THE Indian governments protest at Pakistans decision to give full internal autonomy to the Northern Areas, renaming them as Gilgit-Baltistan, and the construction of Bunji Dam in Azad Kashmir is simply ridiculous. And so is its contention that the Jammu and Kashmir State is an integral part of India. Pakistan has done the right thing to call the Indian envoy to the Foreign Office and reject the protest. That Kashmir is a disputed state is not something that New Delhi can hide; the UN Security Council resolutions calling for its settlement through a UN-sponsored plebiscite are on record; and Indias first Prime Minister Pundit Nehru made a commitment to the world community in unequivocal terms that the final decision whether the state acceded to Pakistan or India would rest with the people of Kashmir, who also received firm assurances from him at public gatherings. But then he began having second thoughts, finally going back on the promise and saying that Pakistans military alliance with the US had changed the entire context and that he was no longer bound by his word. It ill befitted the man who had for all his life fought for the peoples right to be free from alien rule to keep Kashmiris under subjugation. The Kashmiris struggle for freedom from the Indian yoke has cost them nearly 80,000 lives and endless misery. And with time India took to the mantra of atoot ang (integral part). It also sounds quite odd for India to make a demarche about the construction of a dam in Azad Kashmir, while it has defied all protests and gone ahead with building Baglihar dam and several others in the occupied part of the state, with a large number of big and small water reservoirs in the pipeline. In fact, these dams have created a veritable crisis for Pakistan in terms of the availability of water. Experts even see the dangerous prospect of vast tracts of fertile lands going dry unless India is stopped in its tracks. Somehow Indias economic and strategic clout comes in the way of any power exercising pressure to settle the Kashmir dispute, just as President Obamas declared intention of doing so has gone awry. But there seems to be no other way of creating a peaceful atmosphere in the subcontinent but to have the dispute out of the way by meeting the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. Pakistan must use all available options to stress this point. It should use the occasion of the forthcoming meeting of the Friends of Pakistan to highlight it. Mr Obama and many other influential leaders are due to assemble there. Prime Minister Gilani has also urged Muslim countries to extend their help in this context. Friendly nations can certainly make their contribution towards peace by making serious attempts at persuading New Delhi to give up its intransigence.