Daily Diary (DD) - Day 126 of 2023

1605hrs:

Getting sharper....

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There are some notable points in your written analysis of JKA and there are very few who have worked in the AJK governing structure who can speak and write with such fluidity, as your good self.

Nevertheless, there are some parts of your argument that could be described as 'subjective assumptions' and which leave a lot of room for alternative interpretation. 

Examples:

1) That this is a Kashmir Valley centric problem when it is far more complex than that. The fundamental rights of people throughout AJK, Gilgit Baltistan, Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh have been severely limited or compromised since the entry of Indian and Pakistani troops within the territory in October 1947.

2) Without being partial to any particular era it is clear that the level of parity in official documents between the Dogra State and the British Indian colonial set-up was objectively more visible under autocratic constitutionalism than the so-called democratic constitutionalism undertaken by India and Pakistan in JKA. Compare the 1904 Upper Jhelum Water Agreement and the 1935 Gilgit Lease Agreement with any post 1947 document e.g. Karachi Agreement 1949 or Delhi Agreement 1952....the lack of parity between parties became even more acute subsequently.

3) It would be presumptuous to argue that Gilgit had no historic link to the Valley, Jammu or what is today AJK when there are divided families and divided cultures criss-crossing each part of the geographic divide. It would be absurd to expect them to be totally in sync with each other, when they have been deliberately divided since 1947. One can also compare modern day India and Pakistan which are not internally divided like we are...yet how strong are the bonds between Quetta and Karachi or the latter with Peshawar or Lahore? What is the affinity between someone living in Simla with someone living in Chennai or between Trivandrum and Patna? 

4) Until India and Pakistan do not treat the people of JKA as equals in humanity, concerns and aspirations we will continue facing an uphill task and while India will continue to economically rise, Pakistan's economy will dwindle further below 0.4% share of global GDP.

Modern politics must be that of inclusivity of all political narratives in JKA rather than cruelly expecting the people here to adopt a singular Indian or Pakistani nationalist narrative.

Neither can the people's reference in JKA be wished away by India and Pakistan, under the cloak of IndoPak Bilateralism.

That is insulting, putrid and reminiscent of human slavery.

#GeopoliticalNeutralityJKA

#JKASovereignty

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Reference: 

The above note was written in response to an Urdu article on Facebook by Former Chief Justice of the AJK Supreme Court Syed Manzoor Gilani

Link

JKA PUBLIC AGENCY Note: #002006052023

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