Castle in the Sky
By the Editor

AMID a big demonstration by the people of the Himalayan State with a vow that they would neither let the Kashmir Cause allowed to be get negated nor would like to see the blood of martyrs go in vain, President Pervez Musharraf, while interacting with an APHC team from IHK, has once again made it clear that Pakistan is making serious efforts for the solution of Kashmir problem so that a lasting peace is established in South Asia.

While, the President informed the delegation about the progress in composite dialogue with India, the leader of the delegation, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq appreciated the efforts of the President for the solution of Kashmir problem and hoped that this would help in the positive resolution of the Issue.

As has been reported by media, the Mirwaiz supported the measures taken by Pakistan for the solution of Kashmir problem. Omar Farooq thanked the President for Pakistan's support and appreciated his ideas for Kashmir’s settlement relating to self-governance, demilitarization and joint management.

The President's initiatives, what he phrased as; ‘had created a historic opportunity for a just solution of Kashmir dispute which must be seized with courage and determination’.

Whereas, some political circles are attaching some sorts of hopes vis-à-vis the solution of the decades-old Kashmir Issue, the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan has come out with his own conclusions by disseminating his viewpoint, whereby he has probably conveyed that one can’t expect a miracle to happen by the voyage of the APHC leaders to Pakistan.

I think, prima facie, in a way he seems to be toeing a realistic track. The reason is obvious. Because the Kashmir Issue stays there, where it was when a team of leaders from India held-Kashmir previously visited Pakistan.

Of-late, India’s External Affairs Minister, while in Pakistan overtly rayed New Delhi’s hideous stance by repeating the rhetoric that he could not give a timeframe on the Kashmir dispute, very well knowing that this is the core Issue between the two nuke-neighbors, India and Pakistan.

Despite such an atypical, virtually customary style of India’s dialect, which manifests its antagonistic mindset towards the ground realities, with Kashmir atop, Pakistan has by and large been expressing optimism about the ongoing dialogue process with New Delhi yet, its’ eventual outcome seems to be somewhat disillusioned.

Thus, Pakistan is pragmatically not encouraged by the signals coming from India, over any joint pledge to try to solve the long-standing Kashmir dispute.

As a matter of fact, ‘gestures of friendship’, emanating from India might be surprising, so far as the Government and some of its fixated limbs are concerned. But it is, by all perceptions, not a bolt-from-the-blue for those, who have been closely observing the attitude and tactics of the neighboring country during the last over half a century.

May he be JL Nehru or his political offspring like Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh at the helm of affairs, the critical Indian strategy, towards Pakistan remains, alike.

History bears testimony to the fact, that Indians never went beyond lip-service in countless attempts, made in the past to settle the dispute in any way which should have righteousness, decency or morality as its’ podium or hallmark.

As is indexed in to folios of the history, President Pervez Musharraf, have had close interaction with the ex-Prime Minister of India, AB Vajpayee and he knows it very well that Indians have been taking frequent and sudden, summersaults, other way phrased as U-turns after making commitments to resolve the nucleus issue through dialogue.

An established brochure ‘Indian Commitments on Kashmir’, which carries ‘out-right’ pledges by JL Nehru, as a follow-up of the United Nations Resolutions stays a categorical testimony, as clear as crystal, yet, with one sunup, he [Nehru] took an abrupt shift and backed-out of his own words for a free, fair and impartial plebiscite in the Himalayan State of Jammu & Kashmir, which he had promised even at the key-point of the global forum, the UN.

And President Musharraf’s talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York, his food for thought options on Kashmir and Indian reaction to his views should leave no doubt in the minds of Pakistani policy-makers that Indians were merely talking for the sake of talks.

Seemingly, they are not sincere because; whenever there are expectations of some concrete results, Indian leadership starts churning out confusing and contradictory statements to mar the prospects of any breakthrough.

Manmohan Singh was on board with President Musharraf in New York in beaming to the world that the two countries, India and Pakistan, were willing to explore all possible options for solution of the conflict.

Yet, when President Pervez Musharraf floated a bold idea, for the purpose, emphasizing that the two countries would have to move beyond their stated positions to reach an understanding that is acceptable not only to Pakistan and India but also to Kashmiris, there was first cold-shoulder response from New Delhi and then came an almost clear-cut statement from Manmohan Singh, ruling out any leeway of redrawing of boundaries.

With such environ or scenario or with these circumstances, Pakistan is ought to pursue, a measured approach, and certainly not exuberance in its dealings with India.

India must be told in straightforward words to eschew any relish, dream, ecstasy, euphoria or elation for friendship with Pakistan, in any arena, due to the raison d'être that such an assumption or conjecture of India shall prove nothing beyond castle in the sky sans the solution of the Kashmir Issue, and that too, which reflects the judicious and down-to-earth aspirations of the bona fide inhabitants of the charismatic Himalayan State, for which they [Kashmiris] have, are and will continue to offer supreme sacrifices, of any magnitude, at all costs, till they achieve their birth right [of self-determination], duly accepted, authenticated and acknowledged by the world with one-voice, not once, but over a dozen times.

We are of the view that any signal from New Delhi is ought to match the realities with flexibility [which should reflect the aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir], if at all India is sincere to solve this volatile Issue, as it shall stay as a focal-point on a zest for lifelong and durable peace in South Asia, till it is solved with love and leaning towards the much-needed affluence for the peoples in this part of the Orb.

Simultaneously, we feel optimistic that the APHC leadership shall continue to remain steadfast and resolute and would in no way reconcile on any-thing less than the fulfillment of the desires of Kashmiris, living on both sides of the Line of Control [LoC] and anywhere in the world, and would continue with their struggle to make India convinced to bow before the bona fide reality that the establishment of much-needed peace in South Asia shall continue to remain a daydream without the solution of the Kashmir dispute, and that too—in line with the wishes of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Sans solution of Kashmir Issue, reflecting the established approach, mode and manner, all expectations for a durable peace in South Asia shall prove nothing more than building—a castle in the sky.●