NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, 22 April — “Peace-efforts” of India to solve the Kashmir problem would bear little relevance without holding a dialogue with Pakistan.
Definitely, India’s reservation on this front is regarded as a major stumbling block by All-Parties Hurriyat Conference. This explains Hurriyat leaders’ slow and guarded to response to K.C. Pant’s invitation for discussions. To reach a consensus on this, the 21-member Hurriyat working committee held its closed-door meeting yesterday in Srinagar.
The Hurriyat’s stand on whether to hold a dialogue with Pant is expected to be formally announced next week following further discussions at working committee and general council meetings. Shabir Shah, president of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Front has expressed willingness to hold talks with the center provided it engaged simultaneously in a dialogue with Pakistan.
According to Hurriyat leaders, the dialogue should be preceded by their representatives’ visit to Pakistan. Had only Kashmiri leaders’ insisted on the Pakistan factor, a subtle change in India’s attitude would not have been apparent. United States is also giving this great importance. During his farewell address, the outgoing US Ambassador to India Richard Celeste urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s Chief Executive Gen. Pervez Musharraf to be “bold in the cause of reconciliation.”
In Washington, diplomatic pressure prompted the External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to hint at the possibility of a meeting of Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries on the sidelines of SAARC conference, likely to be held in May in Sri Lanka.
Evidently, India has accepted that diplomatic credibility of its “peace efforts” would be reduced unless it moved concisely toward holding talks with Pakistan. The statement announcing Pant’s appointment for talks with Kashmiri leaders also expressed the government’s readiness for dialogue with Pakistan.
That Pant has not turned down Hurriyat leaders’ demand bears significance. Definitely, he does not want his efforts to reach a dead end.
Yet, this may lose its credibility till meaningful discussions are held with Hurriyat leaders and the dialogue process is completed leading to Indo-Pak talks within a time-period.
