Other issues too are important: Benazir

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, NOV. 26. The visiting Pakistani leader, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, today sharply distanced herself from Islamabad's approach to peace talks with India while holding on to her nation's basic position on the Kashmir dispute.

Addressing a crowded press conference here, Ms. Bhutto displayed all the skills inherited from her charismatic father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in finessing the impossible political contradictions of Indo-Pak relations.

Walking on the egg-shells of the Indo-Pak dispute over Jammu and Kashmir without breaking them, Ms. Bhutto struck just the right tone that could endear her to India without alienating the people of Pakistan.

Highlighting the themes of peace and democracy in the subcontinent, Ms. Bhutto said India and the U.S. as the world's largest and most powerful democracies had ``a role in facilitating'' the return of civilian rule in Pakistan.

Proclaiming her desire to bring down ``the invisible Berlin Wall between our countries'', she underlined the huge divergence between her and the President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on peace talks with India. Unlike Gen. Musharraf, who wants the bilateral talks to focus only on Kashmir, Ms. Bhutto today said ``other issues should not be ignored''. She suggested that the Sino- Indian relations ``could be a political model'' for the Indo-Pak relations. China and India, despite a difficult dispute over the boundary, had normal bilateral relations.

In another important departure from Pakistan's official position on Kashmir, Ms. Bhutto said, ``We should focus on conflict management if we cannot find a solution'' to the Kashmir dispute.

Gen. Musharraf, in contrast, insists that there can be no forward movement in bilateral relations unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved in quick time. Comparing her own policy towards Kashmir to that of Gen. Musharraf, Ms. Bhutto referred to the fact that there was ``no Kargil war then''.

In an implied criticism of Gen. Musharraf's Kashmir policy, she declared that she had ``not allowed'' the ``indigenous political movement'' in Kashmir to be hijacked by the likes of Lashkar-e- Taiba with links to international terrorist organisations such as the Al Qaeda.

In distancing herself from Pakistan's current negotiating strategy on Kashmir and pointing to a more viable path to peace in the subcontinent, Ms. Bhutto was by no means giving up Pakistan's basic position on Kashmir.

Stressing the ``very strong case'' that Pakistan has on Kashmir, Ms. Bhutto referred to her party's support to the ``right to self-determination'' for the Kashmiri people and the U.N. resolutions on Kashmir.

She also differed with the Indian view that there was an undeclared understanding between her father and Indira Gandhi in 1972 to convert the Line of Control as the border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

The burden of her argument is that it is possible for India and Pakistan to move forward while trying to ``reconcile the differences'' over Kashmir. ``We do not have to necessarily emphasise the end of the process between India and Pakistan, but look at the beginning of one,'' she added.

Facing sceptical questions on her current flexibility on the Indo-Pak relations and her none-too-impressive track record of managing them, Ms. Bhutto was as candid as a political leader could get. She pointed to the attempts in her first term (1988- 90) where she sought to improve relations with India and her ``regret at having missed the opportunity'' in the second during 1993-96. She expressed the hope that the people of Pakistan would ``give her a third term'' to work for a normalisation of Indo-Pak relations.

But her immediate objective is returning to Pakistan without the fear of political and judicial harassment from the military regime. The sympathy and moral support she got from the Indian leadership, Ms. Bhutto hopes, would boost her international campaign for the restoration of civilian rule in Pakistan.

By allowing the visit of Ms. Bhutto, India is signalling that as an open society it is ready to engage important political opinion in Pakistan beyond the military regime. In having Ms. Bhutto's positive approach to talks with India aired here, the Government is underscoring the fact that Gen. Musharraf's unproductive line on relations with India is not the only credible view in Pakistan.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : We're smoking them out: Bush
Next     : Musharraf sees division in India on Kashmir