Tharoor slams Pakistan, China, but terms peace in Kashmir as artificial

Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Monday sought to put Pakistan and China on the mat over Kashmir issue, but at the same time he termed the peace in Valley as "artificial."

Tharoor, who was speaking to here, said: "I am a bit surprised to see the leader of the UK Labour Party echoing the statement of some Pakists that UN resolutions must be implemented. Don't forget the UN resolutions...the first resolution of Kashmir, the Resolution No. 48, the main resolution of the UNSC was adopted at our insistence."

Asked about China saying that they are closely watching the situation, he said: "Let them closely watch. Closely watching is fine. We will also closely watch them. They can also closely watch. The fact of the matter is China has been complicit in redrawing boundaries in Kashmir by taking territories from Pakistan and by taking territories from us in 1962 war."

On reports of Eid prayers passing peacefully in the Valley, he said, "I have only been seeing media reports. I don't have any first-hand report. I am relieved that Eid prayers seem to have gone well. This final test will be when everybody including the political leaders is released from detention. When the internet is restored; the curfew is lifted; people are able to move completely freely. And then we will be able to see what kind of normalcy can be restored in Kashmir?. This is an artificial peace."

Tharoor, formerly associated with United Nations, reminded that the resolutions adopted at the UN were to be implemented sequentially and the first requirement was that Pakistan would withdraw all its militias, irregulars from the parts of Kashmir they have occupied.

He said that the UN resolution was adopted paragraph by paragraph and was meant to be implemented sequentially. "The first requirement was that Pakistan should withdraw all its militias, irregulars from the parts of Kashmir they have occupied," he added.

"Simple fact of the matter is when Pak refused to withdraw, the rest of the resolutions became inoperative way back then. Seventy years later, to call for implementation is slightly ridiculous particularly since there have been very serious changes in the demography and cartography of undivided Kashmir," he said.

The Congress leader said that now Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is 97 per cent Punjabi speaking.

"They (Pakistan) have reorgsed the administration of places like Gilgit-Baltistan and given away some portion of the territory to China. After all that, they are the last one with any position to talk about undivided Kashmir and implementing UN resolutions which they have violated from the start," he said.

"So I think it is slightly preposterous for any of these countries to claim holier than thou attitude. It is one of the situations where both Pak and China have been complicit in the act of dismembering parts of Jammu and Kashmir much before the recent crisis," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )