NEW DELHI: Reflecting the rapidly deteriorating relations between the two neighbours, the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament passed a unanimous resolution expressing concern over the current turmoil in Kashmir. The reference to the disturbances in Kashmir has irked India and provoked a sharp reaction from the government.
“Such a resolution amounts to gross interference in our internal affairs. The Senate should attend to issues where it has a locus standi,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
New Delhi’s point is that Pakistan has no business to comment on the situation of Kashmir, as this is purely a domestic issue.
Since the peace talks between India and Pakistan began in 2004, Islamabad had stopped its routine references to Kashmir. But ever since the attack on the Indian mission in Kabul last month, where New Delhi suspects the involvement of Pakistan’s spy agency, the bonhomie has vanished. Instead, the countries have charged each other of ceasefire violations, infiltration in to Kashmir from across the LoC has increased and there have been stepped up terrorist attacks in the valley.
Though the current unrest in Kashmir is due to the mishandling of the situation and has little to do with Pakistan, it is the opportunity Islamabad was looking for to get even.
Pakistan has been unhappy with India’s public accusation of a Pakistan hand in the bombing of the Indian mission. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that the attack in Kabul was an attack on the friendship between India and Afghanistan.
According to reports in the Pakistan press, the resolution passed by the Senate was done in consultation with the foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and had the go ahead from the government of the day. The Pakistan Senate statement expressed “…concern over the continuing economic blockade of the Kashmir valley and attacks on Muslims and their properties by Hindu extremists. The House reaffirmed the political and diplomatic support of the government and people of Pakistan in their struggle to achieve their rights and called for an early settlement of Kashmir dispute as per UN resolution and aspirations of the people.’’
The statement is strong and in a language New Delhi finds unacceptable. The reference to the settlement of the Kashmir dispute through a UN resolution is agin a step backwards.
The UN resolution calls for holding a referendum in the valley for people to decide whether they wish to join India or Pakistan.
g_seema@dnaindia.net
