The PPP: Betraying Bhutto and Kashmir
The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi yesterday betrayed the Kashmir cause and in turn the state of Pakistan by legitimising the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Moreover, as an important leader of the PPP, Qureshi also betrayed his party and its founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the most vocal voice since the Quaid in his support for the Kashmir cause and never legitimised nor recognised Indian occupied Kashmir. Kashmir for him was never a part of India as the now legendary video below shows:
In contrast the Zardari-led PPP seems timid and foreover on the back foot vis a vis Kashmir and relations with India. A video of the full press conference in which Qureshi uttered his offensive words has not been made available however Pakistani TV channels have focused on the key aspects.
Indeed the disgraceful remarks of betrayal made by our very own Foreign Minister were missed on the whole except by Talat Hussain it seems who drew his viewers attention to them on Live with Talat aired on 16 July (35 min 35 sec -38 min 34 sec). The cowardly comments of Qureshi have been noted by me verbatim and they were as follows:
‘The Jammu and Kashmir issue and the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir were taken up in the parleys that we had today. In fact three organisations, Kashmir based organisations wrote to me and wanted me to highlight and discuss these issues, and I did.
Issues of human rights and violations, issue of the imposition of curfew in a number of cities, the issue of the use of the Indian armed forces for the maintenance of law and order and the loss of life are issues of concern of everyone, including the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir. You must have seen a statement, of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in which he has welcomed this engagement and is of the view that progress’
The words in bold refer to the offending remarks which legitimise the Indian occupation of Kashmir no less. Never before has any Pakistani official invested with executive authority uttered even a single word that recognised the Indian occupation of Kashmir.
Qureshi went further than that by recognising the ‘elected government of Jammu and Kashmir’, a so-called government that Pakistan has never recognised since its very creation. Furthermore Qureshi adds fuel to his own funeral pyre by quoting the so-called Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir to substantiate his points on engagement.
In summary, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan recognised the legitimacy of the Indian occupation of Pakistani land and then waxed eloquent of its occupiers, all whilst hosting the occupying state’s own Foreign Minister! I am sure that no Bollywood director nor any other Indian enjoying a wet dream could have scripted a better choice of words for the Pakistan Foreign Minister to utter in a press conference with his Indian counterpart.
Qureshi’s words are I hope, a slip of the tongue and not the new Kashmir policy of the Zardari-led PPP. If it is Pakistan’s new Kashmir policy then it is akin to dancing on the graves of the Kashmiri and Pakistani dead. I await a retraction and a public apology from Qureshi himself, for anything less will be a betrayal of the Kashmir cause and a gross betrayal of the Pakistan’s People Party’s founder and Kashmir’s most vocal voice, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
