Hamid Mir
Contradictions in words and actions have become a part of our lives. Living with these contradictions has become a requirement of wisdom and knowledge. Pointing out these contradictions is being called foolishness and blasphemy. I was also asked such an insolent question. I had no answer to this blasphemous question. This question was asked by a woman who is a well-known human rights activist and has earned the honour of being arrested in every government. This woman does not belong to any political party. She does not only protest human rights violations in Pakistan, but I have also seen her protesting against human rights violations in Palestine and Kashmir. This woman’s name is Tahira Abdullah. Tahira Apa has sent me a picture in which Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with his delegation, is attending the last rites of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is praying for him. Tahira Apa has written below the picture that she is also asking the world to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the murderer of the person for whom she is praying. At first, I thought of answering Tahira Apa that when the Iranian government has no objection, who are you to object? Then I stopped.
I was sure that Tahira Apa would say that I am the spokesperson of the people, not the governments of Pakistan, I need an answer to my question. I thought it best to remain silent because the Afghan Taliban were also invited to the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the group that resisted him was also invited. After his martyrdom in a joint attack by the US and Israel, Ali Khamenei has become a metaphor for resistance in the world. The participation of millions of people in his funeral has sent a message to the world that there is no other option but peace with Iran. The Iranian nation is ready for war and is also ready for peace. But the question is, how much longer can Pakistan go on with Iran and the US? Now this question has become common in Pakistan that if we can hold talks between Iran and America, why don’t we try to resolve many disputes within Pakistan through talks? Just yesterday, some important political figures from Azad Kashmir came to meet me. Among them was a leader of the Muslim League (N) and a former minister who belongs to Poonch. He was against the Joint Action Committee. But he was repeatedly saying that it is completely wrong to call the Joint Action Committee an Indian agent. The ban on this committee did not send a good message to the common Kashmiris. If we can hold talks between Iran and America, why can’t we resolve the issue of Azad Kashmir through talks?
The delegation also included a retired military officer. He was also against the Joint Action Committee but was supporting the lifting of the ban on this committee and starting negotiations. Our rulers are considering the mediation in Iran and the US as a great diplomatic success, but why is this success not being achieved in Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan? Either we should take less credit for peace talks at the international level or start similar peace talks in Pakistan as well? The contradiction between our words and actions will not be acceptable to ordinary Pakistanis for long. Elections are approaching in Azad Kashmir. The election campaign has started and there are enough difficulties for the candidates of the Muslim League (N) in this election campaign. The PPP is trying to avoid these difficulties and is feeling very relieved after getting rid of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas. Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir during the PTI era. After the end of Imran Khan’s government, he too was dismissed and took refuge under the shadow of the PPP. When the elections approached, he left the PPP and joined the Utsav Pakistan Party over ticket disputes. This shelter is safer for him.
He is one of those politicians who do not consider it necessary to go to the voters themselves to get votes but rather create such conditions that the voters themselves come to him and receive their love. Will the voters of Azad Kashmir come to him this time to receive something? Opening markets, roads and educational institutions in Azad Kashmir is not the solution to the problems. Now the Action Committee has been left behind. The people have gone ahead. It is not difficult to achieve the results of their choice in the upcoming elections, but the situation cannot be improved by the results of their choice. Even now, most of the people of Azad Kashmir stand with Pakistan. Their fight is not with Pakistan but with the system that has been imposed on them, and the system is talking to them in the language of force. Those running the system should not negotiate with the Joint Action Committee for the time being, but they should call the leadership of the Muslim League (N) in Azad Kashmir and its election candidates and ask them what to do in the current situation? If not today, then tomorrow you will have to negotiate.
But God forbids, your position in these negotiations will not be the same as Trump’s today. Trump is the president of a superpower, but after the negotiations with Iran, Trump’s dominance has ended. Trump, together with Israel, used force to the full against Iran, but this force did not help him. The unity of the Iranian people has crushed the arrogance of the superpower. Trump started negotiations through Pakistan and now Trump is trying to resolve his disputes with Iran through negotiations. Believe it or not, Iran’s weight seems heavy in these negotiations. If Trump had tried to make the negotiations successful without war last year, perhaps Iran would not have been able to achieve what it is getting after the war. Trump would have appeared victorious in these negotiations. Iran appears victorious after the war. The only request is that you should not become Trump. Trump is very powerful but has become politically weak and extremely unpopular. When Trump is no longer in power, history will write that he lost both the war and the negotiations. I sent the question that Tahira Apa asked me to two of the people standing around Shehbaz Sharif in the photo sent by Tahira Apa. As of the time of writing, none of them have answered. Trump has waged war against Iran not once but twice but failed. Finally, he is also seeking peace in negotiations. There is a big difference between Azad Kashmir and Iran, but there is no harm in learning from history. It would be better if the option of negotiations is used before any major war is waged against its own people in Azad Kashmir.
