The Rhetoric of 300 battle for Kashmir

Pakistani caretaker PM Anwarul Haq Kakkar aspires to define the acme of lunacy and his latest statement on Kashmir in Muzaffarabad, PoJK, a repressed colony of Pakistan, was both ironic yet a comic delight for the attendees.

‘We are prepared for 300 battles for Kashmir!’

Containing their laughter and pity, not one mainstream leader reiterated the statement. But the local daily Awami Awaz, (the voice of the people) did not mind nipping Pakistan’s Kashmir dream in the bud, declaring that the PM is “living in fools’ paradise”. The newspaper article mentions fear saying that the “announcement of 300 wars with Kashmir can become a big threat for Pakistan on security and the economic front”.

Though Pakistan has no diplomatic influence or international credibility, such a fiery statement against the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370 hit the jugular nerve of Pakistan’s uneducated but passionate population, and amassed some fanfare among the unemployed, the target audience. By keeping them engaged on the roads with no food to eat at home, Pakistan manages to use their jazba (spirit) alive using the dogbone of Kashmir.

In the newspaper articles, educated Pakistanis have criticized the leadership over the madness of conquering Kashmir. While Pakistan’s focus should be to tackle the Taliban hideouts on both sides of the Durand Line and maintain a good relationship with India in the aftermath of the Taliban’s growing terror influence on Pakistan, it is making enemies with its neighbor. The article pleads the Pak leadership consider peace treaties and friendly ties with India in the backdrop of unrest in all parts of Pakistan threatening the existence of the state with its present boundaries. Pakistan neither grants Balochistan nor the occupied regions of Jammu-Kashmir equal constitutional rights nor does it reimburse them for its stolen resources by Pakistan.

The PoJK burns daily in the war against its captor fighting for dismemberment from Pakistan. Even the common Pakistani is demanding the government – ‘Will it not be better to have a referendum in Gillgit-Baltistan and PoJK to make them parts of Pakistan constitutionally, give the citizens equal rights, to put an end to the Kashmir dispute?’

But it’s hard to fight Pakistan with logic.

PM Kakkar did not address the destitute condition of the Pakistan-controlled side of Kashmir. He wants to “advocate just the struggle of Kashmir from forefront” but cannot feed the population of PoJK that is deprived of the electricity that it itself produces. Wheat, clean water, employment, education, and all the essentials of life are alien concepts to PoJK citizens; non-provision of these is also violation of human rights.

Kakkar’s irresponsible statement is reflective of the Army and the government’s violent state of mind that prioritizes wars over nation-building and concern for citizens. It shows how Pakistan is ready to spend the alms it receives through begging, for weapons and military needs over feeding its children.

And this is how the vicious cycle of begging continues in Pakistan. People are forced into begging and criminal activities to live another day.

Drug and human trafficking have become the choice of profession. And when Pakistanis are imprisoned abroad for all kinds of crimes, the Pak government refuses to own up to their citizens!

According to Dawn newspaper Pakistan, “14,286 Pakistanis are languishing in jails abroad”. Between 2010 to 2023, at least 183 Pakistanis were executed abroad and 171 of these executions were carried out in Saudi Arabia where begging is considered a punishable crime.

Begging is the third preferred and the latest employment of Pakistanis. Pak’s Overseas Ministry Secretary revealed that “90 percent of beggars arrested in foreign countries were of Pakistani origin.” These people reach the Western shores via trafficking boats or exploit the pilgrim visa to travel to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. Data also disclosed that pickpockets in holy Islamic sites such as Haram, were largely Pak nationals.

In July this year, a Pak businessman held up a commercial flight begging and lecturing the passengers onboard on how Allah will bless them if they donate money to build a madrassa (religious Islamic school) in Lahore. More shocking is that while he could’ve asked for money to feed the poor given Pakistan’s severe economic crisis, he considered the madrassa cause more important. Pakistan’s Kashmir cries have no legitimacy and are only a carrot for the blind population. It is this madrassa fascination of Pakistanis that the state uses to keep them excited over Kashmir while the corrupt leaders amass generous wealth for generations ahead.