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| Musharraf unlikely to shed military uniform | | Islamabad deadset against making LoC permanet | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Amid the renewed talk at the behest of the National Conference party in parts of Jammu and Kashmir in favour of converting the existing Line of Control (LoC) into international border, Pakistan's President, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, has, once again, made public Islamabad's official stand against making the LoC permanent. Gen. Musharraf, now in the United States, told mediapersons on the sidelines of the 61st UN General Asembly session that while India's concern is that redrawing of borders is not possible, Pakistan's view is that the LoC cannot be made permanent.
Significantly, Gen. Musharraf's idea that making the Line of Control irrelevant can leadd to an "acceptable solution" to the Kashmir issue has re-surfaced on the eve of his eagerly-awaited meeting with the US President, George W Bush. And Pakistan President is for what he has termed as the "right amount of will" to find a solution to the Kashmir problem. He did field a volley of questions from reporters, but he avoided elaborating further saying that there are extremists in Pakistan and India and as such "we need to tread difficult ground in a very steady manner to reach final conclusions".
At the same time, he found it difficult to maintain silence on what prompted him to sugest during his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that "an acceptable solution" to the Kashmir issue was within reach. He said that here were three factors that made him to say so. First, there is desire of the Indian and Pakistani people to reach peace. Second, the international environment happens to be quite conducive towards facilitating a peaceful resolution of disputes. Third, the leadership on both sides has an increasing desire to reach a peace agreement.
Gen. Musharraf did sugest that within this framework there were many proposals, many of them given by him. But he chose to dilate about only the one relating to LoC. His meeting in Havana with Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was "very positive", he said. As their joint statement noted, the two sides have been discussing the Kashmir dispute and needed to "narrow down our divergences and strengthen our convergences", he said, urging the media to support both him and Manmohan Singh.
Gen. Musharraf was quite on the mark as he said that there were were extremists on both sides of the border. Those in Pakistan were unhappy with whatever he was doing and those in India with what Manmohan Singh was doing. When asked about Indian intelligence's reported concerns about the proposed India-Pakistan joint mechanism to fight terrorism, Gen. Musharraf said: "It is not a question of only Pakistan intelligence coming on board. We would like even the Indian intelligence to come on board with us. It is a mutual gain".
Pakistan has certain apprehensions about the Indian intelligence and what is happening in Pakistan and in Balochistan province. Probably Indian intelligence has its own apprehensions. The mechanism has not been set. The two sides have just said that there will be an institutional mechanism to address these issues. So more should not be read between the lines, Gen. Musharraf said.
He indicated that he might not hang up his military uniform anytime soon, saying Army authority was essential to bring about reforms in his Islamic nation. Citing his administration’s recent proposal of a Parliament bill to amend much-criticized Islamic rape laws, he said it might not have been possible if he was not the military chief. He took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and pledged four years later that he would hang up his uniform and become a civilian leader.
But he reneged on his promise, deeming it vital for political stability and the fight against terrorism. Gen. Musharraf is a key ally in the US war on terror. He said his elected predecessors, including the country’s first woman leader, Benazir Bhutto, dared not take steps to amend controversial Islamic laws concerning rape and adultery imposed since 1979.
“It is only me who is touching it and let me tell you, for the consumption of the audience, may be if I am not in uniform may be it would have been difficult to touch it for me also,” he said. “So I am touching it because I have the confidence that I would get it through,” he added.
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