Pak Army Chief's statement amounts to withdrawal of troops from PoK and Gilgit

New Delhi [India], Sept. 7 (ANI): Pakistan's Army Chief Raheel Sharif delivered a speech on Tuesday on the occasion of Pakistan Defense day in which he said that solution to Kashmir was implementation of the UN resolutions. By making this statement has Raheel Sharif hinted that Pakistan is ready for complete withdrawal of its troops from Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan?

The General went on to deliver a speech laden with self congratulatory praise for the Pakistan army and stressing the importance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project which could be in jeopardy if the Pakistan government followed their General's "advise" on implementation of UN Resolutions for Kashmir.

The UNSC resolution of 21st April 1948 begins with a caveat that as stipulated in Article 1(a) and (b), Pakistan must withdraw all its forces and tribesman that had invaded Jammu and Kashmir and then help create conditions for the people to exercise their mandate without fear from aggression from the Pakistani side.

Once this key condition is met, only then will India take steps for gradual withdrawal of forces from Jammu and Kashmir but will be allowed to keep a force to maintain law and order in the state and for meeting any external threat that the state may face. The third and final step in this sequential order of the UNSC resolution would entail the Government of India conducting a UN supervised free and fair plebiscite in the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, which includes Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

"People in Pakistan do not have a proper understanding of what the UN resolutions actually state, if Raheel Sharif realizes what he said, he will regret it," said Former Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat Tilak Devasher in an interview to ANI. The former senior Indian bureaucrat and security expert also went on to say that media propaganda in Pakistan has kept Pakistanis in the dark about the UN resolution.

The Pakistan general's statement could rattle Chinese investments in the region as well since the key CPEC project cuts across areas in Gilgit and PoK. The people in these areas who have long been denied any rights could upon implementation of UNSC resolution vote themselves out of the Pakistan state. "If the Pakistan army were to withdraw from Gilgit and PoK, then it is goodbye Pakistan forever...the Chinese will regret their investments," added Tilak Devasher.

With Pakistan Army General raising the UN resolution on Kashmir as the only solution, another question arises as to the status of Aksai Chin. This too is an illegal occupation.