International

U.K. media for referendum in Kashmir

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 21. Even as the British Government is quietly nudging India and Pakistan to return to the negotiating table for what the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, called a "productive dialogue'', the media here is aggressively calling for not only third-party intervention to prevent a war, but also "self-determination'' to settle the Kashmir dispute once for all.

Even liberal voices, sympathetic to Indian concerns over cross-border terrorism, are openly arguing in favour of a referendum in both parts of Kashmir. The Guardian, which recognises that India has "good reasons for its current anger'', nevertheless believes that the "ultimate goal must be self-determination, as set out more than half-a-century ago by the U.N.'' In a strongly-worded editorial today, it condemned the show of "brinkmanship'' by both sides as "potentially disastrous'' and said what was needed was a "neutral mediator'' to defuse the tension, and ultimately a referendum in "all Kashmir''. The Independent, another liberal voice supportive of India's position on terrorism, also called for international intervention in Kashmir despite what it described as New Delhi's "historic aversion'' to it. "The case for urgent international diplomatic intervention is overwhelming and, whether we like it or not, the U.S. again must take the lead,'' it commented editorially echoing The Guardian's implicit criticism of the Indian opposition to outside mediation. John Simpson, world affairs editor of the BBC and a seasoned Asia observer, said a referendum was the only "sane'' and "rational solution''. "There should of course be a referendum there, as the United Nations has always proposed and India has always refused to accept,'' he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph while The Daily Telegraph in an editorial today said the "root cause of the problem remains India's refusal to allow the Kashmiris a plebiscite on their future status'', though it added that it had been "compounded by Pakistani persistence in providing a springboard for sabotage in the disputed State''. The newspaper carried a report from New Delhi quoting an unnamed "senior Army officer'' as saying that "there will be war but, in all likelihood, it will take place after the summer and the monsoon rains.''

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