Following the footsteps of Israel in the Middle East, India is also planning to build a massive security wall along the line of Control in Kashmir now. Indeed, the birds of feather always flock together. The proposed ‘Great Wall of Kashmir’ would be bigger in size both in terms of height and width than the Great Wall of China or any other wall ever built for the same purpose. Apparently, the purpose for the construction of this security barrier is to stop infiltrators from entering the Indian held Kashmir by secretly crossing the LoC. But, India’s real motive behind this move is to fortify itself and further consolidate its illegal occupation on the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. At the time when the government of Pakistan is extending an olive branch to India, an arbitrary and unilateral action like this is really deplorable.
The Line of Control is just a cease fire line drawn by the UN under some temporary and provisional arrangements in the past. It is not an international border. Therefore, India should refrain from unilaterally changing the legal status of the LoC by such moves. The Line of Control that is often termed as the Asia’s Berlin wall consists of double row of high fences with concertina wire and thousands of landmines laid in-between. It has also been electrified and further secured by heavy guards, motion sensors, thermal imaging devices and some lighting and alarm systems. All these things can definitely make any infiltration almost impossible. So, in the presence of such effective arrangements, the construction of another heavy wall is quite pointless and totally unjustified.
In the post 9/11 regional perspective, it is not the India but Pakistan that has become the primary target of militancy and extremism. At present, Pakistan doesn’t have any effective security barrier on its western border. Ironically, the Great Wall of China could not prevent the fall of its architects in the ancient China. The Berlin wall could not resist the reunification of Germany much longer. Likewise, the well-known iron curtain could not hide the glow of the ‘Free World’ behind it for a long time. Therefore, the LoC or any other artificial human barrier will also eventually fail in dividing the Kashmiri people or otherwise bifurcating their motherland permanently.
MOHSIN RAZA MALIK,
Lahore, November 27.