This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
General Musharraf is ‘allergic’ to the idea of designating the Line of Control in Kashmir a permanent border. And as he pointed out, he is clearly not satisfied with the two regions of the erstwhile Kashmir state that Pakistan (illegally) occupies. And in the spirit of good neighbourly relations, he expects India to pay to cure him of his allergy and the Pakistan army of its ambitions.
As the president put it, the old princely state of Jammu and Kashmir comprised seven regions different from each other on the basis of religion, ethnicity and geography.
Two are now on the Pakistani side and the other five are under the control of India
He listed several options for a settlement:
It could be put under the joint control of the two countries
Some parts could be divided between the two countries and the Kashmir
Valley would either become autonomous or be put under UN supervision. [‘BBC’]It is difficult to understand why the Indian government is letting the General get away with all these formulations of simple solutions? Musharraf’s formulations are mischievous because they are directed at forcing the Indian government to accept terms that would apply to those vanquished in war, or else open up the now-healed wounds of Partition and create a huge rift in communal relations.
Compared to these ‘solutions’, India is better off just living with the ‘problem’.
If you would like to share or comment on this, please discuss it on my GitHub
Previous © Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.