 and the foreign minister has written a letter to the UN Secretary General to register Pakistan’s apprehensions on India’s use of cluster bombs on LoC and HR’s violations in the valley. Civilian citizens are targeted in this attack which is a violation of humanitarian law. This trend reflects India’s frustration and attempt to create a likely scenario of military crisis on Pakistan’s border through any false flag operation to deflect criticism on Kashmir. India wants to create diplomatic leverage for it through such staged drama to pressurize Pakistan and scuttle international pressure on Kashmir.
NSC meeting and declaration reflected a responsible approach of Pakistan towards the situation in Jammu Kashmir. Indian intentions are clear and if India takes further practical steps to repeal the special status of Kashmir and curb Kashmiri resistance through use of force, it will increase problems for Pakistan. The Kashmir issue has no military solution but if Indian oppressive policies continue in Jammu Kashmir, it will fuel sentiments of non-state forces in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to respond to Indian aggression through violent means which can pollute the indigenous Kashmiri peaceful political movement. It can also create a regional security situation of cross border movement in South Asia which will have perilous security implications. Therefore, a holistic approach is required to deal with this situation.
USA, Russia and China have emphasized to Pakistan and India to solve the Kashmir issue peacefully. So, in any future conflict scenario, Pakistan will need strong brinkmanship to deal with the situation because of limited international support on the issue. Pakistan only has diplomatic options on Kashmir policy, while India is emphasizing on a military option in Kashmir and deflect international pressure by creating confrontation. India has stated the policy option of a ‘military standoff’ in order to exhaust the weak economy of the opponent which cannot bear the cost of such a crisis. In the past, Indian military doctrines have repeatedly emphasized on the need for developing standoff capabilities in order to deal with any emerging security challenge from Pakistan.
The resistance of Kashmiris to the Indian army’s atrocities in IOK will create more impact than the response of Pakistan and China on this development. Pakistan must individually discuss the Kashmir issue with UNSC permanent members before calling a UNSC meeting and UNGA session. US considers Kashmir as dispute between Pakistan and India but it will not use its influence for the implementation of UNSC resolutions. The US wants a bilaterally negotiated resolution of Kashmir between Pakistan and India whose chances are bleak in the given circumstances.
At the societal level, Pakistan must give the leading role to the Kashmiri diaspora living abroad in Europe and USA to highlight the Kashmir issue at an international level. At the state level, Pakistan must develop a bilateral mechanism in the shape of contact groups to keep update major power capitals about the erupting human rights situation in Jammu Kashmir.
India has developed strong military standoff capabilities and has expressed it as their strategic tool in Indian land warfare doctrine, 2018. They want to pressurize Pakistan by creating any situation of military standoff and crisis with Pakistan on the international border or at the LoC as a lever to maneuver the latter’s Kashmir policy. Pakistan needs to maintain military readiness at high alert to deal with any action of Indian aggression. But most pressing matter is to bring clarity in Pakistan’s diplomatic strategy on Kashmir policy. Pakistan needs to adopt multilateral diplomacy as long term policy tool on Kashmir because diplomacy cannot work as an offensive move rather it operates as a long chain of small and consistent maneuvers to garner a favorable environment for operationalizing state policy in an anarchical international system.