Interfering with or altering in anyway, the status of an occupied territory like Pakistan occupied Kashmir may land the aggressor in trouble sooner or later. It has already clandestinely done so in a major way by allowing China to build a corridor through it over which this country has persistently been raising objections. Not only this, aggressor Pakistan has also been allowing China in plundering the mineral wealth in various parts of the occupied areas in a way which is violation of all international covenants and agreements. There is a malady with this new born theocratic country out of the parent country India that it wants to ape everything that India does, perhaps, to give an impression which of course, does not travel beyond the realms of its military and administrative corridors that a ‘Balance of Power’ should be there between the two countries even if it meant a dwarf claiming to be the tallest one in the queue.
Looking to its defence requirements and belligerency from its two neighbours, India detonated nuclear devices on May 13, 1998 and within hours, the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared in a press conference that India had become a full fledged nuclear State. Only after nine days, Pakistan did some ‘detonation’ and Nawaz Sharif, the then PM of Pakistan declared that “This account too with India stands settled”. An Article of the constitution of India of purely temporary nature in respect of the then State of Jammu and Kashmir was constitutionally abrogated in August this year and most probably, most of the people in Pakistan must not be knowing anything about that Article 370 but still there was too much of rabble rousing and spewing of venom against India. Perhaps, in the burst of that, Pakistan is up to altering status of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In Economics, we know about something like “demonstration effect” which in simpler parlance means that actions of others are aped by certain individuals without getting into merits or consequences thereof. In other words, it means developments in one place can often act as a catalyst in another place. If Pakistan is mulling to bring any sort of change in the status of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, it would be doing it completely at its peril and to further antagonise its relations with India. To name “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Management Group’ as “Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services” as per an order dated December 11 by the PoK Government, was reminiscent of the mischievous plans of the Pakistani Government. Like proverbial aping the activities of a barber by a monkey holding a razor may prove deleterious and even grievously injurious for it. It won’t be even a demonstration effect but suicidal effect as entire Pakistan occupied Kashmir is an integral part of India. The credence to such an eventuality gets strengthened by the statement of the “Prime Minister” of the PoK, Farooq Haider that “he could be the last “Prime Minister” of PoK.
We know how, that part of Jammu and Kashmir, has virtually been treated as ‘conquered territory’ and hence a colony by Pakistan establishment all these years and where speaking in or using in offices Kashmiri language is banned and Urdu is thrust, economically the region is tremendously backward, many PoK leaders, however, have strongly opposed such a sinister plan of Pakistan to fiddle with the status of PoK, a part and parcel of the territory of India but held illegally by Pakistan. Any merger of PoK with any of the four provinces of Pakistan, probably with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, would not only be strongly resisted by India which is closely watching any type of developments in the PoK, but there would be large scale uprising against Pakistani establishment by the PoK people and their local leaders.
Not only stopping at this, Pakistani Government is after yet another sinister move to change not only the identity of the local residents of the PoK but increasingly effect changes in the demographic equations of the entire region. Changing the local structure of cultural, linguistic and traditional set up of centuries together in almost all areas under Pakistani control has been the State policy of that country and with every change of ‘guard’ there, this process goes on unabatedly. Locals are outnumbered by the dominating Punjabi people who at the first instance, demolish their local identity, cultural, linguistic and ritualistic. In Baltistan and Gilgit, irrespective of religious affinities post 1947-48, certain rituals of hundreds of years, signs and symbols were continuously still followed and revered which the dominating Punjabi and Pathan population systematically got forcibly erased. Though the region being resources rich, yet has the poorest people living there as keeping them economically subjugated fulfils the sadistic pleasure of the Pakistani establishment.
It may be of interest to note that the ‘State Subject Rule’ which barred outsiders from seeking permanent residence in the entire region was altered in 1970s under the then PM Bhutto. This law was abolished opening the flood gates of immigration for people from various parts of Pakistan to settle in Gilgit -Baltistan. In the same way, demographic profile of the entire PoK is now sought to be changed by the Pakistani establishment under Imran Khan and Army top brass by the move to lift ban on sale of land in PoK. Local identity would not only get melted in the large influx of people from other provinces of Pakistan but in the short process of time, the locals would just be reduced to a minority. Since people in PoK for the last few years are up in arms against the Pakistani establishment and seeking total riddance from them, Imran Khan’s Government has decided to neutralise any type of dissent and political activities of any nature in PoK which were not of a subjugated nature. Designs are afloat to either carve out a fifth province from out of the PoK and Gilgit – Baltistan occupied region or merge it with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan should, however, note that by doing so, it was committing a political and diplomatic hari-kari or seppuku.
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