THE year 1947 witnessed the emergence of two disputes — Palestine and Kashmir. Both remain unresolved. At the heart of both disputes is the unfulfilled right of two peoples to self-determination. Both are protracted cases of resistance to foreign occupation. And in the genesis of both conflicts, the underlying common factor is the British geopolitics of the time.

The Palestine dispute arose when, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Britain, which had been given the mandate to govern Palestine, announced in 1917 its intent to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This announcement — the Balfour Declaration — stated that the new state would not prejudice the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities living in Palestine. In 1947, Britain took the matter to the UN, where the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which decided to partition Palestine into the independent states of Israel and Palestine with Jerusalem placed under an international regime. Israel has consistently refused to honour the commitments given under the Balfour Declaration as well as the decision of the UN resolution, and has never allowed the Palestinians to form an independent and viable state of their own.

The dispute over Jammu and Kashmir arose because the people of this state were denied an opportunity to express their desire to join Pakistan or India on the eve of partition. Under the terms of the Partition Plan of 1947, Jammu and Kashmir, being a Muslim-majority state and with borders contiguous with Pakistan, should have joined the latter. When the Hindu maharaja of Kashmir dallied, the tribals from Pakistan’s frontier region rose up and liberated a segment of the state. At the maharaja’s request, India landed its forces in the state on Oct 27, 1947. Lord Mountbatten, then governor general of independent India, persuaded the Indian government to refer the case to the UN, which decided that the matter would be resolved via a UN-supervised plebiscite. But the dispute remains unresolved because India has consistently refused to abide by the UN resolutions, and is not ready to accept third-party mediation or to resolve the conflict bilaterally.

The similarities between the two cases are striking because both disputes have territorial as well as religious dimensions. In both cases, the occupying powers have consistently defied the will of the international community expressed through UN resolutions. The two occupying powers also seem to learn how to sustain their illegal occupation of these territories from each other. Both enjoy firm US support.

The similarities between Palestine and Kashmir are striking.

Naturally, there are also some differen­ces. Palestine is one land which is claimed by two communities, the Palestinians and Jews. Around the creation of Israel in 1948, Jews from Europe were pulled into Palestine, and Palestinians who had lived in these lands for millennia were displaced from their homes. As for Kashmir, it was and remains a Muslim-majority Kashmiri population. However, since Aug 5, 2019, the Indian government has embarked on a project of changing the occupied territory’s demographics by pulling in non-Kashmiris from different parts of India and offering them domiciles and voting rights.

Pakistanis have always stood for the rights of Palestinians to have an independent and viable state of their own. To this date, Pakistan has not recognised Israel because of its illegal occupation of Palestine.

There have been voices in Pakistan, whi­ch believe that by not recognising Israel, we have become a target of Jewish lobbies in the US. Another argument is that the Indo-Israel nexus is working against the interests of Pakistan and Kashmiris. How­ever, no government in Pakistan has accepted the call for recognition of Israel, and remains fir­mly committed to the two-state solution and the right of Palestinians to self-determination. There is, however, an expectation in Pakistan that our strong support for the Palestinian cause should be reciprocated by Arab support to the Kashmiris, because both are cases of the struggle for the right of self-determination and both are suffering brutalities and atrocities of occupying powers.

As to how the future would unfold, it is self-evident that victims of oppression cannot be subjugated forever. In both cases, wars have been fought and several peace attempts made. Both peoples have shown remarkable resolve, courage, patience and perseverance to pursue their respective cause. However, it is important for both Palestinians and Kashmiris to pursue well-considered strategies that lead to freedom and victory over oppressors. Both can take heart from countless examples in human history, where sacrifices and dreams of freedom of some valiant leaders became a reality for future generations.

The writer is a former foreign secretary and founder chairman of Sanober Institute Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023