The RSS Is Seriously Mistaken About Pakistan’s Jammu And Kashmir Policy

On 8 April, RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha, who represents the RSS and defends BJP’s policy towards Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir on a daily basis in TV debates debunked the assertion of Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi that “there is no change in the Pakistan’s policy towards India as far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned” and that “it would be suicidal for the bleeding India to pin faith in unscrupulous and rogue Islamabad”.

Rakesh Sinha emphasised and reemphasised that “there is a sea change in the Pakistan’s attitude towards Jammu & Kashmir” and to make his point he said that “the Pakistan’s political parties didn’t make Jammu & Kashmir an election plank in the 2013 Pakistan National assembly elections” (“Sab Se Bada Sawal”, News 24, April 8, 2016).

Rakesh Sinha, it seems, is blissfully ignorant about what the various political parties of Pakistan said in their respective election manifestos about their stand on Jammu & Kashmir. Had he or any other RSS ideologue cared to monitor the 2013 general elections in Pakistan, they would not have said what Rakesh Sinha Sinha said to counter Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi.

The truth, in fact, is that political parties in Pakistan around the 2013 elections had turned so hostile towards India that they had included Jammu & Kashmir in their respective election manifestos very prominently. The election was held on 11 May, 2013. One of their major election planks was this part of Jammu & Kashmir.

In fact, these election manifestos had highlighted the Kashmir issue as one of the major components of their foreign policy. A common feature in these manifestos was that they had described this part of Jammu & Kashmir as a “disputed” territory and the “right to self-determination” as the “inalienable right of Kashmiris” (read Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis, who do not constitute even 10 percent of the population of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, as it existed on August 15, 1947.)

  The people of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK), including the Shiite Muslim-dominated Gilgit-Baltistan, which has become the hub of anti-India activities being indulged in by both Pakistan and China for decades now to weaken India’s position on the strategic northern frontiers, is a region of non-Kashmiri-speaking people.

They are ethnically different from the people who inhabit the very small Kashmir Valley, the epicenter of anti-national activities willfully engineered by the vested interests in the political establishment and outside to promote the Pakistani communal cause.  

  The 110-page election manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) said:

Special efforts will be made to resolve the issue of Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the relevant UN resolutions (read August 13, 1948 resolution)… and in consonance with the aspirations of the people of the territory for their inherent right of self-determination.

  The manifesto of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said:

We will pursue the goal of stability and peace-building in the region as a specific policy priority without sacrificing our diplomatic and moral commitment to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmir is a core issue for us.

  The election manifesto of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said, “Identifies the resolution of Kashmir conflict as one of the core national interests” and that “progressive detente can help both the countries if centered on conflict resolution”.

The manifesto of former President General Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League Party (APMLP), which was insignificant in the political scene, said:

There would be no peace in the region without the resolution of outstanding issues with India, including disputes over Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek… No peace is possible unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved, along with the Siachen and Sir Creek issues.

  The approach of other religio-political formations in the fray, such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamait Ulama-e-Islam (Fazal-ul-Rehman), Mutahida Quomi Movement (MQM) and similar outfits towards Jammu & Kashmir was no different. All those formations had held out a solemn commitment in their respective manifestos that they will work with single-minded devotion for the resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the “aspirations of Kashmiris”.

The JI had gone to the extent of saying that it would not accept anything short of a “plebiscite” in this part of Jammu & Kashmir. The most significant aspect of the whole political situation in Pakistan was what the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had said. It had said, ‘All the political parties of Pakistan have a clear policy on the issue( of Kashmir)‘. In other words, they were one against India (just as all Palestinians, without exception, are one against Israel.)

  Thus, the political and religio-political parties of Pakistan had made the so-called Kashmir issue the cornerstone of their foreign policy vis-à-vis India. The PPP leader and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari also had not lagged behind. Taking an anti-India plunge and openly interfering in our internal affairs, on 17 April , 2013 he declared-

Pakistan will continue to highlight the Kashmir ‘cause’ at international forums” and that “the hanging of Afzal Guru through the abuse of judicial process has further aggravated and angered the people of Kashmir. 

Zardari, considered the most corrupt politician in Pakistan, raked up the execution of Afzal Guru in his address to the joint session of the sham Islamabad-controlled POJK Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.

All this is for the information of Rakesh Sinha and other RSS and BJP ideologues and spokespersons. It is hoped that they would revisit Pakistan of April-May 2013 and revise their opinion about the aggressor Pakistan.