RECOGNISING KASHMIR by WAJIHA BUTT
RECOGNISING KASHMIR
by
WAJIHA BUTT
China's strong policy over issuing separate visa to the residents of Indian held Kashmir has high lightened the Kashmir issue.From the last few months residents of Indian held Kashmir are getting visa on a paper sheet to visit China like in the case of those hailing from Arunachal Pardesh on which Beijing lays its claim.China considers Kashmir a separate entity& offers all sorts of help and moral support to kashmiri people to get their right of self determination.Emerging as a new super power of the twenty first century,China's firm stand on the Kashmir issue has represented its ability to take independent decision with out taking care of any other serious power of the region. Since the partition of British India in 1947, Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan, both countries have fought four wars and China renained on Pakistani side.The people of Kashmir have suffered under Indian control in the larger part of Kashmir. Pakistan keeps trying to persuade India to resolve the Kashmir issue according to the will of the Kashmiri people and in accordance with the UN resolutions but unfortunately India never accepted Pakistani suggestions and has always showed Kashmir as its integral part. New Delhi flare up at any hint that Kashmir is not part of India, which has for two decades grappled with a separatist insurgency in the state that has killed more then two hundered thousands innocent Kashmiris by the Indian security forces and fuelled tensions with nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan.India has protested against the Chinese visa issuing practice. On the other hand China maintained that they have issued valid visas to the people of Indian held Kashmir and that the problem laid with Indian immigration authorities who do not wish to allow Kashmiris to proceed abroad for higher education. More over, China's foreign office reiterated its stance on 4th November 2009 that it would continue issuing stapled visas to Kashmiris without bringing any change in policy adding that due to its historical nature, the Kashmir dispute could not be put into cold storage and it should be settled through dialogueThe issue has also added to the already existing tension between India and China.
Chinese effort to recognise Kashmir as a disputed territory which still has to decide its future in the south asian region is appreciated by the people of Kashmir.It is the right time to help kashmiri people to get their right of self determination and rest of the world must agree with the Chinese decision to recognise and support the Kashmir cause.