SOUTH ASIA: Latest Peace Initiative Runs into Snags

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, May 25 2001 (IPS) - India’s plans to invite Pakistan’s military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf for talks on disputed Kashmir have met an enthusiastic response, but prospects for a negotiated solution to the long-simmering dispute remain dim.

Confusion has arisen over a possible role in the talks for the All-Party Hurriyet Committee (AHPC), an umbrella organisation of political groups in Kashmir seeking independence for the divided territory whose halves are administered by Pakistan and India.

On Thursday, a day after India announced its new initiative, the chief spokesman for the military government in Islamabad, Maj Gen Rashid Quereshi insisted that there were three parties to the conflict — and that the talks must include the AHPC.

Said Hurriyet Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat, “The principal party (Kashmiri representatives) should be engaged in the dialogue both in Islamabad as well as in New Delhi.

But India’s hawkish Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani ruled out “any intermediary role” for the Hurriyet.

Earlier, Advani’s ministry refused to provide passports to several members of the Hurriyet it considered “pro-Pakistan” so that they could not accept an invitation to visit Islamabad for talks.

However, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said at a press conference in Islamabad that Pakistan would not make an issue of the AHPC’s involvement, according to reports in Indian newspapers Friday.

Sattar read out a statement condemning India’s decision to call off a six-month-old ceasefire and resume cordon-and-search operations against armed militancy in Indian Kashmir. “India has removed even the pretense of restraint,” the statement said.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s plan to invite Pakistan’s Musharraf for talks makes good a New Year resolution for “bold and innovative” steps to settle the Kashmir issue.

Vajpayee has been under pressure from hawks in his pro-Hindu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to call off the ceasefire while army officials have complained that the truce had given the militant groups a chance to entrench themselves in Indian Kashmir.

“By calling off the ceasefire and inviting Pakistan Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf for talks, the government has followed a logical, though not entirely predictable course,” commented security analyst Manoj Joshi.

Vajpayee’s initiative marks a distinct departure from India’s consistent position that talks could begin only after its rival neighbour gave “sufficient proof of preparedness to create conducive atmosphere for a meaningful dialogue.”

Essentially that meant Islamabad would have to stop its support for various militant groups operating from its part of divided Kashmir.

Vajpayee has accused Islamabad of “not doing enough to reign in terrorist organisations based on its soil that are continuing their killing spree, targeting both innocent civilians and our security personnel in Kashmir and other parts of India.”

New Delhi has now changed its tack and decided to militarily take on militant groups operating in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, notably the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (God’s soldiers), while resuming diplomatic dialogue with Islamabad.

The Lashkar and other militant groups have warned Islamabad not to “walk into a trap laid by the Indian government.”

India broke off diplomatic dialogue with Pakistan in 1999 after heavily armed intruders crossed over the Line of Control (LoC) that runs through the divided territory, provoking an undeclared but bloody six-month war.

The conflict ended after then U.S. President Bill Clinton intervened and prevailed on Islamabad to get the armed intruders to withdraw across the LoC.

Both the Clinton and the Bush administrations have since leaned on the nuclear-armed neighbours to resume diplomatic dialogue.

Washington has welcomed Vajpayee’s new initiative. “We applaud India’s invitation to Gen Musharraf to come for talks,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Phil Reeker was reported saying.

“We have encouraged both the countries to engage in a process of dialogue. They have an opportunity to make real progress toward reduction of tensions and resolution of their differences through peaceful talks,” Reeker was quoted saying.

A U.S. State Department report on patterns of global terrorism through the year 2000 indicted Pakistan’s military regime for continued support to insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Massacres of civilians in Kashmir during March and August were attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and other militant groups. India also faced continued violence associated with several separatist movements based in the north-east of the country,” the report said.

“Pakistan’s military government, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, continued previous Pakistani governments’ support of the Kashmir insurgency and Kashmir militant groups continued to operate in Pakistan raising funds and recruiting new cadre,” the report said.

India’s Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the militant groups had not responded to the government’s unilateral ceasefire and security forces would now “take such action against terrorists as they judge best.”