A non-issue, says India

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. Though conceding that the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's letter to the APHC chairman, Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat, does complicate things, the view within the Vajpayee Government is that ``it is no big deal'' and the General's purported desire for a meeting with the APHC should not be allowed to detract or derail the high purpose of the summit.

According to a senior official, India has made its views known but if a visiting dignitary wants to do things differently, ``we can live with it''.

However, note has been taken of the General's assurance to the Hurriyat that ``Pakistan will continue to extend its full moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle.''

The assessment is that the letter to the Hurriyat is not exactly an invitation and is basically addressed to the jehadi constituency back home, and that the Pakistan President had no option but to reply to Prof. Bhat's letter. And the quiet confidence is that notwithstanding the euphoria displayed by the APHC chairman, the meeting may not come off.

As far as the Hurriyat leadership is concerned, New Delhi's objections to a meeting with the Pakistani leader are incomprehensible. ``The need of the hour for India is to minimise the alienation of the people of Kashmir; instead, India is trying to maximise it by demonstrating to the people that they are helpless and that their representative would not be even allowed to have a cup of tea with a visiting Pakistani leader,'' said Mr. Abdul Ghani Lone, a senior APHC leader.

Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Lone said: ``I fail to see what national interest of India gets served by trying to pressure President Musharraf in the matter.'' As the Hurriyat leader sees it, New Delhi's opposition to a meeting with the Pakistan President is a continuation of the same mindset that spiked the APHC visit to Pakistan.

``If we are allowed to have a dialogue with the top leader of Pakistan, we can ask him how long this business of violence in Kashmir would go on,'' Mr. Lone said.

For the record, the Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the proposed meeting as inconsequential. ``It may or may not be an issue for them. For us, it is a total non-issue,'' was the reaction of the official spokesperson.

``We are working for the success of the summit. I assume the other side will be equally responsive,'' she added.

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