Kashmir 1

It is a well known fact the Security Council resolution on Kashmir, which came into effect on Jan. 1, 1949, was to establish and enforce a cease-fire line between the opposing Indian and Pakistani armies. The resolution also demanded that the cease- fire was to be followed by a free and impartial plebiscite in the whole area. Indeed, Prime Minister Nehru had initially agreed that the plebiscite be held as soon as possible.

Amazingly, however, Ramakrishna Chitrapu (The Jakarta Post, June 17, 1996) claimed that according to the second article of the same resolution, Pakistan had to surrender, in spite of the cease-fire line, the portion of the area it had gained through military operations to India before any plebiscite may be implemented. One cannot help wondering whether this second article claimed by Chitrapu was deliberately misrepresented or simply fictitious, The reason is how was it logically possible for the Security Council to establish a cease-fire line between the two opposing armies while at the same time effectively abrogated it to allow the troops to take over the whole area.

If the above refutation is not good enough for Chitrapu, how then is he going to explain the fact that it has been the Pakistanis and Kashmiris who have persistently and consistently demanded (from 1949 until today) that a plebiscite be held as stipulated by the Security Council with or without the supposed second article. As a matter of fact, it was India which had constantly vacillated about a plebiscite, until finally it renounced the idea unilaterally in 1954.

In view of India's adamant objection to a plebiscite and for the sake of peace, I would hope that a fair compromise may be found through direct negotiations between India, the Kashmiri rebels and Pakistan. In such a negotiation, India will most likely accept the conversion of the present cease-fire line into a permanent international boundary between India and Pakistan. But the Kashmiris will no doubt object to it, as it will deprive them of control over the Kashmir Valley, which is really the main bone of contention.

MASLI ARMAN

Jakarta