Sharif talks of Kashmir to disinterested audience
Pakistan's rant over the Kashmir issue, and especially on the decades-old UN mandate for plebiscite, has long gone past the sell-date. Not only have subsequent developments rendered the plebiscite infructuous, but the present global scenario too has changed the discourse beyond Kashmir as far as the world community is considered. Therefore, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's mention of Kashmir in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday is not going to alter the fact that the issue has to be dealt with in a strictly bilateral manner, and that the rest of the world, including the United Nations, has no direct role in the dialogue process. Mr Sharif attempted to play the victim card by claiming that India had derailed the Foreign Secretary level talks while Pakistan was all eager to take the dialogue process ahead. But he naturally failed to put on record that New Delhi's decision came in response to Islamabad's failure to heed the Indian request not to engage the Kashmiri separatists in a discussion in the run-up the talks. Pakistan had to decide whom it wished to engage with — the separatists or the Government of India. To add to this, Mr Sharif's timing was all wrong. US President Barack Obama had set the tone for the concerns that has seized the international community, which is, the growing danger from terror groups such as the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda. Pakistan's record in combating terror outfits has been patchy, more so when it comes to organisations like the lashkar-e-Tayyeba, which operates from Pakistani soil and targets Indian interests. Even in its so-called alliance with the US on the war against terror in the wake of 9/11, Pakistan has all along played a double game. The US knows this, and thus does not really trust Islamabad. For Washington, DC, Pakistan remains a slippery ally and certainly not a reliable friend.
It is unlikely that the US and the rest of the world, occupied with the growing threat of terror groups, have the stomach for petty quibbling that Pakistan has been demonstrating over a matter that India and Pakistan need to bilaterally resolve. Everyone out there has made it clear time and again that Kashmir is a matter to be settled between the two countries. But Mr Sharif plods on, just as his predecessors did.
If it is clear to Mr Sharif that he cannot possibly change the discourse, the only reason why he referred to the issue has to be domestic. He had run into criticism for not having met the Hurriyat leaders during his May 26 visit to India. Subsequently, he faced a serious political crisis back home. The Army stepped in to broker peace. Mr Sharif, considerably weakened thereafter, believes that raking up the Kashmir matter will keep both the Army and the hardliners off his back, at least for a while. He has fallen back on the tested technique that beleaguered leaders religiously adopt in his country. But it will not work.