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UN should implement its resolutions
By Dj Mathal
During the third committee session of the United Nations General Assembly on the right to self-determination, Indian envoy Rajev Shukla claimed that Kashmir is an integral part of India His Pakistani counterpart Abdullah Hussain Haroon refuted the claim and said Kashmir is a disputed region and UN resolutions have also accepted it as such. During this, UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon offered to mediate in the dispute. The whole world is aware of the resolutions of the UN on the Kashmir issue. Therefore, instead of attaching anything positive to the resolutions people should be made aware of the actual facts behind these documents. The issue of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan was taken to the UN on the appeal of India after the Indo-Pakistan war of 1948.On August 13, 1948 the UN for the first time pressured India and Pakistan to come to a ceasefire. Under this resolution, Kashmir including Gilgit-Baltistan is a disputed region. The UN had first asked Pakistan to withdraw its civilians and military forces from the region and directed India to reduce its presence in the region. At the same time the twenty million people of Kashmir including Gilgit-Baltistan living in the 84,471 square miles area had the right to decide their future on their own. But both the governments have been trying to prolong the issue for the last over 60 years in order to subdue each other. India has been adamant on using the issue of Kashmir as revenge to the division of the subcontinent while Pakistan has been playing the card of religion to cause destruction in the region in response to the separation of Bangladesh in 1971. The issue is a question of life and death for the people of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and its prolongation would not be interest of the region. We see that the issue of Kashmir has been lying in the UN since its inception and both India and Pakistan have used delaying tactics to implement the resolutions and blamed each other for the delay. Both the governments have been issuing statements on Kashmir including Gilgit-Baltistan but their stance has no relation with the actual facts on the ground. If we accept the stance of Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, Mr Haroon that Kashmir is a disputed region acknowledged by the world body, we may ask him that if it was a disputed area then under which law his country has kept the region under its control for the last over 60 years? If this is a disputed region then what the Pakistani forces, military and civilian bureaucracy are doing in the region? When the gentleman refers to the UN resolutions on the issue can anyone remind him that under the very resolutions Pakistan was required to withdraw its military and civilians from the region within 12 weeks? Can the envoy also tell us where the borders of the disputed Kashmir begin and where they end? Is he, like Jamaat-i-Isamai, considering only the valley of Kashmir as a disputed region? The statement of the Indian ambassador also seems a farce because he considers the whole Kashmir as an integral part of India . If the whole area is an integral part of his country, why his country has remained silent over the fact that two large chunks of the region - 28,000 square miles Gilgit-Baltistan and 4,000 square miles Pakistani controlled Kashmir have been under the control of Pakistan for the last over 60 years. Why his country has also been silent over human rights violations in Gilgit-Blatistan. When Bugti is killed the Indian foreign office issues statements on Balochistan but New Delhi cannot see any injustice in our area. Instead of offering mediation on the issue, the UN secretary general should pressure both the countries to implement its resolutions in letter and spirit. The objective of the establishment of the UN was end dispute in the world and to mediate between nations but unfortunately the people of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan still look towards the world body for attaining their basic right of self-determination even after over 60 years. Only mediation offer would not be suffice the UN secretary general should work to resolve the issue during his tenure. He will also have to take notice of the 61-year-old deprivation and human rights violations in the region, The resolution of the lingering dispute will not only ensure the basic rights of the area people but will also bring economic prosperity and peace to the subcontinent.
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