Kashmir sell-out in Saudi Arabia

Kashmir Watch, March 9
BY Z G MUHAMMAD

A book on a shelf in my library set me thinking. Today, where does Kashmir stand in global politics? The book titled, "Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century "by Henry Kissinger published by Simon and Schuster in paperback a couple of years back with an Afterward by the author was widely acclaimed in the United States and was seen as the new bible for the country for its role in the post 9/11 world. The book by the recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Medal of Liberty, former Secretary of State had evoked an academic interest in me.

However, it was the opening paragraph of the first chapter, America at the Apex: Empire at leader that set me in the thinking mode. In this paragraph while relishing the United State's enjoying pre-eminence unrivaled by even the greatest empires of the past and the preponderant position it holds for bringing in international stability the author credited his country:

It meditated disputes in key trouble spots to the point that, in the Middle East, it had become an integral part of the peace process. So committed was the United States to this role that it almost ritually put itself forward as a mediator, occasionally even when it was not invited by all the parties involved as in the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan in July 99.

The first paragraph of this book by one of the most eminent foreign affairs experts in the world sufficiently suggests the importance Kashmir held in the global politics during the complete decade of nineties of the past century. In global politics it was equated with the Palestine problem- it was seen as cause for worry to the world for having emerged as a nuclear flashpoint. How Kashmir problem lost this position in the global politics calls for a thorough study by eminent experts. Many see Kashmir having been relegated to the backburner in the global politics to the ascendancy of Indian diplomacy over that of Pakistan- arch contestant to the dispute. Those highly caustic about former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's role on Kashmir see him for his timidity in the wake of 9/11 in the dock on this count.

Kashmir in the United States South-Asia policy undoubtedly was the dominant theme during early years of nineties. It started with the appointment of the Robin Raphel as the Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Bill Clinton Administration in May 1993. Before her appointment to this position in the State Department she was posted in American Embassy in India. It would not be an overstatement that during her posting in New Delhi for actively interacting with the various groups in Jammu & Kashmir she had become a household name in Srinagar. She emerged most controversial for New Delhi after her statement that Kashmir was a disputed territory and it could only find a solution in accordance with the United resolutions. The statement suggesting that the US did not recognize the validity of the instrument of Kashmir's accession to India was hailed in Pakistan and there was widespread condemnation against it in New Delhi. The media painted her as India's number one in the White House. A weekly published from Mumbai denounced her as a CIA operative in the State Department. Some New Delhi based commentators had seen in her statements a sinister move of creating an Independent state of Jammu and Kashmir. One commentator had written in a New Delhi daily, by questioning accession to India that it does not consider Kashmir as integral part of the Indian Union the US has spread out its plan for carving out an Independent state of Kashmir under its indirect rule, something it had worked out over past decades. These allegations that echoed like those of 1953, that had seen Sheikh Abdullah deposed found more takers in New Delhi than ever before- there was any commentator dove or hawk who did not analyze her statements on Kashmir.

The statements did create tremors in the diplomatic and political circles in the capital. Initially New Delhi looked at these remarks as personal attributes of the Assistant Secretary but it had soon become evident that she had articulated the views of the Clinton Administration about Kashmir. Notwithstanding hawks like former state governor Jagmohan asking the external affairs ministry to ignore the statement had put entire Indian diplomatic corp. in Washington literary on toes. It was during this period that when the United States called for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the people that has now often finding a refrain in the statements of the State Department.

The statement made by Robin Raphel was yet another watershed in US policy towards Kashmir after India and Pakistan resolving in Simla in 1972 to decide the problem bilaterally. The Clinton administration resolutely stuck to its Kashmir policy and towards the end of 1993, that the US considered the Kashmiri territory transferred by Pakistan to China in 1963 when Ayub Khan was the President also as disputed territory, whose future was yet to be decided. The Times of India prominently had carried this story attributed to Robin Raphel on the front page. The United States by and large stuck to this policy on Kashmir till 9/11.

Notwithstanding this policy once again finding resonance during the Obama election many see Kashmir slipping out of the International scene more particularly to Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf drifting away from Pakistan's traditional stand on Kashmir and testing his half-baked formula for the resolution of Kashmir. Many credit the former Pakistan for his pragmatism. He had not only succeeded in wooing Kashmir Hurriyat leaders towards his formula but even bringing in tow Kashmir leaders believing in the finality of accession of the state with Indian union. True, many continue to sing his song even today.

If seen in right historical perspective, it has been Indian diplomats outsmarting their counter parts that have almost removed Kashmir from the international scene than the changing priorities of the United States and other European countries. Indian diplomats have been smarter right from 1993, when the United States had shown a tilt towards Pakistan's Kashmir policy. In 1993, they carried a coup over Kashmir against Pakistan, when it had decided to introduce a resolution on human rights situation in Kashmir in the United Nations. But, for the successful lobbying by New Delhi had Pakistan dropped it towards the end. If it had succeeded in getting a resolution adopted on Kashmir in the United Nations it would have rendered void the clause six in the Simla Agreement that talks about holding of bilateral talks on Kashmir- and would have renewed the UN's role in Kashmir.

The stark realism is that India's foreign policy on Kashmir has been far successful as against Pakistan's repeated failures. It is not in the West only that it has been ebbed out but it is fast losing its standing in the Muslim world as well. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have what Pakistan Ambassador to the Kingdom Umar Khan Ali Sherzai described as time tested relations. But, the reception that was accorded to Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh during his visited signals beginning of a new chapter in the strategic relations between the two countries. The two countries signed ten important agreements and memorandums of understanding. The trading relations between the two countries which have entered into a new phase are going to overshadow the relation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. According to an American economist For India, Saudi Arabia comes fourth after China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates as its most-important trading partner.

India tried to improve its relation with Saudi Arabia in mid nineties. It used all possible channels to improve its relations with this important country that not only influences the Arab world but all member countries of OIC. In 2006 when King Abdullah became first Saudi King to visit India after 51 years, New Delhi saw to it that it enters into greater friendship that would give it clout in the Muslim World.

Having succeeded in preventing Pakistan raising Kashmir in any international forum it has been the OIC every year passing a ritualistic resolution on Kashmir that has been causing concern in the capital. It seems that New Delhi will use its new found clout in Saudi Arabia to prevent this forum adopting resolution on Kashmir calling for granting of right to self-determination to the people of the state. The Saudi Arabia has been supporting granting India observer status in the Organization. And with the changed partnership between the two countries it seems that India on the strength of its Muslim population will insist om getting a berth in the OIC.

Author is Srinagar, Kashmir based analyst. Email: zahidgm@gmail.com

Source: Kashmir Watch.
Link: http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showexclusives.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268127140&archive=&start_from=&ucat=15&var1news=value1news.