Masood Khan says Kashmir a ‘flashpoint’ between nuclear-armed India, Pakistan
New York: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, terming Kashmir as a “flashpoint” in tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, has said that the two countries should not only discuss their decades-old dispute but also negotiate nuclear confidence-building measures.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in an interview with Newsweek, a weekly American weekly magazine, Masood Khan said, “I think that realistically speaking, we should have talks not only on the future of Jammu and Kashmir and the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with international law and the UN Security Council, but we should also have nuclear confidence-building talks, so that we establish reliable communication channels.”
The Pakistani envoy said, “Kashmir is a flashpoint. India thinks that it has taken care of it. But Kashmiris don’t think that, and Pakistanis don’t think that.”
Masood Khan said we would say that attention from Kashmir is moving away because of Ukraine or the preoccupation of the Western world with China as a competitor, as a challenger to the existing order, and so on. “Now, in addition to Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific politics, you have the Middle East. So, Kashmir is no more on the radar screen of the international community, and yet the oppression continues there,” he said.
“So, I’ve always said this is a blind spot, and this is very dangerous, this is very perilous for the international community because the Kashmiris’ freedoms are as sacrosanct as the freedoms of any people in any part of the world,” he added.
As for the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and India, Masood Khan emphasized that he felt only engagement could overcome their deep-rooted dispute and the risks associated with it. “Where I am coming from is not jingoism, it’s not some anti-India rhetoric,” the ambassador said. “What I’m trying to say here is that we have a problem between India and Pakistan that involves fate, the destiny of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“As two civilized neighbours as two civilized nations, we should come to the negotiating table and try to resolve this issue through dialogue, through diplomacy, through multilateral diplomacy, bilaterally or through third-party mediation or some good-faith mediation,” he added. “That’s what ought to be done.”
