India and Pakistan’s hardline rhetoric on Kashmir continues in the wake of the Gilgit-Baltistan polls debate.
Union Minister V K Singh on Wednesday hit back at Pakistan saying it can keep harbouring “wrong notions” but it would not make any difference to the actual situation. The statement was in response to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif who called Kashmir an “unfinished agenda of partition” and added that Pakistan and Kashmir are “inseparable”.
Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of partition. Pakistan and Kashmir are inseparable. While we wish for peace, stability in the region, we want Kashmir’s just resolution in the light of UN resolutions and as per aspirations of Kashmiris to bring lasting peace in the region.”
— Raheel Sharif, Chief of Pak Army Staff
“I think this is the notion they will keep harbouring. They can keep harbouring that wrong notion. It will not make any difference to actual conditions,” Singh, a former Indian Army Chief, told reporters.
He said Pakistan should apologise for the atrocities done to Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia, and also for its acts during the 1948, 1971 and 1965 wars.
“Pakistan should not only apologise over Captain Kalia’s case, but should also apologise for the violations right through...whether it was 1947, 1965 or 1971 or whether it is 1999,” the Minister of State for External Affairs said. On Monday, the government bowed to public pressure and reversed its stand on the brutal torture of Kalia by Pakistani troops and announced that it could explore the option of moving the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan.
The status quo in Kashmir has lasted nearly 7 decades and leaders of both countries have often taken a hard stance on each other’s involvement in the disputed territory. India’s protest against Pakistan’s decision to hold polls in the Gilgit-Baltistan region is an attempt to reiterate its stand that Kashmir is an integral part of the country. Raheel Sharif’s statement is neither unprecedented nor surprising. In May 2014, he had referred to Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein”.
In the case of the two neighbours, Winston Churchill’s adage fits perfectly. “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”
(With agency inputs)
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