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Kashmir: review of composite
dialogue
WHILE India is increasing its military strength in occupied Kashmir to
further strangulate the struggling people, a review of the fourth round
of composite dialogue has been planned on the 20th and 21st of May,
2007. It is important that the new Government must stress upon India
that there is no use for dialogue for the sake of dialogue as people
want to see some concrete results from this exercise.
Foreign Office spokesman at his briefing to the media while answering a
question said that Pakistan had rejected a proposal from Dr Farooq
Abdullah, a leader in Indian occupied Kashmir for the establishment of a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the pattern of South Africa for
the resolution of the dispute. In fact this proposal might have been the
brain child of the Indian Government mooted through a proxy to sideline
the Kashmir issue as it is contrary to a clear, consensus and principled
Pakistani stand on the issue. On important issues, there is seldom
change in the foreign policy of a country with the change of governments
and surely keeping in view the consensus of Pakistani and Kashmiri
people, the Government will adopt the policy of the predecessors. The
new Government must also keep in mind that President Pervez Musharraf
when he was enjoying all the powers and his every word was considered a
final say, had offered a number of options for the solution of Kashmir
issue but there was no response from the Indian side. We must emphasise
at the talks that the focus should be on the resolution of the core
issue of Kashmir and “ A Truth and Reconciliation Commission” could be
established after the resolution of the problem. Pakistan must express
its strong views at the talks over the discovery of one thousand
nameless graves in Kashmir and demand India to allow international human
rights organisations to conduct an independent investigation into the
issues of disappeared persons and discovery of these graves. If India is
willing for a serious dialogue to resolve problems with Pakistan
including the core issue of Kashmir, Islamabad may welcome it otherwise
there is no use of prolonging these talks and this must be made clear to
the other side. If for some reasons, Pakistan for the time being is
unable to persuade India to resolve the issue, then it should follow the
Chinese model by adopting patience, wait and see approach but must not
change its principled stand on it. We also warn that any deviation from
the national consensus would not be acceptable to the people of Pakistan
and Kashmir and could serve as a charge sheet against the Government in
the future.
