POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Quake Goodwill Between India, Pakistan Ends

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Feb 6 2001 (IPS) - The show of goodwill between India and Pakistan generated by the Jan. 26 earthquake in Gujarat state is now over, and the South Asian neighbours are back to bickering over the long-disputed territory of Kashmir.

When Pakistan’s military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf made a telephone call to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Feb. 1 to offer commiseration for the Gujarat tragedy, there were hopes of reviving the diplomatic dialogue stalled since the 1999 undeclared war at Kargil.

But right now, the issue is who actually made the call.

Reports in the Pakistani press over the weekend, including that by the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), insisted that the call was made by Vajpayee.

According to the reports in the Pakistan press, Vajpayee called Musharraf to thank him for the humanitarian relief sent by Islamabad to Gujarat. But the Indian foreign ministry made it clear that it was Musharaf who made the call.

Said an editorial in Pakistan’s ‘Dawn’ daily: “It does not matter who made the telephone call — Gen. Musharraf or Prime Minister Vajpayee. The important thing is that for the first time since the present government assumed office in Pakistan the leaders of the two countries spoke to each other and exchanged civilities.”

On Monday, the conservative Indian daily ‘The Hindu’ daily commented in a front-page article that “even the expression of just a little goodwill by Pakistan amid the Gujarat disaster has not been without the usual bit of depressing diplomatic posturing.”

Musharraf’s message on the eve of ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’, which fell on Monday, was strongly worded. He chose the occasion to reaffirm “full moral, diplomatic and moral support” to the people of Kashmir “at all times and under all circumstances.”

On Monday, Musharraf was reported by news agencies as exhorting Vajpayee to “show statesmanship” by coming forward to solve the Kashmir issue while addressing refugees at a camp set up in the Pakistan-occupied part of Kashmir.

India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of also providing arms and training to militant groups in Kashmir and has ruled out dialogue with Islamabad until it is satisfied that such support has been effectively withdrawn.

So far, the quake in Gujarat, a western state which borders Pakistan, has been insufficient cause for New Delhi to thaw.

The government refused to grant permission for the Indian cricket team to play a match organised for the victims in Sharjah by the Asian Cricket Federation.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has now warned that it would raise the continuing ban on the Indian team playing against the Pakistan side at the International Cricket Council, which is due to meet in Australia later this month.

India had refused to allow its team to play against Pakistan in the 1999 and 2000 Toronto series, besides stopping it from a planned tour of Pakistan late last year.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire offered by the Indian government to militant groups in Kashmir since Nov. 26 has come under strain after the massacre of six followers of the Sikh religion in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital. The six were killed by motorcyle-borne gunmen on Saturday evening.

The United News of India (UNI) news agency reported continuing curfew meantime in several parts of Srinagar and in the winter capital of Jammu, and a ban on vehicular movement along the 300- kilometre Srinagar-Jammu highway.

On Sunday, enraged members of the Sikh community violated the curfew to cremate their dead and carry out a protest march through Srinagar, raising slogans against Pakistan and flinging stones at Muslim-owned establishments in the city.

On Monday, police opened fire on Sikh demonstrators violating the curfew. One person died in the firing, causing the army to be called out. At least 24 persons were injured in clashes between the Sikhs and police.

“The security forces need to crack down on the militants, not on their intended victims,” said ‘Indian Express’ said in an editorial Tuesday.

“Saturday’s massacre has given the authorities their first major challenge since the Ramadan ceasefire was announced. Their response will prove critical in determining the very future of the peace process,” the paper added.

Reacting to Saturday’s massacre, Kashmir’s elected chief minister Farooq Abdullah told newspersons that the ceasefire had no meaning until Islamabad stopped militant groups operating from Pakistan from carrying on a campaign of indiscriminate killings.

Most militant groups, notably the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, have rejected the nearly three-month-old ceasefire. But the routine shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops across their common border has stopped.

India has fought two of its three wars with Pakistan over Kashmir, whose Hindu ruler opted to join India following the partitioning of British India and freedom from colonial rule in 1947.

Many consider the 1999 conflict at Kargil — which falls on the Line of Control (LoC) running through the territory — a fourth war given the scale of weaponry used by both sides and the severe casualties.