Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-administered Kashmir – The prime minister ofPakistan-administered Kashmir has called for the Pakistani government toact “militarily” in the Kashmir dispute with neighbouring India, on theanniversary of Indian air attacks on Pakistani soil that sparked a militarystandoff between the nuclear-armed countries.
Raja Farooq Haider, the elected prime minister of Pakistan-administeredKashmir, a semi-autonomous state, spoke to Al Jazeera in an exclusiveinterview on Wednesday.
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“The government of Pakistan needs to take some daring steps,” he said inthe capital Muzaffarabad. “They have to give India a fundamental punch in[Indian-administered] Kashmir. This is my considered opinion.”
Asked what kind of action he was asking for, Haider said it should be bothdiplomatic and military, and that he conveyed this opinion to the Pakistanigovernment, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“If you do not have military force, a diplomatic action does not work.”
Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars since gainingindependence in 1947 over the mountainous territory of Kashmir, which bothclaim in full but administer separate portions of. The two territories areseparated by a de facto border known as the Line of Control.
On February 26, 2019, India carried out air raids on Pakistani territory inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with at least four bombs hitting amountainside and farming village, causing no apparent casualties.
India claimedlinktheraids killed “a very large number of [Jaish-e-Muhammad] terrorists,trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis”.
The Jaish-e-Muhammad armed group claimed responsibility for a suicideattack earlier in February last year that killed more than 40 Indiansecurity personnel in the Indian-administered Kashmir town of Pulwama.Diplomatic pressure
Since the air attacks, and the ensuing military standoff that saw Pakistanshoot down an Indian fighter jet, tensions have been high between the SouthAsian neighbours.
Shelling across the Line of Control killed at least 60 civilians inPakistan-administered Kashmir in 2019, a marked uptick from previous years,according to Pakistani government data.
India says Pakistani shelling into Indian-administered Kashmir has alsokilled several civilians, although the government did not provide specificdata.
In August, India revoked a special constitutional status forIndian-administered Kashmir, effectively absorbing the territory into itspolitical and administrative mainstream.
The move was decried by Pakistan as unacceptable, given the territory issubject to a bilateral dispute.
Haider alleged India’s move to integrate the portion of Kashmir it controlswas “an attempt to change the demography” of the region by allowingoutsiders to migrate there.
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Today in India we are seeing the Nazi-inspired RSS ideology take over anuclear-armed state of over a billion people. Whenever a racist ideologybased on hatred takes over, it leads to bloodshed.link
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Haider said he submitted a proposal to Pakistan’s Foreign Office earlierthis month to ramp up diplomatic engagement on the Kashmir issue.
“I have suggested that [the Pakistan-administered Kashmir government] openoffices in the P5 countries [and in] Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia,Indonesia, Iran and Turkey, as well as establish embassies in Geneva and EUheadquarters at Brussels, and at the UN headquarters in New York,” he said.
“We need to work in these countries to save people from India’s fascistdesigns. [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is a new Hitler of the 21stcentury.”
Speaking in the same vein, Pakistani Prime Minister Khan on Wednesdaycriticised Indian police and security forces over violencelinkinthe capital New Delhi that has seen at least 24 people killedlinkinsectarian attacks.
“Today in India we are seeing the Nazi-inspired RSS ideology take over anuclear-armed state of over a billion people,” saidlink Khan,referring to the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organisation, withwhich the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is closely affiliated.
“Whenever a racist ideology based on hatred takes over, it leads tobloodshed.”
Haider said he was wary of US President Donald Trump’s repeated offers tomediate over the crisis in Kashmir.
“I am against the US mediation because it will always be in the favour ofIndia,” he said. “They have interests in India. These days they havecompulsions [regarding Pakistan] because of Afghanistan [and the peaceprocess], but otherwise when would they ever take our side?”
Haider said he did approve, however, of the idea of international mediationin general as “it means that Kashmir is not being treated as an internalissue of India”.
*Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s digital correspondent in Pakistan. Hetweets @AsadHashim link*
