One fails to understand why Pakistan President General Musharraf has a penchant to come up with serious proposals through the Media. Each time he does so, it ends up in a disaster. But he does not seem to learn any lesson. He did it at Agra and what followed is common knowledge. The talks between India and Pakistan broke down after he addressed the Indian Media over the shoulders of the Indian Government and criticized the Indian Government on Indian soil even before the agreement had been signed.
Last year, he came up with a proposal to resolve the Kashmir issue by suggesting its division into seven parts. This also fell through as the proposal was announced through the media and not the diplomatic channels. The Indian government was prompt to dismiss it by saying that there was no formal proposal from Pakistan before it.
Later he began talking about demilitarization of Kashmir and self- rule for the state but this time again through the media. So much so the invitation to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan to watch any of the cricket matches to be played in Pakistan in the current series was also extended through Television. Indian Government Spokesman was quick to reject the offer and so it met the same fate as did earlier proposals. As the Indian Spokesperson put it any decision on Demilitarization would be a sovereign decision of the Indian Government and no foreign Government can force it on India.
The language used by Gen. Musharraf is peculiar to him. In a Television interview the other day he said, if India withdraws it’s forces from Kupwara, Baramulla and Srinagar, he would ensure that no terrorist acts take place in this area thereafter. Does he mean that it is the Indian Security forces that indulge in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir? Or does it imply that Pakistan is behind terrorism in the state and if it wishes, it can put and end to it. With this statement he has only strengthened this perception.
His style too is peculiar to him. While extending the invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan to watch a cricket match, he said on the Television that he is doing it “here and now”. As it is, invitations to heads of state are never sent through media.
On earlier occasions the General said Kashmir issue can be resolved in one day, provided India wants it. What is the solution? Hand over Kashmir to Pakistan? In the recent TV interview he said withdrawing forces from Kashmir does not need any constitutional amendment or any thing like that. It only needs an administrative order. Are things so simple that an administrative order can resolve the dispute?
Caught in a messy situation the Pakistani authorities tried to retrieve the situation by saying that the Pakistan Cricket Board had no authority to extend the invitation to the Indian Prime Minister. But that clearly is a late cut which does not fetch any runs. Of course the tactics worked last time. General Musharraf succeeded in drawing an invitation from the India Government to visit Pakistan to watch one of the cricket matches in India, after he expressed a desire to that effect in a television interview. But that was an exception and an act of magnanimity on India’s part. Exceptions do not make a rule.
The General is talking about self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir. He forgets that it is ruled by democratically elected public leaders, thrown up through popular elections. What else does self rule mean? Does he have a similar system in place in Pakistan, let alone Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Northern Areas?
Baluchistan too has become a sore point between the two countries. Pakistan has not liked India’s concern over the situation there. If it was the Foreign Affairs Spokesperson first to use indecent language against India on the issue it was followed by the Pakistan’s Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao who wanted India to “mind its own business”. Obviously Pakistan does not want India to talk about the alarming situation in Baluchistan. If rockets are fired and Artillery used against the people there, Pakistan would like India to keep silent and watch the situation mutely. Any _expression of concern is not to its liking.
At the same time, Pakistan can keep crying about the so-called human rights situation in Kashmir. It can also raise the issue at international forums and world leaders and seek their support and intervention. It does not find anything wrong in this.
General Musharraf has a grudge that India is not responding to his proposals and that forces him to turn to the media. That does not sound logical. How can India take the proposals seriously if these are not rooted through the diplomatic channels?
The irony is that General Musharraf and Pakistan President Shaukat Aziz seem to be competing with each other in making incoherent noises over Kashmir. Aziz wants- again through the Media- that India withdraws its forces from Kashmir and the territory be under police control. He feels that opening of five points on the LOC for fostering contact among Kashmiris is not working as effectively as it should. But who is responsible for that. Pakistan is putting all sorts of curbs in letting the people in Jammu and Kashmir move freely across the LOC.
At his latest meeting with the Hurriyat Conference leaders in Islamabad he reiterated Pakistan’s wholehearted support for Kashmir’s struggle. That does not go well with the process of negotiation. The least General Musharraf can do is to stop being impatient. The issues that he wants to resolve are much more complicated than he would like the world to believe. He knows it for certain. He only would not admit it.
Courtesy : Syndicate Features
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