Friday, June 10, 2005
EDITORIAL: APHC and the UN resolutions
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) who is visiting Azad Kashmir and Pakistan these days, has said that the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir have run their course and there is need to look for a different mechanism to deal with the issue. Speaking at a press conference after meeting with General Pervez Musharraf, Mr Farooq said that the UN had failed to press India to honour the resolutions and there was no option but to work out a new formula.
Mr Farooq is right about the UN resolutions. But he should have mentioned, especially to the Pakistani audience, that these resolutions were passed under Chapter VI rather than Chapter VII of the UN charter. Consequently, even technically the UN was never mandated to mediate between Pakistan and India without the acceptance by both of such a role for it. Had these resolutions come under Chapter VII, they would have had a more binding nature and the UNSC would have been mandated to ensure compliance by both parties. However, as things stand, the dispute on Kashmir is linked to, and takes sustenance from, these resolutions.
In the event, while it may be important for purposes of practical diplomacy and conflict resolution to look for solutions elsewhere, reference to these resolutions remains important for both Pakistan and the Kashmiris to retain their locus standi as parties to the dispute.
Having set this aside, it is encouraging to note that the APHC at least the moderate faction is prepared to get its act together and plug into the normalisation process initiated by the January 6, 2004 Islamabad Declaration, which includes talks to resolve the issue of Kashmir.
Two factors, however, require some thinking. Mr Farooq wants a time-bound framework to resolve the issue. So does Pakistan. The question is: What kind of time limit are we looking at even if one accepts the fact that the problem cannot be allowed to fester ad infinitum? Secondly, if ground realities have rendered obsolete the UN resolutions, what alternatives can the APHC think of, if it hasnt already? Mr Farooq had previously indicated that he does not have a formula. He has now said that they (the APHC delegates) have discussed General Musharraf's region-based scheme and found it interesting. However, Mr Farooq has stressed that they would not accept a division of Kashmir on religious lines or allow the Line of Control to be turned into an international border. Yet, he is prepared to look at General Musharraf's region-based de-militarisation and ethnic-based partition.
Moving away from the UN resolutions means the APHC's work is cut out for it. How will it prove to India and the rest of the world that it truly represents the Kashmiris? Will it continue to wait for cues from Islamabad or take the initiative on what is good for the Kashmiris? Would it be prepared to contest elections if India did not insist on holding such an exercise within the Indian constitution? The issue of representation is also important because Mr Farooq insists that a dialogue process must include the Kashmiris. For this requirement to become a reality, the APHC will have to work out a plan to prove its representative character. We hope that the present visit has helped the two sides clear some of the cobwebs on how to go about these issues and work out a joint strategy.
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