JAMMU: Some very apparent and ominous signs of Line of Control (LoC) going back to the bad old days of pre-ceasefire have surfaced , the sole responsibility of which lies with Pakistan . In the recent days, Pakistan has initiated some of the brutal violent acts on the LoC, in which Indian soldiers lost lives and suffered injuries.
The violation of the ceasefire at LoC is a well-designed move by Pakistan, and not that of an individual officer or group of soldiers deployed across. Pakistani military establishment is fully behind it. Pakistani soldiers or the non-state actors, whom they allow to carry out the acts of violence, planting of IEDs and opening of fire on the Indian side have no idea what the possible consequences could be. They think in area-specific terms. They tend to overlook the big picture.
As the experience has shown in the past that Pakistan starts its activities with low intensity acts of violence, then it starts testing the ground. Whenever faced with retaliation from the Indian side, it lies low for sometime before starting such activities all over again. This is typical pattern of Pakistan.
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This time, too, it started in the same fashion. First, it started with small arms fire, injuring soldiers, and then planted IEDs, the explosions of which martyred two of Indian soldiers. Again there was firing in Poonch sector, which Indian troops responded to with lethal consequences for Pakistan.
This did not happen just like that. Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Asim Munir has been visiting the LOC time and again. During each of his visits, he repeated old lines of Pakistani establishment of supporting ” Kashmiris’ right to self-determination ,” and that Pakistan will do everything possible to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty .
A number of questions have risen in its trail. Pakistan is treating Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir as its part which it thinks that it has to preserve and defend. There is something very, very, wrong in this perception and ideology. POJK is an occupied territory and Pakistan has no right to talk about it as its territory. The territory across the LoC whether it is just across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh legally belongs to India. Maharaja Hari Singh had acceded the whole of the state from Ladakh to Muzaffarabad , including Gilgit- Baltistan to India through instrument of accession that he signed on October 26, 1947.The arrival of the Indian forces, after the accession was signed, made Pakistan to retreat from the territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, but the retreat halted midway as UN mandated ceasefire came into being in 1948, leaving behind a legacy of unsettled status of PoJK.
This has been a contentious issue between India and Pakistan since then. Till this date no solution has been found because Pakistan refuses to accept the reality that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India There is a legal document, which had its international validity. The instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir signed by Maharaja Hari Singh, in its content and intent was same as the document signed by other princely states. Unfortunately, a situation had arisen because of Pakistan’s aggression and the naivety displayed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru , in which India compromised its interests and agreed to the ceasefire agreement . Pakistan took advantage of its proximity with the western powers that dominated the UN, and Nehru obliged these forces.
Today’s LoC is not just a borderline between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir – one, integral part of India, and the other side under the illegal occupation of Pakistan; it is also something that has international connotations . The violation of the ceasefire by Pakistan has its repercussions. India will respond , as it has done in the past too. Pakistan will be responsible for escalation of tensions on LOC and that will have its ill-effects on the civilian population. This is sort of mini war localized area, and at times it flares up to the entire Loc. Each and every skirmish has the potential to cause bigger conflict
It was India’s magnanimity that it renewed the ceasefire agreement in February 2021 , but if Pakistan continues to violate and threaten peace on the LoC, it will face serious consequences.