In and Out of Kashmir, U.S. Denies Pakistan's Right to Defend
Itself
Almost entirely off of America's radar screen, the issue of Kashmir and Washington's position on it, continues to inflame ralations between Pakistan and India. According to this editorial from Pakistan's The Nation, U.S. support for India's position on the issue is so extreme, that Washington has warned Pakistan not to use U.S. weapons to address threats from India.
A Muslim man in Srinagar, Indian-held Kashmir, throws a rock at a police vehicle after a teenager was allegedly killed after being struck by a rubber bullet fired by police, June 12.
ONCE again, the United States has made its position on
Kashmir and the Pakistan-India relationship clear. While acknowledging that
Kashmir is the central dispute between the two countries, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Robert
Blake has again put forward the Indian, and now presumably the U.S., position
that Pakistan must first oblige India by moving against those accused by New
Delhi of being involved in the terrorist attack on Mumbai.
Surely, Blake cannot be unaware that New Delhi has failed to
provide any substantive proof that would hold up in a Pakistan court against
those it accuses of involvement in Mumbai. To make America's Indo-centric
position even more blatant, Assistant Secretary Peter Crowley declared that
weapons being “given” to Pakistan by the U.S. would not be permitted to be used
against India! So Pakistan’s sovereign right to defend itself against all
threats is once again being directly undermined by the United States.
Blake also stated that Washington hasn't altered its policy
on Kashmir, but that there is an expectation that President Obama will more
forcefully push its strategic ally India into talks with Pakistan over Kashmir,
and that in this way, the contentious issue could be resolved in a lasting
fashion based on U.N. Security Council resolutions that call for a plebiscite.
This would allow the people of Kashmir to choose their future, as has bee
promised to them not only by the international community through the Security
Council, but also by Pakistan - and most importantly, India.
[Editor's Note:
India and Pakistan have fought four wars over what was once the "princely state of Jammu
and Kashmir," and which, from 1846-1947, was ruled by a British Satrap
called a Maharaja. When
India and Pakistan became states, Jammu Kashmir became disputed territory
between the two. While Jammu Kashmir is majority Muslim, it wanted to maintain
its independence, which led to the first Indi-Pak war. Eventually, Maharajah Hari Singh signed
the Instrument of Accession
"acceding to the dominion" of India. Pakistan rejects the agreement
because of the area's majority Muslim population. Other countries that came
into being as a result of the Partition of India
were Burma, Napal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.]
