ISLAMABAD, 3 May 2005 — Pakistan has asserted that UN observers posted on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir cannot be withdrawn till the dispute with India over the state is resolved.
Commenting on remarks attributed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New Delhi, Foreign Office spokesperson Jaleel Abbas Jilani said that the mandate of the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was given by the world body, and the dispute because of which the observers were appointed still existed.
Thus, any proposal for withdrawing them would be out of place, the newspaper yesterday quoted Jilani as saying.
Sections of Indian media had quoted Annan as saying that withdrawal of the observers could be reviewed as a move forward in the India-Pakistan peace process. Jilani said Pakistan was awaiting the full text of Annan’s remarks before offering a final comment.
At the same time, he made it clear Islamabad would never agree to any proposal for removing the observers before the final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. The UN has deputed 44 observers on both sides of divided Kashmir to monitor troop activity.
Meanwhile, the third round of India-Pakistan talks on the Kishanganga hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir will be held here May 7-11.
The Indian delegation will arrive here May 6, sources said. Two rounds of talks on the issue remained inconclusive.
The 330 MW Kishanganga project near Bandipur in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district is one of those covered by the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. It involves diverting waters of one tributary of the Jhelum River to another. India says the treaty permits this but Pakistan disagrees.
Pakistan objects to the design of the Kishanganga dam as well as to inter-tributary diversion of waters, which it claims would affect its proposed Neelam-Jhelum hydropower project in Pakistani Kashmir.
Pakistan has also objected to the Baglihar hydro project India is constructing on the Chenab River, which is also covered by the Indus Waters Treaty. Pakistan has asked the World Bank to appoint a neutral observer to resolve the dispute. India has said it will cooperate with the observer.
In an unrelated development, a noted Indian peacenik said transparency in governance and involvement of the people in policymaking can propel the India-Pakistan peace process to enable the region emerge as a world power.
According to Amiya Gooptu of the 100-year-old The Bengal Initiative (TBI), a liberal visa regime, increased people-to-people ties and greater economic interaction will all help improve the atmospherics on the subcontinent.
Gooptu, who is in Pakistan here at the head of a 25-member delegation, was of the opinion that “transparent administrations” were required in India and Pakistan so that civil society and public pressure groups could be engaged in decision and policy-making.
TBI is a Calcutta-based civil society organization working for peace, human rights and regional cooperation. It counts among its founders noted industrialist Dadabhai Naoroji. “Unfortunately, government decisions have never been explained to the citizens of either country,” Daily Times Monday quoted him as saying. No peace policy could be successful until the people of India and Pakistan supported it, he maintained. Advocating a liberal visa regime, Gooptu proposed that South Asia introduce a regime similar to the one in Europe. “Why are visas required between India and Pakistan?” he wondered.
He said redrawing of borders was not an option for India or Pakistan. “Any leader on either side of the border who makes an announcement to this effect will lose his position. Instead, they should do what they can do for the people. They should focus on normalization and addressing under-development,” Gooptu said. — With input from IANS.
