Geelani’s insistence on right-to-self-determination

July 20, 2011
Referendum In Jammu — II
Rustam EARLY TIMES REOPORT jammu, July 19: It is too well-known that neither the people of Jammu province, barring a few disgruntled elements here and there, nor the people of Ladakh are in favour of the autonomy demand or self-rule demand. They are also against “supra-state measures” as well as against those demanding independence and merger with Pakistan. Similarly, they have nothing to do with Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has been consistently urging New Delhi to grant the “Kashmiris the right to self-determination.” His insistence on the right to self-determination is flawed. In fact, he is demanding something that is neither feasible nor acceptable. For, the UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir have laid down certain conditions and it is Pakistan that has to fulfill those conditions. One condition is that Pakistan has to vacate the occupied areas (the so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan region) or withdraw from these areas all of its troops. Another condition is that India will have to deploy its troops in the vacated areas to maintain law and order. This means the UN resolutions implicitly recognize the Indian sovereignty in the state. The third condition is that there has to be perfect peace in the entire Jammu and Kashmir if plebiscite or referendum is to be organized in the state to ascertain the views of the people if they would want to part of India or if they would like to join Pakistan. The UN resolutions do not provide for the third option: Independence. Since Pakistan has not fulfilled these conditions and since it has illegally merged Gilgit-Baltistan with Islamabad and ceded nearly 5,000 square miles of area in the Aksai Chin region to China flouting the UN resolution, the question of organizing plebiscite doesn’t arise. And, remember, Pakistan will never fulfill any of the conditions laid down by the UN resolutions. It is a different story that New Delhi has never highlighted this aspect to expose Pakistan and call its bluff as well as to expose Syed Ali Shah Geelani and similar other Kashmiri leaders who have been demanding right to self-determination. As mentioned, the people of Jammu and Ladakh are bitterly opposed to Geelani and his demands, as also to the other demands as referred to above. So, what should be done to ascertain their views on their political future? Should their lot be thrown in with the protagonists of right to self-determination, independence, Pakistan, autonomy and self-rule? Or, should they be given the choice to take a decision on their own political future? And, what method could be employed to ascertain their will? The lot of the people of Jammu and Ladakh just cannot be thrown in with Kashmir. Any attempt on the part of any authority to link the fate of Jammu and Ladakh with Kashmir would not only boomerang, but also provoke explosions of portentous dimensions in these two regions and create more problems. So, what, then, is the alternative? Obviously, referendum in Jammu and Ladakh. Referendum is the best method and New Delhi would be within its right to organize it. Organize referendum in these two regions and clinch the issue for all the times to come. It is the fundamental right of the people of Jammu and Ladakh to live in and die for India. No one can deny them this right. (Concluded)