Frustrated by India’s perpetual rejection for diplomatic engagement on Kashmir, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yet again sought to provoke the Government of India by highlighting Kashmiris’ Right to Self-Determination and implementation of UN resolutions.
In a letter to all-woman pro-Pakistan separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chief Asiya Andrabi, Sharif supported the plebiscite demand of the Kashmiri
people and pledged to continue “moral, political and
diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their struggle for Right to Self-Determination, acknowledged by the United Nations”.
The letter signed by Sharif appeared on the official website of Radio Pakistan. It is actually a reply to Andrabi’s letter to Pakistan Premier which she had earlier written to acknowledge Sharif’s support to Kashmiris during his recent UN summit in New York.
While the BJP and the Congress have slammed Pakistan for encouraging separatists, observers say that it reflects Pakistan’s annoyance on continued rejection by India over engagement on outstanding issues, including the Kashmir issue.
last month, Nawaz Sharif wrote a similar reply to Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani who travelled to New Delhi to receive the letter from Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit.
“Pakistan doesn’t look at Kashmir as a geographical or border dispute. In our view, it is the issue of implementation of a principle that governed the Partition in 1947. The essence of this principle is that people of Muslim-dominated Kashmir must be given the Right to Self-Determination,” Sharif writes.
Sharif has reiterated the Pakistan’s stance that Islamabad would continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their struggle for Right to Self-Determination, acknowledged by the United Nations.
He said that India had itself promised the world community that the Kashmiris would be given the right to choose their political future by holding plebiscite in the territory. He maintained that backtracking from this promise would be betrayal of the promise made to the entire world community.
“Pakistan is conscious of its role (on Kashmir). God willing, our determination and steadfastness will never weaken. We know your struggle is for a right acknowledged by the entire world”, Sharif wrote.
Sharif has lauded Andrabi’s ideas and sentiments. “It is satisfying for me that you have expressed confidence in Pakistan Government’s present strategy on Right to Self determination for Kashmiris”, he said.
The BJP and the Congress have strongly reacted to Sharif’s letter to Andrabi.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh said that the foreign ministry will take note of it. “The foreign ministry will take note of it. Our response to Pakistan is known to everyone,” he said. However, former minister and Panther’s Party leader Harshdev Singh said that Government of India must take this issue very seriously. The Congress spokesperson Shakil Ahmad said that Pakistan is encouraging Kashmiri separatists by such attempts.
Andrabi is a staunch pro-Pakistan leader and founder of DeM, a reformist group that advocates Jammu and Kashmir’s accession with Pakistan. She runs a chain of informal schools in Srinagar where religious education is imparted to young girls and women. Andrabi’s husband, Dr Ashiq Hussain Faktoo alias Muhammad Qasim has been convicted in a case related to killing of a human rights activist Hriday Nath Wanchoo. A former commander of Jamiat-ul Mujahideen outfit, Qasim is now head of Muslim Deeni Mahaz and is serving life imprisonment. He was briefly released for a year-long payroll in 1998. She was recently booked for singing Pakistan’s national anthem and hoisting its flags besides telephonically addressing a gathering in lahore organised by lashkar-e-Tayyeba founder Hafiz Muhammad Sayeed.