IANS-
India has a multi-pronged plan in place to deal with Jammu & Kashmir after the shock decision on August 5 to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution which conferred special status on the troubled state.
Diplomatically, economically and militarily, India has prepared the plan aimed at bringing normalcy in the valley while trying to win global support for its position.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council holds its 42nd session from September 9 to 22 and Pakistan is expected to repeat its claims of rights violations in Kashmir against the backdrop of the government’s decision, but India is ready with a counter.
Sources in the government said Indian officials will be forceful in demolishing the Pakistani bogey. India has prepared a dossier highlighting Pakistan’s poor record in Balochistan and North Waziristan where many Pakistanis have been rendered refugees. This will be used at the UNHRC to discredit Pakistani attempts to draw attention to Kashmir.
Overlapping with the 42nd session of the UNHRC will be the UN General Assembly meeting in New York between September 17 and 27, where New Delhi is expected to clash with Islamabad again. But India has its diplomatic maneuvres ready to isolate and discredit Pakistan, the sources said.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to raise the Kashmir issue during his address to the General Assembly. He is also scheduled to embark on a four-day visit to the US on September 23.
But India plans to present a strong case armed with the backing of at least three permanent members of the UN Security Council that abrogation of Article 370 is an internal matter of India and Kashmir is a bilateral issue to be resolved by India and Pakistan.
The latest endorsement came from Russia when, with President Vladimir Putin by his side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told reporters that neither Russia nor India appreciates interference in its internal matters.
France and the UK subscribe to the principle of territorial sovereignty outlined in the Treaty of Westphalia and are unlikely to back Pakistan on Jammu & Kashmir. Plans are also afoot to thwart any street protests by Pakistan-backed organizations outside the General Assembly.
The diplomatic offensive will continue in October during the plenary and working group meetings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris, France. The intergovernmental body is scheduled to meet from October 13 to 18. The sources said there is little doubt that Pakistan will be blackballed at the meeting.
Pakistan already suffered a blow last month in Canberra, Australia, when the FATF Asia-Pacific Group (APG) put it in its “enhanced blacklist” over terror financing and money laundering. The APG found that Pakistan was non-compliant on 32 of the 40 parameters relating to terror financing and money laundering.
Around this time, the government’s economic plan for bringing normalcy in the Kashmir valley will kick in. This will be between September and October when the orchards are full and apple and apricot farmers in Kashmir are busy trying to sell their produce.
This year, the yield is expected to be good and the sources told IANS that the government would ensure that the entire crop is bought at a record price. This is expected to not only increase prosperity in the valley but also to help people to move on psychologically after August 5.
Then autumn will come to an end and the valley will soon be snowbound. Apart from the odd terrorists sneaking in from the Pakistan side, no major turmoil is expected. This is when the military plan will kick in with the Border Security Force patrolling on the frontier and the army, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Kashmir police taking over to deal with the odd encounter.
The winter is expected to last till at least February by when, the government hopes, the ordinary Kashmiri would have got over the immediate shock.
