Pakistan has continued its journey of blowing an issue out of proportion to a level that they become a subject of mockery all across the world, yet again.  And celebrating National Kashmir Solidarity Day on 5th February is part of this continued struggle. Since that day the true meaning of Solidarity day in Pakistan is a means of celebrating a holiday and wasting time and money on unfruitful campaigns. Sadly the who’s who of Pakistan’s government body are unable to accept that the UN Secretary General’s statement and the discussions at the Security Council were an unambiguous statement of the fact that Jammu and Kashmir was a part of India and that UN resolutions were now irrelevant. The false sense with which Pakistan lives in its cocoon makes them believe that celebration of such events would compel the world to take action and it would thus confidently give an impression to the world that the whole nation is one and united and is fully committed to the freedom struggle of the people of Kashmir.

What is the meaning of Solidarity in Pakistan?

It was Jamaat Islami’s Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed who first time observed Kashmir Solidarity day in 1990 from party platform and demanded the government to make it a National Day. The idea was supported by Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister at the time, and the Prime Minister at the time, Benazir Bhutto.  The then government while admitting this demand and analysing its importance and need of such action, declared February 5 as National Kashmir Solidarity day in 1991. Since then all successive governments are successfully wasting this day while following the tradition reiterating the national commitment to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people and organising a number of social and political rallies and meetings.

A non-working day where all government, semi-government and private offices across Pakistan remain closed to highlight the issue of Kashmir may not be a good plan for a crumbling economy such as theirs. If anything, they should be utilizing this time to work more so that they are not the ones in need of solidarity, which seems to be the case soon enough. Honestly today they cannot afford to lose focus on burning issues which can destroy their economy. They need to have a purpose, a laser-focused plan of things they want to achieve, and fighting a lost battle over Kashmir should not be their priority at all. The biggest testimony of failure of Pakistan’s policy of ‘begging to draw attention’ at every international forum lies in the fact that this issue has been shunned not only at United Nations General Assembly-UNGA, Security Council, world economic forum, SCO, OIC and all other platforms but also at every bilateral or multilateral interaction that Pakistan has participated in. The reality of Kashmiri’s rejection to be a part of Pakistan and their commitment to be a part of India is much bigger than what words and claims can hide.

Hypocrisy of Pakistan

While it is under Pakistani control, Gilgit-Balstistan’s constitutional and legal status remains ambiguous. Gilgit-Baltistan does not find a mention in Pakistan’s constitution. It is neither a part of what Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir nor is it a province of Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan Supreme Court pronounced in 1994 that these areas “are part of Jammu & Kashmir state but are not part of ‘Azad Kashmir’”.Having illegally occupied the Gilgit-Baltistan area, Islamabad would forever be anxious about its legitimacy in that region. To make matters worse, Gilgit-Baltistan was almost entirely Shia-dominated, in contrary to the rest of Sunni-majority Pakistan. Hence, in the minds of lawmakers in Islamabad, there was always the fear of a nationalist insurrection in Gilgit-Baltistan or of losing the strategically located region to India in the larger battle for Kashmir.

Pakistan has denied Gilgit-Baltistan even basic constitutional and legal rights but hypocritically speaks of the right of self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir. Each and every propaganda on Kashmir is failing and yet Pakistan has not stopped crying in front of every international body for support. These fraud solidarity movements can never give a conclusive shape to Pakistan’s nefarious motives.

The crumbling Pakistan

If we talk about the state of affairs within Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, it is very evident that there can be no comparison between the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and that in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The Indian side of Kashmir has authentic data to show. The media has complete freedom to report the activities there (national as well as international) apart from the huge number of development activities like railway lines, bridges, etc. No one can point a finger at the Indian govt since all the facts are there in the open to see. In the PoK, even asking for a permission to get the official figures is a big adventure in itself. It is completely shrouded in mystery and no one knows what people there do to live. Do they have even the option to live peacefully?

STATISTICS Area

Indian Kashmir: 101387 sq km

POK : 13297 sq km

Population:

Indian J&K: 1.25 Cr(2011)

POK: >40 Lakhs(2017)

Districts:

Indian Kashmir: 22

POK: 10

Assembly Seats:

Indian Kashmir: 87

POK: 49

Annual Budget:

J&K: INR 95,667 Cr(2018-19) (20% increase compared to last year)

POK: PKR 10,820 Cr(2018-19)(2% increase compared to last year)

Education:

Indian J&K spends 12% of its total budget for studies. It is infact higher than the total money spent for studies in entire Pakistan.

J&K: 1100 Cr(2017)

POK: 135 Cr(2018)

Overall, in Pakistan 3570 Cr is spent for education out of a total budget of 5.25 Trillion.

Colleges & Universities:

J&K: 35 Recognized Universities wherein NIT Srinagar has a World Ranking of 67.

POK: 8-10 Universities

Health Spending:

J&K: INR 3000 Cr(2017-18)

POK: PKR 29 Cr(2017-18) .Out of a total budget of 10000 Cr only 29 Cr is allocated for health in POK.

Indian Government is setting up AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from that there are already many super speciality hospitals in J&K.

Infra Spending:

J&K: INR 6724 Cr(2017-18)

          INR 9800 Cr(2019)

POK: PKR 1028 Cr(2017-18)

Airport:

J&K: Total 4 Operational Airports

           Defence:1

          Domestic:2

          International:1(Srinagar Airport:100 flights daily)

POK: 2(Not even one is operational)

Trains

J&K: 28 Railway Stations(12 in Jammu & 16 in Kashmir)

184 Billion Rs spent for Chenab bridge project, made in Kashmir which is the highest railway bridge project in World (Height 360 Metre, Breath 450 Metre).

POK: There is no functional railway system in POK. So it is very difficult to reach POK from any other states of Pakistan.

 Infrastructure:

The first cable-stayed bridge in North India at Bansoli, Jammu and Kashmir.

World’s highest bridge is coming up in Jammu and Kashmir

There is also plan to build a new expressway from New Delhi to Katra

Highway Infrastructure:

INR 42000 Cr allocated for Highway and Tunnel construction in J&K under PM’s development package.

Four Lane Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The 10.9 km long tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is testament to the development of roads in Indian side of Kashmir. Whereas all highway projects in Pakistan are constructed by China.

The Chenani-Nashri tunnel built at a cost of INR 3720 Cr, Length: 9.2 km is one of the longest tunnels. No such tunnel exists in POK. The tunnel will save fuel worth nearly Rs 100 Cr in a year and reduces the travel time between the two-state capitals of Jammu and Srinagar by more than two hours.

Ring roads: INR 4000 Cr

        Srinagar: INR 2021 Cr

       Jammu: 2097 Cr, 156 new projects: 429.14 Cr

In J&K 511 bridge constructions are in progress.

Energy: Jammu and Kashmir has a lot of hydel projects under construction and the world’s largest solar power project is in Ladakh.

Apart from all the above fact, Indian Kashmir has steady power supply but POK has no steady source of power and hospitals, etc are totally left to survive on their own.

India does not suppress press freedom in Kashmir even if they have people who show Pak flags and IS flags but journalism in POK is a fatal job.

In short, it can be said that POK is far behind Indian Kashmir and its main cause is that the ideology of India is evolution oriented while region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is used as a centre of terrorism by Pakistan.

Viewpoint

The definition of a failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly. Likewise, when a nation weakens and it’s standard of living declines, it introduces the possibility of governmental collapse. If contrasted with the situation in Pakistan, on the mostly all levels, one can declare that Pakistan is a failed state.

All these appalling statistics suggest that maybe it’s time that Pakistan should start focusing on their chaotic internal affairs instead of continuing age-old mindless tradition of showing fake solidarity with Kashmir.

As a part of the solidarity day, a one-minute silence is observed at 10 am local time in honor of the dead. The day is not far when Pakistan will have to observe a permanent silence in memory of its dead nation.

05 Feb 20/Wednesday                                                                     Written By: Saima