Pakistan’s civil and military leadership on Wednesday argued that peace in South Asia was directly linked to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. This assertion came a day after two senior U.S. commanders reportedly told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan was not sincere in its intent to go after the Haqqani network and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
While the Pakistan military rejected this allegation, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Khalid Shameem Wynne drew the Kashmir linkage to regional peace in Islamabad and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar made the same submission at the OIC Contact Group meeting on Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in Kazakhstan.
Gen. Wynne’s contention was that as long as the Kashmir issue remains unresolved, this region is likely to remain unstable. “We must therefore continue to find ways and means to find a just solution of the Kashmir dispute as it is only fair to all the people who dwell in this region and the world at large.”
And, in the Kazakh capital, Ms. Rabbani said peace and security in South Asia was directly linked to a peaceful resolution of the J&K dispute. Informing the gathering of Pakistan’s commitment to constructively engage with India for a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue on J&K, she said Islamabad would continue to push for associating the “true representatives” of Kashmiris with the India-Pakistan dialogue on the issue.
Meanwhile, reacting sharply to reports suggesting that two senior U.S. military commanders had told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that Pakistan knew the whereabouts of Omar and was ignoring American requests to find him, military spokesman Athar Abbas rejected this casting of aspersions on the desire and capability of the Pakistan Army to fight militancy.
“The Army is engaged in active operations against militants in three of the seven agencies in the tribal belt whereas in the remaining agencies we are intensely involved in consolidation and stabilization. There is an intelligence sharing mechanism where we promptly react to any actionable intelligence that is provided in time. Our concerns and constraints must be taken into consideration before making any statement questioning our commitment to fighting militancy.”
Launching operations against the Haqqani network has been a long-standing demand of the U.S. that Pakistan has warded off; partly on the premise that it cannot open too many fronts against terrorists – thereby spreading its forces thin -- and also because the Haqqanis have never targeted the country. All of last year when the U.S. suggested that al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, Islamabad had similarly sought actionable intelligence.
Keywords: Kashmir issue, peace, stability, South Asia, India, Pakistan, Indo-Pak ties
It is a very strange and inconceivable act on the part of Pakistani officials to link Kashmir issue - which is an internal issue between India and Pakistan - with a terrorist issue which is creating an international problem. From this news item, it appears Pakistani officials saying that they will not do anything to eradicate terrorism from its territory unless a domestic issue of Kashmir is settled. The Kashmir issue has become a prestigious issue between both countries, even though Pakistan is not in a position to handle Kashmir economically. They cann't take care of the territory they already have, how can they take care of an additional territory to its geographical area. The US government should not expect any concrete help from Pakistan towards elimination of outlaws groups because the very existence of these groups helps Pakistan to get aid from the USA. Pakistan does not realise that by letting militancy exist, it is digging a deeper hole for the country.
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