NEW DELHI, 22 June 2005 — India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused Pakistan yesterday of violating a bilateral agreement on the newly launched trans-Kashmir bus service.
Manmohan criticized Pakistan for allowing Hurriyat leaders to travel beyond Pakistani Kashmir to Islamabad, but reaffirmed his government’s commitment to carrying the dialogue process forward. Visiting Hurriyat leaders held talks with Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. People who travel on the bus service which started April 7 can only visit the divided zones of Kashmir under the agreement between the archrivals that was seen as a major achievement of their slow-moving peace process.
Pakistan’s decision to “invite them to visit Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan violated an understanding on the procedures reached between the two countries for running the bus service,” he said.
Replying to a letter from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan denied his government had mishandled the visit to Pakistan by leaders of the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.
“Passports were issued to those Hurriyat leaders who did not possess Indian passports and made a request for the issue of such documents. It would not, therefore, be correct to state that the authorities on our side had mishandled the visit of the Hurriyat,” Manmohan said.
The separatists’ trip came as part of the peace process begun 18 months ago by India and Pakistan to settle all disputes between them, including over Kashmir.
Manmohan also noted: “It is our endeavor to take the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan forward while ensuring that India’s vital interests are fully safeguarded.”
“I have reiterated on every possible occasion that there can be no redrawing of boundaries. We have also ruled out any role for a third party — either through intervention or as guarantor or as mediators — in any form,” he said.
Vajpayee had, in a letter to the prime minister dated June 15, pointed out that the peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad had taken some “disturbing turns” and it had become “Kashmir-centric” — as Pakistan wanted.
Pointing out that the Hurriyat leaders had regularly met Pakistani dignitaries visiting India as well as its diplomats in the past four to five years, Manmohan said his government felt their visit to Pakistan could not do any harm.
“I may also add that their visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir using the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus was cleared on the basis of agreed procedures,” Manmohan said.
The separatists, most of whom belonged to the separatist alliance, Hurriyat, said on their return from Pakistan trip in mid-June that they hoped their visit would help them become a formal part of the peace process between the South Asian neighbors.
On Monday, New Delhi rejected a demand by Hurriyat to be included in the dialogue process but said it could give its suggestions for solving the Kashmir issue.
“There is no question of involving Hurriyat in the India-Pakistan talks” but it can give its suggestions for settling the Kashmir issue, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
Road Map to Demilitarize Siachen
The Indian Army said yesterday it has prepared a road map for the withdrawal of troops from the world’s highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier, which overlooks Pakistan and China.
“We have given our viewpoint to the government on converting the Saltoro ridge and the glacier into a demilitarized zone,” army chief Gen. J.J. Singh said, declining to give further details.
