Rare insight into politics in PoK

Malladi Rama Rao

This book fulfils a long felt need for an insight into the dynamics of political systems operating on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, (PoK) comprises two regions - the so called Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), which have developed separate geo-cultural identities to the dismay of Pakistani leadership over the past seventy years.
On its part, the government of Pakistan has exploited the mistrust’ between the two regions that goes back to the period when the Karachi Agreement was signed by the leaders from AJK without consulting the people of GB. In fact, Islamabad actively discouraged social and political linkages between them with the result there is very little interaction amongst their political leadership as well as local political parties.
So much so, AJK and GB have developed separate political dynamics “unrelated to each other”. This situation is “likely to continue in future,” contends the 480-page tome brought out by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, (IDSA), in what is no more than food for thought to the strategic community.
The authors, Surinder Kumar Sharma, Yaqoob ul Hassan and Ashok Behuria are from the IDSA stable. Sharma is an old Kashmir hand having specialised on terrorism. Five years ago, he coauthored a book on ‘Militant Groups in South Asia.’ The forte of Yaqoob, an alumni of Jamia Millia Islamia, is political Islam, Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan, though not necessarily in that order. He made a study of post-9/11 relations between the US and Pakistan. Behuria, too, is an old South Asia hand with his focus on Pakistan and radicalisation of religious discourse in this region.
Though the Indian discourse on Kashmir is marked by rhetoric laced with emotions, the three IDSA scholars surprise the reader with their matter of fact tone on facts and analyses. This clinical style enhances the readability as also the worth of the book which brings the reader face- to - face with the complex interaction of Muzaffarabad and Gilgit with Islamabad – Rawalpindi combine.

What is the status of AJK and of GB? The book tries to find an answer to this all absorbing question – rather unravel the mystery. Its finding: Pakistan itself does not know because while Azad Kashmir is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan but rather a ‘local authority’, GB, with no legal standing, is no more than a de facto colony of Pakistan. In both regions, the civilian leadership kowtows to the army, as local media reports testify.

While on the evolution of politics and on parties and personalities at work, the book brings upfront the struggles of pressure groups to articulate their concerns, and Pakistan’s dilemma in getting to grips with 'Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat, and Kashmiriyat’. It highlights how Pakistan institutionalised the economic overdependence of AJKGB on Islamabad in order to strengthen its hold on the territory.

As many as 70 pages are devoted to political parties in ‘ÁJK’, and another 30 odd pages to Gilgit based political parties, and nationalist/ pressure groups. In respect of each party, present and past, the authors provide insights into “ideology, aims and objectives,”besides links and alliances with other parties and militant groups. Each party’s areas of influence is delineated besides its funding sources. Pen sketches are given of several prominent leaders.

CPEC and the controversial Bhasha Dam find a mention in the narrative while on GB, its demand for provincial status and dilemmas of the Pakistan state. Chronology of developments from1947 is spread over 15 pages while some 150 pages are devoted to background information/ references like the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963, Shimla Agreement, AJK interim constitution Act, 2018, and Pakistan Supreme Court’s Jan 2019 judgement on GB – to the delight of scholars keen on a detailed study of matters PoK.

“AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan are treated in many respects as administrative units of Pakistan and are subject to most of the liabilities and obligations of a province (but) they do not have any of the constitutional rights and powers enjoyed by the provinces,” says Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani, who retired as the acting chief justice of AJK Supreme Court in May 2010. It is difficult to disagree with the learned judge.

As stated at the outset, the book looks at PoK’s disenchantment with Pakistan and various administrative reforms Pakistan had tried to put in place a dispensation that remained ‘selected’ but representative in character even as the overall control remained with the puppet master in the federal capital. The authors piece together evidence that leads to the inevitable conclusion- political and economic subjugation of AJK and GB by the Pakistani state through coercion.

What is the status of AJK and of GB? The book tries to find an answer to this all-absorbing question – rather unravel the mystery. Its finding: Pakistan itself does not know because while Azad Kashmir is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan but rather a ‘local authority’, GB, with no legal standing, is no more than a de facto colony of Pakistan. In both regions, the civilian leadership kowtows to the army, as local media reports testify.

“AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan are treated in many respects as administrative units of Pakistan and are subject to most of the liabilities and obligations of a province (but) they do not have any of the constitutional rights and powers enjoyed by the provinces,” says Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani, who retired as the acting chief justice of AJK Supreme Court in May 2010. It is difficult to disagree with the learned judge after reading this book.

How free are political parties? Their turf space is limited. The Deep State tolerates the advocacy of autonomy but is impatient with those demanding independence or genuine autonomy. Threats and torture and travel ban are reserved for such Kashmiri voices. And they are not allowed to engage in any kind of political activism. Yet, the demand for autonomy, and even separatism, is “simmering.”

A proto-nationalist movement is now emerging there with the issue of social liberation coming to the fore within the nationalist movement, says the book. Well, the rulers in Islamabad have to blame themselves for the development, which is a direct fall out of what the IDSA authors describe as stifling of nationalist sentiments and provocative sense of nationalism that is getting stronger by the day.