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| Omar says what others had stated earlier | | |
NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
Jammu, June 11: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has said what others had already stated regarding the opportunity India missed in resolving the bilateral problems with Pakistan when Gen. Parvez Musharraf was the President. Omar Abdullah has told the London based Financial Express that” we missed the golden opportunity with Gen. Musharraf in power." He has stated that "it is unlikely that we are going to see a leadership with that degree of control over the entire situation in Pakistan.” This view had been expressed by several leaders, including Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Farooq Abdullah and the separatists. It was Khushwant Singh, a veteran journalist, who was the first intellectual who had, in his column, said that India missed a chance of settling the bilateral problems including the Kashmir issue when Gen.Musharraf was the President of Pakistan.
It goes to the credit of Omar Abdullah that he has talked about the missed opportunity of settling the Kashmir issue during Gen. Parvez's presidentship. Usually Kashmiri politicians in power prefer playing a second fiddle to Delhi. They do not dare to express their views that may favour Pakistan. At times the leaders of the ruling party have been seen indulging in Pakistan bashing to establish their pro-India credentials. And if the events during the time Musharraf was the President of Pakistan and the one taking place after democracy was restored in Pakistan in February last one feels convinced that Musharraf's regime was better than the loose democratic structure in Pakistan.
In his latest interview Gen.Parvez Musharraf has said that his four-point formula was an ideal solution to the Kashmir conflict.He has held Delhi responsible for being adamant on keeping the LOC as a permanent border between the two countries. He has said that he was for making the LOC irrelevant with more border routes thrown open for trave and trade.He has said that he had mooted the idea of demilitarisation on either side of the border and joint management. If not anybody else it is the PDP leadership that has endorsed Musharraf's four point proposal for ending the conflict between India and Pakistan. And the PDP's support to Gen. Musharraf's four-point proposal is manifest in the party's self-rule idea. The self-rule concept provides for demilitarisation, open borders and joint management.
The beauty of Musharraf's four-point proposal is that the leaders of All Party Hurriyat Conference too support it.The APHC leaders say that the Musharraf's formula is one of the best options for resolving the bilateral problems which could ensure peace in the Indian subcontinent. But those who talk of missed opportunity seem to hve lost sight of the stnd Delhi took when Musharraf mooted his four-point plan on Kashmir. Initially Delhi did not react and when it reacted it did so by rejecting the plan saying that it was not acceptable to India. This way it was not in the hands of either the Mufti or Omar to accept Mushrrf's plan.
If Delhi missed an opportunity it was the way the central Government did not show any willingness to discuss the plan with Gen. Musharraf. Had it been done delhi could hve secure more concessions. Let both Delhi and Islamabad forget the past mistakes and make a fresh beginning in breaking the ice. Earlier it is done the better would it prove for peace and political stability in the Indian subcontinent. The process can be hastened provided Islamabad intensified its crackdown on the terrorists and initiated measures for preventing militants from crossing into Jammu and Kashmir.
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