Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
SIR Mohammad Zafrullah Khan, Pakistani foreign minister and delegate to the United Nations made it clear on January 16, 1948 during the 228th meeting of the Security Council that Gilgat-Baltistan is the part of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. Here is the part of his eloquent speech: “The population of Kashmir is distributed communally as follows: In Kashmir proper, apart from Jammu, 93.5 percent are Muslims. Sixty-two percent of the population of Jammu are Muslims. Gilgat, which is the high mountain region is entirely Muslim. The total area of the state, which is largely composed of high mountains and barren hills, is 82,000 square miles.
Now, if it is true that Pakistan plans to elevate Gilgat-Baltistan (G-B) to a full-fledged province with all constitutional rights, it will unwittingly disturb the disputed nature of the State of the Jammu & Kashmir. It will be akin to the unilateral action taken by Narendra Modi on August 5, 2019 when Article 370 & 35 A were abrogated. Both these actions will be in violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions # 91 of 1951 and 122 and 126 of 1957.
These resolutions categorically state: “Affirming that the convening of a Constituent Assembly as recommended by the General Council of the ‘All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’ and any action that Assembly might attempt to take to determine the future shape and affiliation of the entire State or any part thereof would not constitute a disposition of the State in accordance with the above principle.” So as bottom lines go, say what you want about Gilgat Baltistan. Do as you wish. It will not affect the status of what constitutes the whole of Jammu and Kashmir or its parts as a disputed territory.
The plan was announced by Ali Amin Gandapur, Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgat – Baltistan on September 17, 2020. He further said that people of GB would be given representation in the Senate and the national Assembly of Pakistan. Obviously, if Pakistan makes Gilgat Baltistan the province of Pakistan, then India has all the right, perhaps not legal but as a matter of principle, to justify her stand that Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India. And on what justification will Pakistan protest? As the saying goes, what is good for the goose may also be good for the gander.
Mr. Gandapur’s intentions are not questionable but his statement is. He is a seasoned politician, coming from a province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), which has historically made lot of sacrifices for the cause of Kashmir.
Pakistan has continually made Indian-occupied Kashmir an international issue and brought it frequently to the attention of the UN for human rights abuses, and rightly so. Just this week, on September 14, 2020, Ambassador Munir Akram said, “He (Imran Khan) is expected once again to project the just cause of the Kashmiri people and call for action by the international community to halt India’s massive violations of human rights, rescind the unilateral measures imposed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir since 5 August 2019 and promote a solution in accordance with the Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people.”
Ambassador Munir Akram has forced India to adopt a defensive posture in respect to its unilateral action taken in August 2019. But Mr. Gandapur inadvertently provides India a cover to shield her illegal and unconstitutional action taken in Indian occupied Kashmir.
It is obvious, however, that making GB a fifth province of Pakistan isn’t going to fly with anyone. The pro-resistance leadership in Kashmir certainly aren’t going to. Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said in March 2016 when such proposal was being floated by Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Pakistan’s minister for inter-provincial coordination. “Any proposal to declare Gilgat-Baltistan as the fifth province of Pakistan is unacceptable as it is tantamount to changing the disputed nature of Kashmir.”
Quite understandably, Mian Nawaz Sharif, then the Prime Minister of Pakistan wrote to Mohammad Yasin Malik, Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front on March 18, 2016, “I would like to make it unambiguously clear that Pakistan is fully aware of the sensitivities attached to Gilgat-Baltistan with regard to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute. Media speculations are a result of either misperceptions or misinterpretations… I would like to assure you that Pakistan will never compromise on its principle stance on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute which is based on the UN Security Council resolutions. Nor will Pakistan take any measure that may cause harm to the valiant struggle of the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, for their inalienable right to self-determination, promised to them by the UN Security Council resolution.”
– Dr. Fai is the Secretary General of Washington- based World Kashmir Awareness Forum. He can be reached at: 1-202-607-6435 or gnfai2003@yahoo.com
