Meanwhile, India's Settler-Colonial Project In Disputed Kashmir Rolls On |
The seventh anniversary of India's abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A passed this week with remarkably little attention in Pakistan's mainstream media beyond official statements and routine expressions of solidarity with the Muslim population in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. In India, meanwhile, official narratives predictably celebrated peace, development and integration, while dissenting voices included Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, and a handful of other Kashmiri leaders.
The contrast is striking. While India has continued to implement far-reaching political, legal and demographic changes in the disputed territory since 2019, Pakistan's public discourse remains preoccupied with domestic political distractions, including the unnecessary debate over new provinces or administrative units and the unfortunate demand by the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee to abolish 12 reserved refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly, a controversy that led to the rare outbreak of political violence ahead of the current elections. Before turning to India's settler-colonial project in the disputed territory, this issue deserves to be placed in its proper historical and legal context.
Pakistan's position has remained consistent since 1947: the former princely State of Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally disputed territory whose final status can only be determined through the exercise of the right of self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. That position is rooted in the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of 24 October 1947 and preserved under the 1974 Interim Constitution of AJK, both of which recognise the existing constitutional and representative arrangements as provisional pending a final settlement.
Seen in that context, the 12 refugee seats are not merely an electoral arrangement. They embody Pakistan's longstanding constitutional position that the AJK Government represents not only the territory presently under its administration but also the people of the non-liberated parts of the former princely State until the dispute is resolved........