E-Paper
EU assails Pakistan on Kashmir
Pakistan react angrily to the European Parliament report calling it partisan, reports Nilova Roy Chaudhury.
Pakistan has reacted angrily to a draft report on Kashmir prepared by the European Parliament, which is highly critical of the situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, calling it partisan, one-sided and the opinion of "an individual."
The Indian government, which has also been pulled up for human rights violations by the armed forces in Kashmir, chose not to react, saying it had taken note of the report.
The report was presented days before Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, spoke to an Indian news channel, NDTV, with 'suggestions to resolve the Kashmir issue.'
Prefacing its observations with an acknowledgement that the European Union has not been invited to play a mediatory role in Jammu and Kashmir, the report points out that of the two nuclear armed nations, "India is the world's largest democracy and has a functioning democracy at local level, whereas Pakistan still has to show that it is respecting democratic principles."
Commenting on the impact of the devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005, the report says it "is appalled that the already minimal basic 'rights' enjoyed by Pakistani Kashmiris before the earthquake (ie food, water, shelter, sanitation, etc) have been decimated, compounding a situation notable for a lack of democracy and the existence of oppressive and unjust laws, especially those applicable to women." J&K, however, was "less affected and has been better able to cope."
It particularly notes that, "even without the earthquake, any plebiscite would have been meaningless without a change in policy from Islamabad. Given the enormous seriousness of the humanitarian situation, continuing calls for a plebiscite on the final status of J&K are wholly out of step with the needs of the local population," the report says.
It "regrets that Pakistan has consistently failed to fulfil its obligations to introduce meaningful and democratic structures in Pakistan occupied Kashmir; and notes in particular the continuing absence of Kashmiri representation in the Pakistan National Assembly." The report also "is concerned that the Gilgit-Baltistan region enjoys no form of democratic representation whatsoever."
The report "urges Pakistan to revisit its concept of democratic accountability, minority and women's rights in AJK, which as elsewhere, are key to improving conditions for the people and tackling the menace of terrorism."
Not only lack of democracy, but fostering terrorism against India is what Pakistan stands accused of in the report. It "deplores documented human rights violations by the armed forces of India and the all too frequent incidents of terror and violence perpetrated by armed militant groups based in Pakistan." The report highlights the fact that Islamabad's feeble initial response to the earthquake provided a lever for the militant organisations like the "Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the renamed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba" to become "de facto providers of food", thus bolstering their credibility with the local population.
According to a senior official, "we can live with this report, but Pakistan should be more than worried."
Prepared by the Rapporteur for the EP, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, the report on 'Kashmir: present situation and future prospects' is likely to be adopted after a vote by the EP in March 2007.
Terming the EP's draft report, which totally rejected Islamabad's demand for plebiscite in Kashmir as fundamentally flawed and one-sided, Pakistan's envoy to the EU, Saeed Khalid, even claimed it would prove detrimental to the (Indo-Pak) peace process.
According to Pakistan's Ambassador to Britain, Maleeha Lodhi, the report reads like a "harangue on Pakistan, misrepresenting our position in sharp contrast to unquestioning endorsement of Indian stand point."
