Although Pakistan has several overseas military bases including Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, Oman, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Djibouti, Pakistan wants to bar foreign security
contractors from working in Pakistan and is also against foreign military bases. India
has a foreign military base in Kashmir, a Pakistan sovereign territory, and India
infringed upon local human rights, which is not acceptable to Pakistan. The Kashmir
issue started in the beginning of the formation of Pakistan and India. The Dominion of
Pakistan and the Union of India were formed after the dissolution of the British Raj in
1947. In the Mountbatten Plan, majority Muslim areas belonged to Pakistan and
majority Hindu regions of British India belonged to India. On 18 July 1947, the
British also allowed the princely states to choose whether to accede to Pakistan or
India. Kashmir was a majority Muslim area. However, the Maharaja Hari Singh, King
of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu signed the Instrument of Accession which
India demanded. Because of that, Pakistan and India fought three Indo-Pakistani Wars
in 1947, 1965, 1999 over Kashmir. The result of the Indo-Pakistani War on 1999 was
that Kashmir was divided between Pakistan and India by the Line of Control, which
demarcates the ceasefire line agreed upon in the 1947 conflict and modified in 1972
as per the Simla Agreement. Now, the region is divided among two countries in a
territorial dispute: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Area and Azad
Kashmir), India controls the central and Southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir valley)
and Ladakh. Pakistan claims the whole of Kashmir as their own territory, including
Indian-controlled Kashmir. Now, India has military base in Kashmir therefore the
Kashmir issue has become the foreign military issue between Pakistan and India.
Due to the high cost of keeping the long-term army presence on the military base in
Kashmir and the tension between Pakistan and India, Pakistan seeks to have an
agreement with India about the border between Pakistan and India. Pakistan and India
should set the border of the majority region of the Kashmir along the LoC. For the
Kashmir valley, a majority Muslim area which is under India’s control, the people
should vote for their own future. All the process should be done under the United
Nation’s supervision. The military bases of both Pakistan and India should be kept
behind the new border and should be reduced to a balanced basic standard to avoid
conflicts. The solutions of the Cargil conflict, the Rann of Kutch dispute and the Indus
waters dispute are good examples of solving disputes and conflicts between Pakistan
and India by the third party.
In order to pursue this common development, Pakistan is also suggesting another
solution that both Pakistan and India lay aside the sovereignty issue of Kashmir. Both
Pakistan and India should pull out military bases from Kashmir and leave Kashmir as
a special administrative region which means to give Kashmir a high degree of
autonomy. Both Pakistan and India should help the Kashmir people build their own
government and legal system to guarantee the Kashmir people’s quality of life. Both
Pakistan and India should recognize Kashmir as a free trade area to increase the
communication and cooperation in both culture and economy. Both Pakistan and India
should encourage Kashmir’s tourism and industry to impel Kashmir’s development.
There should no longer be any kinds of military bases that are only controlled by
Pakistan or India in Kashmir. Only peace can bring improved welfare to the region.
Pakistan is willing to see a peaceful developing Kashmir under both Pakistan and
India’s assistance.
The substance of the foreign military base issue in Kashmir is the combination of the
interest of the religion, politics, culture and other aspects. We shouldn’t exaggerate the
difference between Pakistan and India. The above solutions can solve the Kashmir
issue once and for all or the sovereignty issue can be extended indefinitely in a way
that can be accepted by both Pakistan and India by finding the common interest
between Pakistan and India and bringing the opportunity for both countries to have a
peace and stability period in which to grow. Under that circumstance, Pakistan and
India can strengthen the cooperation on war of terror and energy, which will bring a
better future for the development of the south Asia region. A peaceful strong south
Asia region is the prerequisite for a powerful and prosperous Asia region, which is the
basis of the world’s healthy and steady development.