Integrity Score 240
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Strategy to Deter Terrorism continues...
The UN Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) Resolution of 5 January 1949 that limits the proposed plebiscite choice only to accession to either India or Pakistan—and not independence for Kashmir—makes Pakistan the sole alternative party to the dispute. Since then, in the Simla Pact (1972) and the recent Agra Indo-Pak Summit (2001) India has reaffirmed this UN-given status to Pakistan in the Kashmir dispute.
Even in the Indian Constitution, Article 370 clearly implied that Kashmir’s merger with India is incomplete and yet unresolved. It was however inserted in the Constitution as a “Temporary” provision. Thus, though India had had an impeccable legal claim to Kashmir, she had lost the moral right to insist on it because of the acceptance by the Indian Government of Kashmir as a disputed state (in which Pakistan is a party) as also by the oft-stated commitment of India to resolve the question by peaceful negotiations with Pakistan. The legal dimension has thus been gravely weakened by past governments and cannot be re-focussed on again—unless the UN resolutions are formally laid to rest or disowned by a future Indian Government. However, there is a ray of hope: In August 2019, the Parliament of India amend out Art. 370 of the Constitution by accepting the Presidential Notification as per Article 370, declaring that the temporary provision of the said Article 370 is deleted.
(b) The second dimension is a moral one that arises from the universal concept of self-determination that is incorporated in the UN Charter. The United Nations Security Council had considered the Kashmir question because when Nehru was Prime Minister, India originally took the matter to the UN. Pakistan later had also lodged a complaint with UNSC on the issue. Nehru did not have his Cabinet’s approval for seeking UN intervention, but not even subsequent Indian Governments have disowned Nehru on this score.
The UN had, upon receiving India’s plea, constituted a special mediatory commission (UNCIP) which passed several Resolutions with the prior consent of the two countries.
To be continued....
( This account is maintained by Har Anand Publication)