RIYADH/JEDDAH/DAMMAM, 19 December 2003 — Opinion among expatriates from the subcontinent was sharply divided in the Kingdom yesterday on news that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has offered to drop the demand for a UN-mandated plebiscite in divided Kashmir.
Some condemned it strongly; some called on India to reciprocate in kind; some said Musharraf’s offer was a gimmick. “The offer may be an attempt to highlight the issue at a time when Musharraf himself faces a crisis at home. He has yet to achieve political legitimacy,” Kashmiri academic Arif Hameed said in Riyadh.
Hassan Irfan Osmani, a sales executive in the capital, said the six-party opposition group in Pakistan launched a mass campaign seeking to destabilize Musharraf. He said the looming parliamentary elections in India probably did not give New Delhi a great deal of flexibility.
Gul Mohammed Bhutta, president of the Pakistan Press Club, roundly condemned the offer. “The people of Kashmir must have the right of plebiscite in divided Kashmir,” he said, adding: “The Kashmiri leaders, who in my opinion are the core negotiators, must be included in all future talks between Pakistan and India.
He said that Musharraf’s offer to drop the condition indicated a level of flexibility in the negotiation process over Kashmir, which the people of Pakistan might not go along with. “It is not that easy to restore peace and normalcy between Islamabad and
New Delhi,” Bhutta said. “Distrust runs deep between the two neighbors.”
Indian businessman Masood Hashmi, on the other hand, welcomed Musharraf’s offer. “Let good sense prevail among the leaders of our countries,” he said. “Thousands of families in Indian and Pakistan who remain linked across borders seek friendship and cooperation,” Hashmi said. “We don’t want a fourth war between India and Pakistan.”
Some Pakistanis and Kashmiris in Jeddah have condemned Musharraf’s “climb-down” on the Kashmir plebiscite issue. “We did not wait for more than five decades to hear this. Musharraf has let the Kashmiris and their Pakistani supporters down,” said Gul Mohammed Ansari, a senior Pakistani management executive in a construction company.
Younus Gohar, a manager in a communication organization, was forthright. “Musharraf has no business to decide the fate of Kashmiris this way. If he cannot solve the problem to the satisfaction of Kashmiris, he should at least not have changed the long-term position. He is now singing a different tune just to keep himself in power.”
Some expats with a moderate view of the tangle felt that Musharraf’s new policy was better for both Pakistan and India and in the general interest of Kashmiris. “This issue could linger for many years, killing and maiming many more thousands of Kashmiris and others. The president has made a sincere move,” Syed Ishtiyaq Hussain, a young computer engineer, said.
Indian expats in general welcomed Musharraf’s statement on Kashmir. “We had reached a deadlock as there was no agreement in sight on the Kashmir issue. Now that Musharraf has broken the ice, I am sure India will also favorably respond and the issue can be solved for all time to come,” said Abdul Majeed Hasan, a travel agency executive.
In the Eastern Province, Musharraf’s announcement went off like a bombshell among the expatriate community. Pakistanis and Indians agreed that this was the best chance for peace in over half a century of enmity between the two countries.
Several Pakistanis said the offer represented a radical break with Pakistan’s national position on Kashmir. “The political parties have so many differences on national and international issues but they all agree on Kashmir,” said Yousuf Naqwi from Karachi and general manager of a trading company in Dammam. “No one has ever dared to deviate from the known position, which had an approval of the United Nations as well,” he added.
Tahir, a Kashmiri activist who declined to give his full name, feels let down. “Gen. Musharraf has sold Kashmir to India to appease the United States,” he said. “How could he deviate from a UN mandate? What is difference now between him and (Indian Premier Atal Behari) Vajpayee?”
But Syed Raghib Husain, a Pakistani businessman who is currently in Dammam, said that it was a bold move and would disturb Pakistanis and Kashmiris. He admitted that the plebiscite demand on Kashmir had lost its meaning, and in reality neither India nor the United Nations were taking it seriously. “There was a need for a new initiative, and Gen. Musharraf has taken it,” he said, adding that it was now up to India to respond.
Indians also felt the onus was now on News Delhi. “He has shown courage, and now we have to reciprocate,” said Aftab Ahmad, an Indian executive working in multinational group in Alkhobar.
(M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan in Riyadh, K.S. Ramkumar in Jeddah, Saeed Haider in Dammam)
