Making history of the K-word

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam?s statement that Pakistan had never claimed Kashmir as its integral component is part of a process of extracting the country from an entanglement of its own choosing.

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam’s statement that Pakistan had never claimed Kashmir as its integral component is part of a process of extracting the country from an entanglement of its own choosing. Formally, Pakistan has never claimed Kashmir, because it lacks the legal right to do so. The Independence of India Act of 1947 that created the dominions of India and Pakistan gave the princely states the unfettered right to join either of the two dominions. The issue of contiguity, which in the case of Jammu and Kashmir lay with both dominions, qualified this right. Legally, J&K joined the Indian Union when its ruler signed the Instrument of Accession to India and this right was not abrogated by the UN.

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Pakistan tried to grab the territory by force by sending in tribal raiders along with its own military personnel, but was unable to capture the Kashmir Valley. For almost six months after this invasion, Karachi did not acknowledge its own role in the conflict. Yet, Aslam is correct in stating that whatever right Pakistan has flows from the UN resolutions that made plebiscite a condition for its final resolution. These UN resolutions were flawed from the outset and that is why, despite more than a decade of effort, the UN was unable to get them implemented. As a result, Pakistan’s relationship between the two entities it controls — Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas — is ambiguous, if not downright illegal.

The idea that Kashmir was meant to be part of Pakistan, too, has no basis in the events just prior to Independence. Till the very end, Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah backed the unfettered right of the rulers to choose which dominion they wished to join, or even stay independent. Sardar Patel and VP Menon were able to integrate the bulk of the princely states into the Indian Union by the end of July 1947. This persuaded Jinnah to make a grab for Kashmir. Not surprisingly, Ms Aslam’s comment drew protests from Pakistani journalists. You have to know your history before you can draw lessons from it.