The Hindu : The Kashmir imbroglio

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 05, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

The Kashmir imbroglio

Sir, — Your Editorial, `Kashmir and the international community' (July 31): the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has dispelled any delusion that cross-border terrorism is the bone of contention between India and Pakistan by pronouncing that the ``ultimate cause of that political conflict, was Kashmir''. After having adopted all along a policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, the U.S. has finally and in no uncertain terms revealed its real affinity towards its trusted ally, Pakistan. Ever since independence, our sustained stand has been that Kashmir is an integral part of India and is, therefore, not negotiable. In fact, we did succeed in convincing the international community, including the United Nations that we will not accept any proposal for third party mediation as far as Kashmir was concerned.

While the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has been waging a ruthless, no-holds-barred diplomatic war vis-a-vis Kashmir, our approach has been retroactive, timid and vacillating. We did cry foul by shouting ``infiltration'' and ``cross-border terrorism'' ad infinitum but all this defensive effort has proved counter-productive. Thus, by default, we have also contributed substantially to the present diplomatic fiasco.

A.N.B. Pillai,

Chennai

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