On 8 April, RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha, who represents the RSS and defends BJP’s policy towards Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir on a daily basis in TV debates debunked the assertion of Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi that “there is no change in the Pakistan’s policy towards India as far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned” and that “it would be suicidal for the bleeding India to pin faith in unscrupulous and rogue Islamabad”.



Rakesh Sinha emphasised and reemphasised that “there is a sea change in the Pakistan’s attitude towards Jammu & Kashmir” and to make his point he said that “the Pakistan’s political parties didn’t make Jammu & Kashmir an election plank in the 2013 Pakistan National assembly elections” (“Sab Se Bada Sawal”, News 24, April 8, 2016).

Rakesh Sinha, it seems, is blissfully ignorant about what the various political parties of Pakistan said in their respective election manifestos about their stand on Jammu & Kashmir. Had he or any other RSS ideologue cared to monitor the 2013 general elections in Pakistan, they would not have said what Rakesh Sinha Sinha said to counter Major General (Retd) G D Bakshi.

The truth, in fact, is that political parties in Pakistan around the 2013 elections had turned so hostile towards India that they had included Jammu & Kashmir in their respective election manifestos very prominently. The election was held on 11 May, 2013. One of their major election planks was this part of Jammu & Kashmir.



In fact, these election manifestos had highlighted the Kashmir issue as one of the major components of their foreign policy. A common feature in these manifestos was that they had described this part of Jammu & Kashmir as a “disputed” territory and the “right to self-determination” as the “inalienable right of Kashmiris” (read Kashmiri-speaking Sunnis, who do not constitute even 10 percent of the population of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, as it existed on August 15, 1947.)



The people of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK), including the Shiite Muslim-dominated Gilgit-Baltistan, which has become the hub of anti-India activities being indulged in by both Pakistan and China for decades now to weaken India’s position on the strategic northern frontiers, is a region of non-Kashmiri-speaking people.



They are ethnically different from the people who inhabit the very small Kashmir Valley, the epicenter of anti-national activities willfully engineered by the vested interests in the political establishment and outside to promote the Pakistani communal cause.



The 110-page election manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) said:



Special efforts will be made to resolve the issue of Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the relevant UN resolutions (read August 13, 1948 resolution)… and in consonance with the aspirations of the people of the territory for their inherent right of self-determination.



The manifesto of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said:



We will pursue the goal of stability and peace-building in the region as a specific policy priority without sacrificing our diplomatic and moral commitment to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmir is a core issue for us.



The election manifesto of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said, “Identifies the resolution of Kashmir conflict as one of the core national interests” and that “progressive detente can help both the countries if centered on conflict resolution”.