Musharraf's latest - shift from ideology to pragmatism?

By Manish Chand Dec 5, 2006, 11:49 GMT

New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's latest trial balloon for a solution to the Kashmir issue revolving around self-governance and a joint supervisory mechanism underlines a shift from Islamabad's ideological to pragmatic approach to resolve a dispute that has shadowed their ties for six decades.

Essentially, Musharraf's four-point proposal that also included demilitarisation of Kashmir and making the LoC irrelevant is an amplification of old ideas circulated in the public domain by Musharraf last year.

But his latest interview to NDTV, in which he has said that Pakistan was ready to give up its claim on independence of Kashmir if India accepted his four-point proposal, stands out for its clarity as this is the first time any Pakistani leader has said in so many words that Islamabad is ready to shift from its decades-old position.

The only poser, Musharraf added, was that India too must move away from its stated position for a resolution of the Kashmir issue.

It is also an attempt by Musharraf to create right atmospherics for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's likely visit to Islamabad next year and find some deal that he can sell to the establishment and people in Pakistan as he faces elections next year, say experts.

'I don't see any fresh proposal. It's difficult to draw any firm conclusions from what he has said. The only difference is that his ideas are now being articulated more firmly and concretely,' Salman Haider, a former foreign secretary, told IANS.

'There are many open questions. Discussions are going on about this in back-channel talks,' Haider, who has long experience of dealing with Pakistan, said.

'Musharraf has been trying for a way forward. It will put him at odds with many people in Pakistan who are not ready to compromise on Pakistan's claims on Kashmir. His is a pragmatic approach as opposed to the ideological approach of the past,' Haider said.

'It could imply a condominium approach to the whole of Kashmir. But his proposal is not quite clear on how the Northern Areas and areas of Kashmir ceded by Pakistan to China are going to be treated under the joint supervision plan,' Haider said.

S.D. Muni, a South Asia expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University, finds 'nothing very new' in Musharraf's proposal but his reiteration that Pakistan was ready to give up its demand for referendum and plebiscite and even independence of Kashmir underscores 'his need to have something concrete to sell to the people of Pakistan.'

'Also, his repetition that Pakistan would no longer insist on plebiscite and the UN resolutions on Kashmir are aimed at creating positive atmospherics for a visit by the Indian prime minister to Pakistan,' Muni stressed.

'It is part of the back channel discussions. What it shows is that he is ready to cut a deal with India if they can give him some margin on Kashmir,' Muni stressed.

From New Delhi's point of view, Musharraf's idea of making the Line of Control irrelevant is a vindication of what it has been stressing all along about creating a soft border through cross-border confidence building measures like boosting free flow of trade and people across the divided Kashmir.

It also represents some sort of convergence of approach between the two sides. However, the positions of the two sides on self-governance and joint management of the state remain different.

Manmohan Singh unveiled his vision of a joint mechanism and soft border while launching the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service in March this year.

'I envisage a joint mechanism where the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir can with the active encouragement of the governments of India and Pakistan, work out cooperative consultative mechanisms so as to maximise the gains of cooperation in solving problems of social and economic development of the region,' he said.

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service