On March 15, the Indian Parliament passed a unanimous resolution on Jammu & Kashmir firmly reiterating that the border State, including the territories under illegal occupation of Pakistan, “is and shall always be an integral part of India”. The resolution said that any attempt from any quarter to interfere in India’s internal affairs will be met resolutely and with complete unity”. The resolution, inter-alia, also said that “the House rejects interference in the internal affairs of India and calls upon Pakistan National Assembly to desist from such acts of support for extremists and terrorist elements”.

It was not an ordinary resolution. It was a historic resolution that represented the national will and national resolve that no country will be allowed to tinker even slightly with the territorial integrity of India whatever the situation. On February 22, 1994 also, the Parliament had adopted a unanimous resolution on Jammu & Kashmir and warned Pakistan of dire consequences in case it continued to export terror to India and bleed and convulse the nation. It is a different story that the Government of India did nothing to retrieve the Jammu & Kashmir territories under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.

What had provoked the Indian lawmakers belonging to all the parties, including the otherwise unwilling Congress and National Conference, which considers Jammu & Kashmir still an unresolved issue, to pass an unambiguous resolution was the Pakistan National Assembly’s atrocious resolution on Jammu & Kashmir on March 14, 2013, and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist of Kashmir origin Afzal Guru, who was lawfully hanged and buried within the premises of Tihar Jail, Delhi, on February 9, 2013. Guru, in collaboration with his Pakistani masters, had masterminded the December 13, 2001 terror attack on Indian Parliament.

Had the dedicated and alert security force personnel not acted on time and made the supreme sacrifice for their motherland, the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists would have surely succeeded in blasting the Parliament and liquidating important leaders. Credit goes to those who staked their invaluable lives to save the country from an eventuality that had the potential of destabilising the polity and helping the enemy accomplish its break-India agenda.

What has been happening in the aggressor country since the first week of April clearly suggests that the Pakistani establishment and political parties have considered the Indian resolution on Jammu & Kashmir as no more than a piece of literature unworthy of serious consideration. On the contrary, developments which unfolded during the past few days in the hostile nation established beyond doubt that Islamabad and political actors in Pakistan will continue to interfere in the internal affairs of India brazenly and rake up the so-called Kashmir issue again and again.

Political parties in Pakistan have turned so hostile towards India that they have included Jammu & Kashmir in their respective election manifestos very prominently. The election will be held on May 11. One of their major election planks is this part of Jammu & Kashmir. In fact, these election manifestos have highlighted the Kashmir issue as one of the major components of their foreign policy. A common feature in these manifestos is that they have described this part of Jammu & Kashmir as a “disputed” territory and the “right to self-determination” as the “inalienable right of Kashmiris” (read Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis, who do not constitute even 10 per cent of the population of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, as it existed on August 15, 1947.)

The people of Pakistan-occupied-Jammu & Kashmir (POJK), including the Shiite Muslim-dominated Gilgit-Baltistan, which has become the hub of anti-India activities being indulged in by both Pakistan and China for decades now to weaken India’s position on the strategic northern frontiers, is a region of non-Kashmiri-speaking people. They are ethnically different from the people who inhabit the very small Kashmir Valley, the epicenter of anti-national activities willfully engineered by the vested interests in the political establishment and outside to promote the Pakistani communal cause.   

The 110-page election manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) says: “Special efforts will be made to resolve the issue of Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the relevant UN resolutions (read August 13, 1948 resolution)… and in consonance with the aspirations of the people of the territory for their inherent right of self-determination”.

The manifesto of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) says: “We will pursue the goal of stability and peace-building in the region as a specific policy priority without sacrificing our diplomatic and moral commitment to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmir is a core issue for us”.

The election manifesto of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) says it “identifies the resolution of Kashmir conflict as one of the core national interests” and that “progressive detente can help both the countries if centered on conflict resolution”.

The manifesto of former President General Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League Party (APMLP), which is insignificant in the political scene, says: “There would be no peace in the region without the resolution of outstanding issues with India, including disputes over Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek… No peace is possible unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved, along with the Siachen and Sir Creek issues”.   

The approach of other religio-political formations in the fray, such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamait Ulama-e-Islam (Fazal-ul-Rehman), Mutahida Quomi Movement (MQM) and similar outfits towards Jammu & Kashmir is no different. All these formations have held out a solemn commitment in their respective manifestos that they will work with single-minded devotion for the resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the “aspirations of Kashmiris”. The JI has gone to the extent of saying it would not accept anything short of a “plebiscite” in this part of Jammu & Kashmir. The most significant aspect of the whole political situation in Pakistan is what the PML-N has said: “all the political parties of Pakistan have a clear policy on the issue” (of Kashmir). In other words, they are one against India (just as all Palestinians, without exception, are one against Israel.)    

Thus, the political and religio-political parties of Pakistan have made the so-called Kashmir issue the cornerstone of their foreign policy vis-à-vis India. The PPP leader and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has not lagged behind. Taking an anti-India plunge and openly interfering in our internal affairs, he threatened on April 17 that “Pakistan will continue to highlight the Kashmir ‘cause’ at international forums” and that “the hanging of Afzal Guru through the abuse of judicial process has further aggravated and angered the people of Kashmir”.  Zardari, considered the most corrupt politician in Pakistan, raked up the execution of Afzal Guru in his address to the joint session of the sham Islamabad-controlled POJK Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.

The Congress-dominated fast-crumbling hotchpotch UPA Government, which is being adjudged by one and all as the most corrupt government India has ever seen after independence, knows all that is happening in Pakistan as far as Jammu & Kashmir State is concerned. It knows that Pakistan and its political and religio-political parties have been openly interfering in the internal affairs of India by raking up Kashmir in a big way, but it has not uttered a word against Islamabad.

Should this indifferent attitude of the Congress-led minority UPA Government be taken to mean that it is not committed to implementing the March 15 resolution? The answer has to be in the affirmative. It must remain a matter of shame for the Congress and the UPA Government that it is not respecting the nation’s mandate. God, save India from this party of “termites”.