news details |
|
|
| Musharraf offers cooperation against ‘freelance terrorists’ | | Imtiaz Alam writes from Lahore | |
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has offered India exchange of information and cooperation amongst their intelligence agencies to ward off terrorist attacks, and to join hands in investigations and in moving against “freelance terrorists”.
In a path-breaking interview with A. G. Noorani, a respected constitutional expert and a leading columnist for Frontline magazine the President elaborated on the parameters for a solution on the Kashmir issue, which, he said was “very near, yet so far”.
The Indian concerns over terrorism are understandable and justifiable, even though New Delhi has not been able to substantiate its allegations regarding a Pakistani connection. New Delhi faces the dilemma of suspending the dialogue and aggravating the current situation on the one hand, and inviting a domestic backlash if it does not react to terrorist attacks on the other.
Despite taking a lot of measures against terrorist outfits and putting all that it once controlled on the Kashmir front on hold, the Pakistani government has failed to convince its allies and India about its efforts in the war against terrorism.
There is no readymade solution to terrorism in the short term. The banned terrorist outfits resurfaced under different names and also took refuge behind various charity organisations. Yet, without allowing them the ground they once held, the government tried to tighten the noose. The latest reports reveal camps for Kashmiri Jehad remain deserted and out of operation and the militant outfits are full of complaints against the Musharraf government. What India and the allies in the war against terrorism do not realize is that Musharraf has a most tedious job at hand and it can’t be handled with purely military means.
Now, General Musharraf says that “this is the time we have to move strongly against them”. After having snatched some ground from them, he is now confident of moving against them more firmly. He said that he was ready to cooperate with the Indians and has offered an accord between the intelligence agencies not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs and, rather, cooperate to fight terrorism.
Instead of distrusting each other, the two states must give this offer a chance and cooperate as far as possible. The President has frankly mentioned that the intelligence agencies of the two countries have a long history of fighting against each other. If Pakistan’s ISI, British MI-5 and the US’ CIA/FBI can cooperate and preempt a big plot against US-bound airlines, why can’t ISI and RAW cooperate and help bust all possible future threats to peace from the terrorists?
The President asked India to treat Pakistan with sovereign equality since there are those here in Pakistan who can retort in a “bad way” in the same coin. There is no dearth of such unscrupulous elements on both sides who can take the subcontinent to hell and we must not let them succeed, he said.
The interview shows that the President is very much aggrieved over the loss of the three years after the failure of the Agra Summit. He picked up the thread again after it had broken in Agra, and signed, with former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the joint statement of 6 January, 2004. After that, he admits, his meeting with Mr. Manmohan Singh in September 2004 in New York was a “big step”, when they agreed to “explore options” for a Kashmir settlement.
Further, clarifying his points on the criteria that he and Dr Manmohan Singh have been separately setting, the President has said that the strategic implications of certain areas to each country (such as the Northern Areas for Pakistan and Ladakh for India) has to be entertained and demilitarisation can take place in phases. On the quantum of autonomy, he is for devolving maximum powers, including security, to self-governance by the Kashmiris, while overruling independence.
He took a positive note of Dr Singh’s statement of May 25 at the round table conference on Kashmir, in which he said that the LOC can “become just a line on the map” and also urged the setting up of “institutional arrangements” between the two parts of Kashmir. The President emphasized the need to evolve a “joint framework for self-governance” and a “joint management mechanism at the top, consisting of representatives from Pakistan, India and Kashmir.”
If an agreement is reached on Kashmir to the satisfaction of the three parties, the President concedes the possibility of an India-Pakistan Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, as suggested by Dr Singh, and the withdrawal of the dispute from the UN.
Mr. Singh and Mr. Musharraf must meet in Havana and New York to set the ball rolling, with a new pace and on much sounder grounds. Undoubtedly, India and Pakistan are closer to an agreement than they have ever been before. This is perhaps the last opportunity that President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will get. They should not miss it.
— The writer is the Editor, Current Affairs, The News, Lahore. He is also Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
