AfPakKash — the natural regional block

It is time now that the leaderships of these three nations strive for a unity that is local to us

The Afghan land has influenced the fate of the land to its southeast since antiquity. In the early human migrations to the east, the path through Central Asia led travelers to Bactria (Balkh), a pleasant valley protected by the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush on its three sides, making it an excellent abode for empire-making. From Cyrus to the Roman satraps, from the Rashidun to the local Samanids, Balkh was constantly used as an extended kingdom by conquerors from its west.

Though the earliest Islamic conquest of the Sub-continent came from the Arabian Sea by the Umayyads, all the empires built in Delhi from 1206 AD onwards were rooted in the north by conquerors of Turkic, Iranian or Mongol origins who had based their kingdoms in Afghanistan before their attempts on the Sub-continent. When the British came to finally upset the Delhi throne, subduing one Indian province after the other they had to draw a line with the Afghans as they had proven unconquerable. After the British the Russians, following the legacy of the Czars tried to conquer Afghanistan, and failed — like the Americans have.

From being a maker of empires since the medieval times, Afghanistan was changed into a “graveyard of empires”. In all this time the nation accumulated a strong political sense and knew its role in the region. Undoubtably, the Muslims of the Sub-continent are indebted to the Afghan king, Ahmed Shah Abdali, for crushing the Maratha onslaught and thereby extending a century to the frail Mughal rule in the Sub-continent.

When the Sub-continent was divided, many political Afghans saw the newly-formed Pakistan as inheriting some lands that the Afghans had once lost to the British and thus developed bitter feelings. But they did not foresee that though the Great Game between the British and the Russians had ended with World War II, a Cold War that had begun between the USSR and the US was to prove even more deathly to them than the Great Game itself. And in these bad times having a brotherly neighbour in Pakistan was a blessing in disguise.

Neither the British nor the Russian or Americans have succeeded in truly occupying the Afghans. But their unceasing attempts to do so have drawn the nation away from the road of progress and towards having to fight a battle of survival. In the last four decades of war and devastation, around 1.7 million Afghanis have been accommodated in Pakistan as refugees; and Pakistan has been the single support behind the people of Afghanistan in the fight for freedom from their occupiers.

On the other hand, the severed people of Kashmir — who did not gain their independence when the rest of the Sub-continent did; were thrown out of the Dogra rule into the Hindu one; and continue to live in the most militarised state of the world for the last seven decades while facing grave anti-terror laws like POTA, TADA and AFSPA — fight for their freedom too. For them Pakistan is the only state to fall back on for whatever little aid they can be given to resist the atrocities of the Indian occupational forces and more so for the morale they gain with a brotherly neighbour standing behind them in their agonies.

This morale does not come without precedence; behind it is centuries of accumulated heritage and the oneness brought by a shared Muslim belief of the Sunni tone. This shared religious tone unites the three lands in a spirit that is historic and geographic and engages the three lands in their difficult times.

Surely, when the Dogra Maharaja was conspiring with Lord Mountbatten for an accession of Kashmir to India, it was the Afridi, Mehsud, Wazir, Khattak and several other Pashtun tribes that formed the volunteer force that came to the rescue of their brethren from being completely subjugated. Further back in history, it was Shah Mir, a Pashtun of Swat, who started the first Muslim dynastic rule of Kashmir in 1339 and with whom started the era of Islam in Kashmir.

Muslim rule in Kashmir lasted for five centuries before Ranjit Singh occupied the state. Later when the British defeated the Sikhs they sold the state to re-ensure a Sikh minority rule in the state by instating Dogra Raj there. At the time of Partition, Jinnah and the Muslim leadership were clear upon the accession of Kashmir to Pakistan as both provisos of the instrument, namely the majority population and the proximity of the state to Pakistan, favoured that. Under those grounds Pakistan was right in claiming Kashmir as a part of itself and same was the will of the majority population.

Yet, after seven decades and the presence of new generations that have interacted more with the Indian government, Pakistan now only insists on a free and fair plebiscite that would allow the Kashmiris to express what they really want. This would surely result in a free Kashmir if not one merged into Pakistan.

This prelude draws a clear picture of how the past and the future of the three lands is connected, two of whom face constant occupation and the third constantly feeling the thrust of imperial intentions on its walls. As separate entities we are fighting our battles of survival. But as a regional block we would enhance each other’s strengths to the extent that finally occupation of these lands by foreigners becomes a permanently unfulfilled dream. A regional block comprising Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan with a complimentary foreign policy, a mutually beneficial trade policy, a promotion of overlapping cultures and a sense of peace within, will save us from external oppressive designs and eventually lead us to the road of progress that our people deserve to tread.

It is time now that the leaderships of these three nations put away petty disagreements that suit political agendas of small groups. For the sake of the future of the people, they must strive for a unity that is local to us, that we decern because of our shared ethnicities and beliefs and that can be permanent. Because we will always stay while the occupiers will keep coming and going. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2020.

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