- But where is the Kashmir plan?
Imran Khan will be remembered as a politician who talked a great script but couldn’t write one. Speaking at the Asia Society he lapsed into a comforting rhapsody saying he had never seen anticipation for anything “like my speech tomorrow in the United Nations General Assembly.” Once again he reminisced about the feeling he had before winning the World Cup Final. Imran Khan would be living in a world of his own if he thinks that his recent speeches in the USA and interactions with world leaders, despite their limited utility, would turn the page on the sufferings of the Kashmiri people or force Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to undo the annexation of the occupied Valley. He needs to be reminded that till Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the only world leader who had raised the issue of Kashmir in UNGA. Mr Khan’s words had simply fallen flat on the Arab rulers of the Gulf that he has been personally driving from Islamabad airport to PM house.
The Modi government wanted to show that it would not yield to pressure in matters related to occupied Kashmir. Sooner or later however it will have to end the lockdown and revive the mobile and internet traffic. Irrespective of whether it succeeds or not, it already has a post-curfew incentives plan aimed at winning over the Kashmiri youth. It aims at filling up tens of thousands of government jobs in the next few months and large-scale investments by Indian and Gulf enterprises. The Modi government has also managed to get statements from some of the prominent Indian ulema in support of the annexation of Kashmir. It won’t be easy to stamp down the desire for freedom, but a scheme is in place to try it.
It is time the government leaders stopped playing to the domestic gallery. The PTI government and its mentors have to spell out a workable plan, not only to keep the issue of IOK burning, but also to provide effective moral and political support to Kashmiris. Speeches, informal telephone calls and letters alone won’t be enough. These have to be a art of a realistic strategy.
