India Reclaims PoK
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for Democratic Socialism)
In response to former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s reference to Pakistan having atom bombs, Union Home Minister Amit Shah retorted that India is not afraid of Pakistan’s bomb and that every inch of PoK belongs to India. He further asserted that India will reclaim PoK one day or the other. This is indeed a tall claim but a right one to make. However, is it only an election gimmick or a serious intention which becomes a part of BJP’s manifesto? Notably, it has not been included in the Manifesto. Why not? This is the question this article seeks to address.
Let me throw a caveat. Election promises either written into a manifesto or announced in public meetings amount to populism, to whip up emotions of the electors and create jingoism when it comes to foreign policy issues, in particular, Pakistan. Manifesto is a cardinal document of a party which is presented at the time of elections. Remember, the famous Communist manifesto which provided the basis for progressive politics in the world: Communism and its variants. Since then, however, manifestoes have not been adhered to in letter or sprit.
In developed democracies, there is some ethical regard to manifestoes and the voters can hold the parties to account. In many democracies, manifestoes are not to inform people but to give political identity to the groups that they issue them by focusing their antipathies. That is why perhaps Prime Minister Modi, in order to be more persuasive, called the BJP manifesto ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’.
Mid-way in the current elections, the Prime Minister seems to have downplayed the emphasis on the guarantee which is a stronger concept than the manifesto. Cynics of Indian democracy should have been happy that elections are fought on guarantees. Interestingly, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, as he came out of jail, announced ten guarantees as opposed to Modi’s.
He has promised to reclaim the territories occupied by China. This is a taller order than reclaiming PoK. It would sound good to nationalist elements. But is it feasible? At any rate, the point is Kejriwal, running one-and-half government is promising to retrieve lands from China. He does say that these guarantees will apply if his Alliance comes to power. He admitted that he had not consulted his INDIA colleagues while making this promise.
What do these guarantees mean? In marketing language, guarantee would mean that you can return a product within a specified period if fails to function. Will the politicians return the mandate and resign if they fail to fulfil the promise they are making. This is better than what is called Right to Recall; citizens could recall their representatives if they are found incompetent or immoral by their voters.
Coming back to PoK, it is in order that we briefly reflect on the history of India’s partition and integration of princely states into the Indian Union. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region under the rule of a Hindu king decided to accede to Indian Union. Some Muslim tribals backed by Pakistani army invaded Kashmir to separate it from Indian Union on the basis of the majority argument. As per the rule of accession, Kashmir belonged to India. Indian army was beating back the invaders but for some controversial reasons, Prime Minister Nehru asked it to stop. He took it to the United Nations. Rest is history.
The line where the advancing Indian army was asked to stop became the LAC between India and Pakistan. The latter has been claiming Kashmir on the Indian side whereas the entire Kashmir belongs to India. Pakistan has no case. Some of us have been arguing that India, instead of being defensive on Indian part of the Kashmir, should claim PoK without which the integration of Kashmir into India is incomplete.
Another issue to note is the special status given to Kashmir by Union of India. That status was exploited by separatist forces in Kashmir backed by Pakistan. And worse, Pakistan continues to sponsor terrorism in and through Kashmir to destablise India. Thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the state of Jammu & Kashmir was split into two Union territories, J&K and Ladakh. The idea was to contain terrorism in the valley and restore normalcy for the improvement of livelihoods, law and order in the region.
Pakistan is deviously using PoK to draw China into the conflict between India and Pakistan. This has dramatically transformed the geo-political situation in the region and threatens the security of the country. India did not join the Belt & Road Initiative launched by China as it runs through PoK. Pakistan leasing off parts of PoK to China is alarming. Now a huge rebellion in PoK is witnessed against Pakistan. Apparently, people of PoK protesting against Pakistan against inflation and scarcity have hoisted the Indian flag. Such a development should be encouraging to India.
BJP leadership is speaking in a forked tongue. On the one hand, it is asserting that every inch of PoK belongs to India. But apparently Govt of India is doing precious little in recovering PoK. The other rendition of BJP is that the people of PoK will opt to join India as they are fed-up with Pakistan’s inefficiency and corruption in PoK. This seems to be a wishful thinking. Pakistan will not let PoK secede without a fight or unbearable international pressure. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif has sanctioned $82.6 million to PoK to quench the demand. It is difficult to predict if this would settle the issue.
Unarguably, peoples’ suffering from the oppressive regime cannot easily break away. Balochs in Pakistan should have done it long ago. So would have Catalans in Spain or Rohingyas in Myanmar. The international community has to support wherever legitimate the liberation of such people. In Kashmir, it is a matter of contention between India and Pakistan. Thus far, Pakistan has been relentlessly agitating in international fora for getting the Indian part of Kashmir. India, although has not made a formal claim of PoK, the BJP leadership has been raising it off and on. This is perfect strategy on Kashmir; the entire Kashmir has to be integrated with India.
To the surprise of election strategists, BJP did not include PoK in its manifesto and make it a frontline election issue. This should have polarised the electorate if INDIA partners did not echo the reclaiming of PoK. That brings us to our initial hypothesis that PoK could be an afterthought and is pressed mid-way as election propaganda. If that be so, it is disappointing. Also, BJP would have missed the bus on PoK in election time.
Be that as it may. Elections will be over in a couple of weeks. The issue of PoK would writ large on India’s foreign policy vis-a vis China as well as Pakistan. So, the current leadership, namely the incumbent government, be better advised to make PoK their political conviction and go for it. — INFA