Once again, Pakistan is knocking at the door of the United Nations urging the international community to ask India to end repression in Kashmir so as to pave the way for settling the decades-old dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions.
The Kashmir dispute, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the UN General Assembly, is all about India's consistent refusal to let the people of Kashmir exercise their right of self-determination "through a free, fair and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices". Promptly declaring his call "unacceptable", his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister Krishna, said that their expected meeting on the margins of the General Assembly was not possible, his ire provoked by Pakistan's renewed attempt to bring the Kashmir dispute back on the front burner.
A series of dubious moves, made by the Musharraf government and the foreign-funded, back-channel diplomacy had led New Delhi to believe that Pakistan's stand on Kashmir was pliable, and with the help of the United States and some other 'common friends', this more than half a century-old 'thorn in the side of an India-dominated peaceful South Asia' could be taken out. That was a patently wrong foreign policy position on the part of his government.
But, more importantly, it was not in consonance with the ethos of the people of Kashmir - a reality now being vindicated by the blood-stained uprising in the Occupied Kashmir that has refused to die down in face of the unprecedented brutality at the hands of the Indian security forces. It is not a few so-called Pakistan-aligned Hurriyat leaders, but third-generation Kashmiri youth that leads the demonstrations, defying curfews and braving directly-fired bullets.
Not that they carry weapons, they come to the streets barehanded to protest against the Indian occupation by force, in exercise of their fundamental right. The world body must hear their voice, and ensure respect for their human rights, to help create an "enabling environment for a peaceful solution" to the long-standing problem of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mere forcible occupation doesn't add any extra weight to India's status as only a party to the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan and the people of Kashmir are the other two recognised and accepted parties to this dispute - though, admittedly, over time, the Kashmiris' right to independence and freedom has acquired primacy over any other option.
Foreign Minister Qureshi raised Pakistan's other concerns also. And as he did, the disparity between Pakistan's commitment to regional and global peace - for instance, it has laid on the line its domestic peace and economic development as a partner of alliance against international terrorism - and adequate recognition of its sacrifices by the international community falls far short of its expectations.
Not only is Pakistan's arch-rival, India, being pampered to break out of the regional equation by allowing special exemptions to its nuclear programme, in violation of international law and protocols, New Delhi's surreptitious activities inside Pakistan, mainly in connivance with some sections of Afghan society, are also being overlooked if not condoned.
And much more frustratingly, the very alliance that Pakistan is helping with so much blood has become an instrument of aggression in the form of continuing drone attacks, and now attacks inside Pakistan by Nato helicopters. For the dictator Musharraf, it was perhaps possible to put up with such one-sided treatment, but not for an elected government.
The people's patience with Islamabad's partnership with the US-led alliance is wearing thin by the day, as the impression is gaining ground that because of incompetent leadership, Pakistan is being short-changed by its so-called allies. The feared tipping point may not be in the distant future, unless this imbalance is rectified and Pakistan receives due attention of the international community.