NEW DELHI — The uproar from opposition parties across the border in Pakistan over the new formula offered by that country’s President Pervez Musharraf to resolve the 57-year-old Kashmir dispute with India refuses to die down.
Gen. Musharraf had called for identifying some parts of Kashmir on both sides of the disputed border, demilitarizing them and granting them independence, joint control by India and Pakistan, or administration under a United Nations mandate.
“Change in status could be independent status, condominium, which includes joint control; it can be U.N. mandate also,” Gen. Musharraf said. “I strongly believe there are options and there is a solution. For the first time we see light at the end of the tunnel.
“I have never spoken like this before to anyone,” he told Pakistani newspaper editors on Monday night. “I will request you to debate on these lines.”
The next day, India offered a guarded response, saying the Kashmir issue should not be negotiated through the media but rather through a properly established diplomatic forum.
Although Gen. Musharraf is entitled to his own views on Kashmir, the reaction from all over may force him to rethink his proposal. For once, the opposition parties of both India and Pakistan agree: Gen. Musharraf’s suggestions about Kashmir are unacceptable.
While the reaction of India’s opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was along expected lines, Pakistan’s major opposition parties described the new theory as a great “betrayal of the Kashmir cause” and threatened nationwide protests for the Musharraf government’s “backtracking” on Kashmir’s independence.
Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leaders told reporters that Gen. Musharraf had betrayed the blood shed by Kashmiri “freedom fighters” by proposing demilitarization of Kashmir, Indo Asian News Service reported.
Jamaat-e-Islami chief and MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad termed the Musharraf proposal unacceptable.
“It’s a U-turn, a rollback of Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir since independence,” Indo Asian News Service quoted MMA leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed as saying.
“I don’t think Musharraf’s proposal is in the interest of Pakistan and the Kashmiris,” said Pakistan Muslim League leader Raja Zafarul Haq.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan claimed Gen. Musharraf was acting at the behest of Washington and New Delhi. He did not elaborate.
“If any action is taken by the president in this connection, we will strongly oppose him, and the people of Pakistan will launch a movement against him,” Mr. Khan said.
The BJP said any suggestion for the transfer of sovereignty or Kashmir territory is “totally unacceptable.”
“The Bharatiya Janata Party has consistently held that map-making has to stop in South Asia. For the BJP nothing is acceptable that overrides the will of Parliament,” said Jaswant Singh, India’s former foreign minister.
The Indian media also slammed Gen. Musharraf’s suggested solution for Kashmir.
In an editorial titled “Thoughts Don’t Hurt,” the Indian Express said Gen. Musharraf is entitled to his ideas but they must meet the reality test.
“There are problems actually with each of the three steps that the Pakistan president has outlined. [EnLeader] There is the fact that a road map for normalizing relations already exists. Would it not be better for Musharraf to apply his mind in strengthening this bilateral process rather than rush to float other balloons?”
The Hindustan Times quoted an observer as saying the Musharraf proposal indicates at least that the Pakistani leadership realizes that its past policies on Kashmir, which it said were based on promoting terrorism, are no longer working.
The Times of India said no democracy could afford “kite-flying.”
“The two countries must shed their rigidity, but Musharraf’s approach is a non-starter,” the Times said in an editorial.
“India and Pakistan could engage in low-profile, official-level talks, involving credible forces in the [Kashmir] Valley. Then the political leadership can step into the limelight. Both India and Pakistan need to oil their diplomatic machinery, and take out any spanners in the works. In the absence of such groundwork, Musharraf’s overtures amount to little more than kite-flying.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri defended Gen. Musharraf’s views, saying Islamabad is willing to go beyond U.N. resolutions and take “all risks” but wants India to show flexibility.
Mr. Kasuri said Kashmiris have to be involved in finding a solution to the Kashmir problem.
“Kashmiris hold the key, as far as Pakistan is concerned. Kashmiris have veto power,” Mr. Kasuri said on CNBC’s “Tonight at Ten” program.
“We are prepared to take all the risks provided we are not blamed for a U-turn that some opposition parties in Pakistan are blaming us for,” the foreign minister said.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said Gen. Musharraf has done the right thing by calling for a debate on Kashmir options. “He has rightly said that the status quo offers no solution. The state of no-war, no-peace born of the Kashmir dispute between the two neighbors in the last five decades has only benefited India,” the daily said, adding: “Pakistan and the Kashmiris have suffered as a result of this logjam. ”
Kashmir has bitterly divided India and Pakistan since the two counties got independence from British rule in 1947. They have fought two wars over the region. Both risked nuclear war during a yearlong military standoff following an attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001.
The Indian side of Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state of predominantly Hindu India, is home to a 15-year-old separatist Islamic uprising, which India blames on Pakistan.
But much to the comfort of the international community, the two nations warmed to each other this year and have been indulging in several confidence-building measures.
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