Kashmir 1

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