Editorial

India’s hubris over Kashmir

Saner voices within India itself have been asking the Indian leadership to give up hegemonic designs in Kashmir

Editorial January 17, 2020

Despite India’s efforts to block out information from occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the illegal annexation of the state on August 5 last year is increasingly receiving international attention. The United Nations, the United States, and the European Union have regularly been taking notice of the Indian repression in the occupied territory. The UN Security Council reviewed the situation in India-Occupied Kashmir at a meeting on Jan 15. Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is on a mission to defuse tensions between the US and Iran, also met UN leaders in New York on Jan 15 while on way to Washington.

The UNSC meeting was held behind closed doors. The Chinese Ambassador, however, told reporters that the UNSC had reviewed the situation in the occupied territory. He said the council heard a briefing from the secretariat on the situation. He recalled that recently Pakistan’s foreign minister had written letters to the UNSC to pay attention to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the Kashmir issue was always on the UNSC agenda. He reiterated China’s stand on IOK that it is a disputed territory and China believes a plebiscite should be held in IOK to ascertain the wishes of the people there.

The UNSC had also considered the situation in IOK at a meeting on Aug 16. That meeting too was held at China’s request, which asked the world organisation to act to defuse tensions between Pakistan and India. A meeting of the five permanent members of the UNSC was also held in December last year at China’s request. The UNSC meeting asked the UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan to submit a report on the situation in Kashmir.

Saner voices within India itself have been asking the Indian leadership to give up hegemonic designs in Kashmir. It is not only the annexation of J&K but the fascist Modi regime has opened many fronts simultaneously that can only lead to self-destruction. There is a saying in Sanskirt, “As (one’s) doom approaches, the (person’s) intellect works against (his/her) best interest.” Pride comes before a fall.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2020.

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