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| Delhi rules out redrawing the map | | Musharraf tosses Kashmir ball into India's court | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI DEC 6
Gen. Parvez Musharraf has provided food for Indian leaders' thought. True, this is not the first time Pakistan President has tossed the Kashmir ball into India's court. And considering the applause from the pro-Musharraf audience in Pakistan- which is indicative of the strength of his proposal - it is hoped a breakthrough in the more than 58-year-old impasse may finally be in the offing.
It is also true that this is definitely not the first time that, under Gen. Musharraf, Pakistan has signalled its willingness to depart from its historical and traditional position on the disputed territory, making bold proposals for its resolution and prompting India to reciprocate. His latest proposition - that Islamabad would give up its Kashmir claim if India agrees to a phased withdrawal and subsequent self-governance by Kashmiris - has led to a sharp division among the Kashmiri Muslims, particularly the separatist groups, in Indian Kashmir.
India and Pakistan realise only too well that not only the ill-effects of the two wars fought over the region (Jammu and Kashmir), but also the tremendous potential for enhanced trade and mutual economic uplift should relations continue to sweeten. History shows that whenever the two have sat down to sort things out, they have run into the same stumbling block - Kashmir. Since both are currently enjoying economic upswings, the urgency in trying to resolve the conflict is understandable.
For its part, New Delhi's response, ruling out redrawing the map but signalling an inclination to make borders irrelevant, ought to be taken as a diplomatic reply that the proposal is being taken seriously indeed. New Delhi does not want to allow unnecessary speed in relation to a scrutiny of the four-point formula of Gen. Musharraf. Since their start in 2004, the peace talks have seen a number of highs and lows, but have so far failed to address core issues.
The Kashmir problem is rooted in a bygone era. The world has moved on while India and Pakistan remain where they had been more than half a century ago. It is now up to the leadership in both countries to find ways of building a future distinctly different from their collective past. In the era of rapid globalisation, economic interests dictate bilateral as well as multilateral political relations. Smooth economic and political ties between Pakistan and India can raise not only their respective profiles, but also that of the entire region.
Gen. Musharraf has in an exclusive interview with private television channel NDTV proposed some steps seen as dramatic to try and resolve the vexed problem. He has suggested allowing free movement of people within the region, self-governance or autonomy without independence, withdrawal of troops in a staggered manner and setting up a joint supervision mechanism with representatives of New Delhi, Islamabad and the region. In lieu, he has offered to give up Pakistan's old demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir and forgetting all United Nations resolutions.
Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, told mediapersons that India has always maintained that the two counties can make Kashmir's heavily militarised frontier, the so-called Line of Control (LoC), "irrelevant". But India has also demanded that before any such moves are made, Pakistan must clamp down on militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. "We want the people of Pakistan and India and this region to enjoy the fruits of economic development which can only come when conflict and distrust are removed," Sharma said, an apparent reference to New Delhi's demands that Islamabad crack down on the militants.
Officially, New Delhi has taken the stand that the government is studying the proposal and would react to it in due course. Analysts see a major shift in Islamabad's stand with Gen. Musharraf hinting at dropping insistence on Kashmir's independence and demand for a plebiscite.
In New Delhi, a section of the officialdom is reported to have raised two points. First, if India agrees to the proposals of Gen. Musharraf, then Jammu and Kashmir will get a great deal of autonomy which will only pave way to strengthen 'separatist movement'. Such a step can never be prudent, and especially so at the time of thriving peace process aimed at confidence building between the two sides.
Second, the proposals will, according to these officals, surely help build up a separatist movement in demand for a separate nation. Separatists have had been fighting for this since long, and any solution aimed precisely at this would not be in the interests of India and Pakistan towards resolving the issue amicably |
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