Pakistan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Tayyab Azam (retd), has decried India’s alleged continued illegal occupation of the Jammu and Kashmir region. In this interview with LINUS ALEKE, the Pakistani envoy also alleges that India is already committing genocide in Kashmir region, adding that Pakistan is exploring every diplomatic option to resolve the territorial conflict as a war between two nuclear powers would be devastating to the world
Pakistan government has set aside February 5 every year to mark, ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day. What is the situation of things in the disputed region?
Indian authorities are committing genocide in Kashmir. This is because Kashmir had been boiling since August 2019, Kashmir is under siege. Since 2019, Kashmiri people are not even allowed to come out of their houses, there are no schools, there are no businesses, and there is nothing. For every Kashmiri, there are six to seven soldiers in the valley laying siege. If you look back into history, you don’t even find this kind of thing in Germany under the fascist regime of Mr Mudi Kashmir is bleeding, Kashmir is burning, and the people are not realising the seriousness of this issue.
Which is of course an issue between two nuclear nations. It is a nuclear flashpoint, if the issue is allowed to go out of hand, it will affect the whole world. Then, it would not be a regional issue, but this criminal silence by human rights champions on human rights violations in Kashmir is beyond our understanding. I think it is you, the press that can amplify the voices of the suffering Kashmiri people by narrating their stories.
Ours is to put the fact in front of you so that you can analyse the problem. Kashmir is one area where no media person, human rights activist, or even representative of the United Nations can visit to see things for themselves. The Indian authorities don’t allow any other nationality to go there, the place is a hell on earth. Since nobody can visit the area, there is a blockade. We in Pakistan are only giving moral support to the Kashmiri Muslims.
We are demanding that the Kashmiri people should be given the right to self-determination, in line with UN resolution. That is our demand, if Kashmiri people decide to stay with India or Pakistan, it should be their choice. For this one thing, the Muslims of Kashmir are enduring unbelievable atrocities, extrajudicial killings, rape, burning of houses, destruction of businesses, denial of their rights, etc. It is on the premise of this that I want the media to highlight this. They want to eliminate the very existence of the Kashmir people, they have changed the laws, they have changed the rules, and that is what Indian authorities are doing.
If given the opportunity to choose which side to align with, India or Pakistan, which side do you think Kashmir people will embrace or your country is playing politics with the issue?
That is what we are demanding and advocating, it is not a political issue. Whenever an election is going on in India, they would start problems in Kashmir, and peoples’ attention is diverted to the internal crisis. That is Indian political dynamics, in the overall political dynamics, when they are violating the human rights of Kashmiri, they use pallet guns to make the people blind.
How many times have the Pakistan authorities demanded that this issue need to be settled?
We have not played politics with that, our demand had always been that the people be allowed to decide their fate in line with UN resolution. Those on our side are not complaining, but those on the side of India don’t want to stay with them and they have the right to self-determination. India should allow them to exercise that right freely.
Is it that the UN resolution on the plebiscite is not enforceable or what is responsible for the continued delay in enforcement of the resolution?
India said that there will be no third-party mediation on the issue. India is insisting that the issue is bilateral, but it is not a bilateral issue, it is an international issue. This is an issue between two nuclear states. If the Kashmiri are interested in staying with India, they will have no reason to turn the area into a police state and deny everybody access to the area.
They blame Pakistan for inciting the Kashmiri people, but the truth is that these people are armless, they only use pebble to defend themselves against the brutality and force of Indian soldiers. There is a need for a third party to mediate between the two sides in this conflict. Because they cannot be judges over their cases, that is not logical. India is tactically killing the young people in the area with the sole intention of changing the demographic of the area. They are empowering the Hindu community to buy land and establish businesses in the area.
What option is left for Pakistan especially now that India has violated the UN resolution and is still perpetrating human rights abuses in the area?
This is a serious concern and the option are grave. We are a small country compared to India. You see that Kashmir also shares a border with China and we are all concerned. They cannot revoke the UN resolution because that would amount to changing the status of Kashmir and it is a violation of international legal instruments. That is why we commemorate Kashmir Solidarity Day every February 5, to highlight these things and draw global attention to them.
This kind of atrocity should not be happening in the 21st Century. If the UN is unable to resolve this issue then who else? We can only tell the United Nations to resolve the issue, we can tell the Indians to resolve the issue, we can tell the world community to come and sit and resolve the issue. By changing the law, India is changing the demographic of Kashmir and they are beginning to commit genocide by eliminating the people. They are also blinding Pakistan indirectly. Our concern is that this issue is happening between two nuclear powers, this is a nuclear flashpoint, it would not take time before it, unfortunately, transform to that stage. And if it changes to that stage, it will be devastating to the world.
Again, Buhari warns diplomats against interfering in Nigeria’s politics
Would this issue not snowball out of proportion if the US and China decide to get involved to protect their interests?
It is a regional issue or border issue between Pakistan and India. We don’t want it to be a place for international politics, where somebody will come here for China or China will come here for someone else. We don’t want that, it is a very simple issue that has been made complicated by the Indians by not respecting the decisions as it concerns UN resolution. UN resolution is the only answer, the world powers should not come to Kashmir to sit down and do their international politics here. Wherever they are, they can pressurize India to do the right thing. This is the oldest outstanding issue with the United Nations.
Will you go to war with India if the UN fails to resolve the impasse in record time?
The argument is that it is going to be very dangerous if this option is considered. We truly want to avoid this last option. While people are pressuring us to use this last option, this option means complete darkness. We don’t want this option and that is why we are using the most decent approach of ventilating our frustration by communicating our concerns and at the same time using the press to draw the attention of the world to the issue.
The Indian authorities have also alleged that the Pakistani government is using Kashmir to train and arm terrorists. How valid is this allegation?
Alleging something against someone is the easiest thing. But what proof do they have? When they have their crisis in mainland India, they would fabricate all manners of things and blame it on Pakistan. They killed their soldiers and blamed it on Pakistan. When it was investigated it was discovered that they killed their soldiers. We are only supporting Kashmir people morally, politically, and diplomatically.
