UN Secretary General and Kashmir dispute.

UN Secretary General and Kashmir dispute.

21 August 2016

Your Excellency, the UN Secretary General BAN Ki – moon

Your Excellency, I don’t know what was on your CV that qualified you for the highest post in the UN; but your letter written to Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan on 12 August 2016 is not impressive, as it exhibits poor understanding of history of Kashmir and India Pakistan relations.

In your letter to Nawaz Sharif, your Excellency wrote:

‘I appreciate the continued commitment of Pakistan to the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute for the sake of regional peace and security, as you affirmed in your letter. The United Nations remains convinced that it is only through dialogue that the outstanding issues between Pakistan and India, including on Kashmir, can be addressed.'

Your Excellency I request you to look at the following historic facts:

1. Pakistan signed Standstill Agreement with the State of Jammu and Kashmir in August 1947. Pakistan violated the Agreement and attacked its weak and small neighbour on 22 October 1947, in which tens of thousands of people were killed, women raped and kidnapped. Please don’t tell me that Pakistan did this to resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully.

2. Perhaps, your Excellency has not read in history books that this Pakistani attack on Jammu and Kashmir culminated in to the first India and Pakistan war. I can assure your Excellency that this unprovoked Pakistani attack did not stabilise the region.

3. Furthermore, I want to inform your Excellency that Pakistan sent thousands of armed men in Kashmir in 1965, with the code name of Operation Gibraltar; and this military adventure of Pakistan also resulted in India and Pakistan war of September 1965.

4. I don’t need to tell your Excellency that this war also resulted in death and suffering of tens of thousands of people. This military adventure did not promote peace or stability of the region.

5. Apart from the above, Pakistan is also a mastermind of the ongoing militancy and a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir, which started in 1988, and the code name of this military adventure was Operation Topac.

6. Your Excellency may know that this adventure has already resulted in death of more than hundred thousand people and immense suffering of the people, and massive human rights violations.

7. I hope your Excellency is aware of many terrorist incidents which took place in India, and which brought both India and Pakistan close to a nuclear clash. However, I want to remind your Excellency that Pakistan promotes terrorism, violence and religious intolerance in Jammu and Kashmir.

8. Your Excellency, I hope you remember that Pakistan also started another military adventure in Kargil; and that too nearly resulted in a nuclear clash between India and Pakistan.

9. Your Excellency, in view of the above, how can you say that Pakistan is committed to ‘peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute for the sake of regional peace and security’?

I hope your Excellency will take note of the above facts and play some role in resolving the Kashmir dispute that there could be peace and stability in the region.

Yours sincerely

Dr Shabir Choudhry

Email:drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com