Setback for Musharraf's Kashmir plan

A formula proposed by Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf for solving the long-running issue of Kashmir has been rejected by opposition groups.

The opposition’s reaction came a day after President Musharraf said that Pakistan and India must consider changing their positions on Kashmir to settle a decades-old dispute over the Himalayan region.

Both nations claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

“We have arrived at a stage where ... we have to consider options in a purposeful manner going toward a solution” over Kashmir, Musharraf said.

He said New Delhi and Islamabad should consider making some areas of Kashmir independent, placing them under joint Indian-Pakistani control, or putting them under the administration of the United Nations.

Musharraf conditioned his comments on a demilitarisation of the region, where both countries have hundreds of thousands of troops. Such a standdown before a final solution is considered unlikely.

Although there was no immediate reaction from New Delhi, Musharraf’s remarks drew criticism in Pakistan from opposition groups who accused him of offering too much.

“I don’t think Musharraf’s proposal is in the interest of Pakistan and the Kashmiris,” said Raja Zafarul Haq, a senior leader of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), a 15-party opposition coalition.

“Such formulas are an insult to the sacrifices of Kashmiris,” said Haq, who is also chairman of Pakistan Muslim League-N party, whose government was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999. Haq said he did not think India would accept the new terms.

“India has long said that Kashmir is an integral part of their country, and I don’t think they are going to change their stance.”

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, another senior leader of a coalition of six-party religious alliance, called United Action Forum, also rejected Musharraf’s formula.

“Musharraf is trying to roll back our Kashmir policy,” he said, and added “we will not allow him to do it. Kashmir wants to be part of Pakistan.”

Kashmir, a former princely state, has been the flashpoint of two wars between India and Pakistan since it was divided following the partition of the subcontinent by Britain at independence in 1947.

A 1948 UN resolution calls for the people of both Pakistan-held and Indian-held Kashmir to vote on whether a united Kashmir should join predominantly Hindu India or mostly Muslim Pakistan. Most of Kashmir’s people are Muslims.

The vote was never held because of India’s objections. Pakistan has long supported the plebiscite.

Musharraf was reported by one Pakistan newspaper as saying “we want a plebiscite in Kashmir, while they (Indians) want LoC (the Line of Control that effectively divides the two parts of Kashmir) to be a permanent border.”

“If both sides continue to stick to their stands, the dispute would persist for 100 years without any solution,” it quoted Musharraf.

Pakistan and India in recent months have held a series of confidence building talks on less contentious issues, but they have not yet started negotiations on Kashmir.

Senior Pakistani and Indian officials are scheduled to hold another round of talks later this year.

India accuses Pakistan of backing Islamic militants, who have been fighting Indian forces since 1989. The insurgency since then has claimed more than 65,000 lives.