Assembly elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years. Voting will be held in three phases in the 90-seat Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Campaigning is in full swing for this. If there is an election in Jammu and Kashmir, then PoK is bound to become an issue. Now the issue of PoK has been raised once again in the midst of the elections.
On Sunday, in an election rally in Ramban, Jammu, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh mentioned PoK. He said that Pakistan considers the people of PoK as foreigners, but we consider them as our own.
He said, ‘After seeing the development of Jammu and Kashmir, the people of PoK will say that we do not want to stay with Pakistan. We want to go with India.’ Rajnath Singh further said, ‘The people of Pakistan consider the people of PoK as foreigners, but India has always considered them as its own. Come and be a part of us.’
In such a situation, let’s know whether the government of Pakistan really considers PoK as foreign land? And how did this part of India go into the hands of Pakistan?
When Pakistan considered PoK as foreign land
What Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the election rally of Rambaan was actually based on an affidavit of the Pakistani government. This affidavit was filed by the Pakistani government in the Islamabad High Court.
Actually, this whole matter was related to the disappearance of PoK poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah. Shah disappeared from his residence in Islamabad on May 15 this year. On May 29, he was detained from Gujjar Kohala village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of PoK. Shah was arrested by Muzaffarabad Police under several cases including anti-terrorism law.
The Pakistan government had claimed that Shah has been arrested under several charges including terrorism. Whereas Shah’s wife had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court saying that her husband has been kidnapped. In her petition, she had demanded that Shah be presented in the court and action be taken against those who kidnapped him.
During the hearing in the High Court, Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani had criticized the intelligence agencies of Pakistan for forcefully kidnapping people.
Then Judge Kiyani had asked to present Shah in the court. On this, the Additional Attorney General (AAG) had said that Shah cannot be presented in the court because he is in police custody in PoK. AAG had argued that PoK is a ‘foreign territory’, which has its own constitution, its own courts. He had argued that the decisions of the courts of Pok are considered as ‘decisions of foreign courts’. On this, the High Court had questioned that when PoK is a foreign land, then how can the Pakistani army enter there?
Also read: How was PoK formed after partition? Read- Why did the Kashmir issue reach the United Nations
PoK is not a part of Pakistan
The constitution of the neighbouring country says that the territory of Pakistan will include the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh along with the federal capital. However, it also says that any state or region included in the region by merger or any means will also be a part of Pakistan. But there is no mention of PoK in it. Pakistan calls PoK ‘Azad Kashmir’.
Kashmir is mentioned in Article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan. It says that PoK will be a part of Pakistan only when the people here decide to join the country.
However, the question remains unanswered whether the people of PoK want to join Pakistan or not. Therefore, PoK still remains a ‘foreign land’ for Pakistan.
How is PoK?
POK is actually divided into two parts. First- which Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir. And second- Gilgit Baltistan. The part called Azad Kashmir is adjacent to India’s Kashmir. Whereas, Gilgit-Baltistan is in the northernmost part of Kashmir, bordering Ladakh.
This entire area is spread over an area of 90,972 square kilometers. Azad Jammu-Kashmir is spread over 13,297 square kilometers and Gilgit-Baltistan is spread over 72,495 square kilometers.
POK is very important from a strategic point of view. It shares its border with many countries. In the west, it shares its border with Pakistan’s Punjab province and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In the north-west, it shares its border with Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, in the north with China and in the east with India’s Jammu and Kashmir.
In the year 1949, an agreement was reached between the leaders of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistani government. This is called the Karachi Agreement. Under the agreement, the leaders of Azad Jammu and Kashmir handed over Gilgit-Baltistan to Pakistan.
Today the situation is that the part of Kashmir which is occupied by Pakistan is very backward. This is the reason why the people of the so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan demand independence.
Also read: Why does PoK want independence from Pakistan? 5 factors due to which the local people are angry
How did Pakistan illegally occupy the land
Just a few months after independence, on 22 October 1947, hundreds of trucks filled with thousands of tribesmen from Pakistan entered Kashmir. Their aim was to merge Kashmir with Pakistan. These were the tribesmen who had the support of the Pakistani government and army.
On 27 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the document of merger with India. The very next day the Indian Army landed in Kashmir. Slowly the Indian Army started pushing back the Pakistani tribesmen.
It is said that on the advice of the then Governor General Mountbatten of India, Jawaharlal Nehru took this issue to the United Nations on January 1, 1948. That year, four proposals came in the United Nations regarding Kashmir.
By the time all this was happening in the United Nations, the Pakistanis had illegally occupied a large area of Kashmir. A ceasefire was signed between the two countries with the mediation of the United Nations. But it was also decided that whatever part of Kashmir India had, it would remain with India. And the part which was occupied by Pakistan would go to it. This is called POK.
In 1974, a law was made by the name of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Because of this law, it has its own separate government. It has its own President and Prime Minister. It has its own judicial system and police.
What is the situation now?
On 3 June 1948, resolution number 51 was passed in the United Nations. It was decided that the United Nations Commission on India-Pakistan would be sent to both countries. In December 1948, this commission submitted its report. It talked about referendum and ceasefire.
Despite the resolution being passed in the United Nations, the Pakistani army did not withdraw from POK. Another resolution was passed in September 1952. According to this, 3 to 6 thousand soldiers from Pakistan and 12 to 18 thousand soldiers from India can stay in Kashmir.
After the 1971 war, the Shimla Agreement was signed between the two countries in 1972. It was decided in the Shimla Agreement that no third party’s interference would be allowed in the talks on the Kashmir dispute, even if it was the United Nations. Only India and Pakistan would resolve this dispute together.
But Pakistan kept internationalizing this issue. Pakistani leaders deliberately raise the Kashmir issue in the United Nations many times. Whereas, India has made it clear that this is a dispute between two countries and no third party will interfere in this matter.
However, the Kashmir issue has not been resolved yet. Pakistan keeps worsening the situation in Kashmir through terrorism. Whereas, India has made it clear that until terrorism stops, there will be no talks on Kashmir.
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