Ashok Kumar Behuria replies: This is not entirely true. There has been wider criticism of the way Pakistan has handled PoJK over the years. The Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the European Union have castigated Pakistan for its high-handed behaviour in the PoK/PoJK (which includes the so-called “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” and “Gilgit–Baltistan”).
Mired in controversies, the 2021 elections in the so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir were heavily tilted towards the Kashmir issue, which overpowered all other issues including those concerning immediate local needs and the extant development lag.
If India-Pakistan dialogue does resume, India is unlikely to return to the Manmohan-Musharraf framework of negotiations because of the Modi government’s commitment to regain Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
There is a need to widely disseminate China’s insidious role as an illegal occupier of Kashmir’s territory, including its territorial grab in the trans-Karakoram tract, in order to raise public awareness of the issue – both in India and at the international level.
China's decision to fund the controversial Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Gilgit Baltistan could be part of its strategic pursuits in the region to further deepen its engagement in India’s neighbourhood.
The surge in official references to PoK has disrupted the inertia of the past years. Pushing PoK high on India’s strategic priorities will make India’s Kashmir policy more effective.
S. Kalyanaraman replies: The Government of India has not issued any statement regarding a change in defence policy since the abrogation of Article 370. Instead, it has emphasised that the change in legislation is a purely internal matter that only reorders the constitutional relationship between the Centre and a constituent unit (erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir) of the Republic of India.
This book is a rersult of research undertaken on the subject by the scholars associated with the IDSA project on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) - also known as Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) - Which includes both the so-called "Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)" and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), was legally a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kahmir, which acceded to India in October 1947. The authors of this book seek to provide a critical analysis of the politics of the above mentioned two regions within PoK; throw light on the genesis and evolution of various political parties and interest groups, and acquaint the readers with different pesonalities playing important role in politics therein. The main aim of the publication is to help the scholars, analysts, and policy-makers to understand the dynamics of the political systems in PoK, the complex interaction of these systems with the government in Islamabad and the responses of the local leadership to Pakistan's strateghy of keeping them under strict control in the name of representative governance over the last 70 years.
Priyanka Singh replies: There is no such quick fix measure to regain control over PoK, which has been under Pakistan’s illegitimate control since 1947, unless India decides to adopt military method to seize control over the region. What is, therefore, needed is a calibrated strategy that gradually develops India's influence in PoK which continues to reel under political unrest.
Prudent as it may have appeared to reconcile to the territorial status quo in the past, policy makers must ask themselves whether such an approach has really worked in India’s favour.
Why disclaiming Pakistan occupied Kashmir is not prudent
Prudent as it may have appeared to reconcile to the territorial status quo in the past, policy makers must ask themselves whether such an approach has really worked in India’s favour.