Sharif had no business poking his nose into the ongoing Indian elections; a sphere he has absolutely no business to talk especially with his army and ISI having consigned his own country into the jaws of radicalisation and terror in perpetuity or shall we say at least in foreseeable future.

Even as India hopes that relations with Pakistan should improve, deliberate idiotic moves on part of Pakistani officials stymie such hope. And so you have the cheeky Pakistani Army Chief Raheel Sharif claim during the ongoing elections in India that Kashmir is a “jugular vein” of Pakistan despite the fact that the entire state was acceded to India by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sharif had no business poking his nose into the ongoing Indian elections; a sphere he has absolutely no business to talk especially with his army and ISI having consigned his own country into the jaws of radicalisation and terror in perpetuity or shall we say at least in foreseeable future. Then you have the fledgling High Commissioner of Pakistan in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, talk of resolving Siachen, reminding one of the phrase ‘Begani Shaadi Mein Abdullah (read Abdul) Deewana’ because on ground there is not a Pakistani soul anywhere close to the Siachen Glacier and it is Indian territory under the UN Resolution of August 1948 that conceded the legality of Kashmir’s accession to India and as such no man’s land, if any, to be controlled by India during the period of ceasefire and truce. This meant that the onus of proof to convince the commission of any factual position, on the date of ceasefire, in any disputed territory, rested with Pakistan.

Ceasefire apart, as mentioned above, to-date Pakistan is holding positions West of the Saltoro Range and does not have a single man or beast on Siachen Glacier, so where is the question of resolving and what? Then are the oft repeated Pakistani official’s statements and calls for undertaking plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The said UN Resolution was explicit in this regard too. It categorically stated that prior to any such plebiscite, Pakistani security forces will have to vacate the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir. Not only was this not done by Pakistan, she did the reverse by beefing up the area of illegally occupied Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) with more and more security forces. In addition, Pakistan changed the demography of PoK by settling outsiders from the plains into these areas.

Concurrently, Pakistan sent terrorists into J&K for specific purpose of undertaking ethnic cleansing, killing scores, forcing non-Muslims to leave the State leaving behind their houses and properties. Pakistan also illegally ceded the Shaksgam Valley, which is part of J&K, to China in 1963.

Post the ceasefire with India in 2004, Pakistan shifted major Sunni terrorist camps into Gilgit-Baltistan area of PoK to further change the demography of PoK, plus hoping to mix blood with original Shia residents reducing their numbers further. However, when the latter did not succeed, institutionalised massacres of Shia population of Gilgit-Baltistan were organised. The mounting unrest led Pakistan to bring in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into the area in garb of civilians, and the PLA has brought along their own labour force.

As the PLA digs tunnel after tunnel in Gilgit-Baltistan for apparent deployment of missiles, the locals are not permitted to go anywhere close by despite the land in the area belonging to them. What Mian Rasheel Sharif, the Pakistani Army Chief needs to do is to get his own house in order.

It is no secret that while his army has no will to fight the Taliban, the ISI is hand in glove with the latter and Mujahid battalions trained to operate in conjunction Taliban to infiltrate and create mayhem in Afghanistan. The recent killings of some 60 Taliban close to the Pakistan border by Afghanistan National Army is indication of this. More importantly, Mian Rasheel Sharif should bother about is the genocide his military has unleashed in Baluchistan, what with discovery of mass unmarked graves and Pakistan Air Force attacking the Baluchis in blatant disregard to human rights.

The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author.