kashmir dispute" with India. Rehmani feared this was
happening again.
There is little doubt that
the rethink on Kashmir in Pakistan began soon after 9/11. Then president Pervez
Musharraf started cracking down on Pakistan-based groups operating in Kashmir
after announcing his government's policy shift in January 2002. In fact,
Musharraf was the first ever Pakistani ruler to publicly abandon the
applicability of the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir, promising not to
allow Pakistani soil for attacks on India. The Pakistan People's Party
government that took over after the 2008 elections stuck to this.
"Musharraf once
called us to discuss Kashmir and we were shocked when he told us we should not
keep harping on human rights abuses in Kashmir," a well-known Kashmiri
leader living in Pakistan said. "He said Pakistan needs a solution for
Kashmir at any cost and asked us to not create hassles in his efforts."
However, the Kashmiri
leader believes that any initiative will fail — largely because of India.
"India didn't even reciprocate to Musharraf who had given up Pakistan's
traditional Kashmir stance," he said.
Noted journalist and head
of Geo TV's Lahore operations Khawar Nayeem Hashmi said that while advocating a
Kashmir solution, the pressing issues plaguing Sharif also mean it is unlikely
he would aggressively pursue the former. "He (Sharif) will try to push for
dialogue with India. But I don't see him proactive on Kashmir. It isn't a big
priority for his government. They will first have to find a solution to power
outages to provide some semblance of good governance," he said,
particularly emphasising a tough stance by Islamabad on the US drone attacks.
Still, as a small
businessman from Lahore put it, it's only so far that the Sharif government can
ignore Kashmir. "Nobody here stays in power if they say let India keep
Kashmir. If that were possible, our relations with India would have been
different," said Arif Mohammad Bhati. "The issue of Kashmir defines
Pakistan. How can we surrender it? Even silence won't be acceptable."
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