The Hindu : West views on Kashmir has crystallised

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Monday, Aug 05, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

West views on Kashmir has crystallised

By K.K. Katyal

The French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin's visit to the sub-continent this weekend completes the latest round of the Western diplomatic bid here — that began with the trips of the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell — and with that, their thinking on Kashmir has crystallised.

The French visit has served to show up some of the nuances, implied in the positions of the others. There is no divergence in the approaches of the three Powers — with France, with its reputation for taking a different line at times, going along with the U.S. and the U.K.

If at all there is any characteristic of the French approach, it is in the conceptual realm. Paris would like New Delhi and Islamabad to keep in mind the long-term political perspective, to take a positive stand in pursuit of the broad objective and to see that there is forward movement all the while.

The Western prescriptions for the sub-continent deal with both immediate and medium-term measures, in the belief that these would lead to peace and stability in the long run. Their specifics include 1) greater effort by Pakistan to put a complete end to infiltration from areas under its control — this plea is coupled with affirmation of faith in the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's assurances, 2) de-escalation initiatives by India, 3) support for the Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir and 4) resumption of dialogue by India and Pakistan on "all issues, including Kashmir''.

Endorsement of the J&K election is the newest element in the Western approach. And highly significant from the Indian standpoint, at a time when Pakistan dismisses it as a "stunt''. Of course, there is simultaneous stress on transparency. There was no ambiguity by the Western powers on the subject.

Gen. Powell described it as "one step forward in a process of determining the will of the people''. The Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca, earlier said "we are supportive of Indian efforts to conduct free and fair elections in J&K''. At New Delhi, Gen. Powell seemed to favour monitoring by foreign observers but at the end of the visit to the region he put his point differently — he noted, on the one hand, India's opposition to any organised group from outside coming to monitor the poll and, on the other, its willingness to be open to those stationed in New Delhi or others who might come into the country and wish to go to Kashmir as individuals.

Mr. de Villepin, too, recognised the importance of the Assembly poll — and he said so in New Delhi and Islamabad (in Pakistan, he ducked queries on whether France regarded it as a substitute for a plebiscite). In both the capitals, he stressed the importance of transparency of the electoral exercise in J&K — and of complete stoppage of infiltration.

That Gen. Powell's "Kashmir on the international agenda'' did not imply a role for the world community was clear by now. What he meant, he explained after the trip to the region, "was that everybody is now focussed on it, focussed on the need to get the tension down, to get demobilisation back to original positions but then in order not to see it all start over again, we need to get the two sides into a discussion on Kashmir. If you try to internationalise it at this point, it will not move forward because of Indian resistance to that''. However, his explanation did not attract as much notice in India as the original statement. First made by him, in his talks with correspondents travelling with him from Islamabad to Bangkok, the clarification was later reiterated to the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, at Brueni.

That was also the tenor of Mr. de Villepin's remark that the issue was to be settled by India and Pakistan and he, too, felt that a problem with possible strategic consequences could not be ignored.

If the open expression of support to the Assembly poll constitutes a new element, so is the closer focus on the imperatives of an early dialogue — and on the settlement of the Kashmir issue. Cautiously optimistic, the U.S. has this to say: "By the middle of the fall, if things go well across the Line of Control and we actually see what Gen. Musharraf is assuring us of and if the elections unfold in a reasonable manner, then there should be every opportunity to really press for the dialogue to begin. The two parties will have to make that judgment but it is not as far off as it was, say a few weeks ago''.

The Western powers, thus, count on stoppage of infiltration and free and fair poll in Kashmir for the resumption of dialogue later this year. There is, on the one hand, the resolve to facilitate contacts between India and Pakistan and, on the other, the clarification that — to quote the French dignitary during his Islamabad stay — nobody would be willing to impose a dialogue from outside.

Not all in Pakistan are happy with the Western stand. In today's editorial, the daily, Jang, would like powers such as the U.S., the U.K. and France to give up their policy of non-intervention. It objected to their "putting the oppressor and the oppressed at par''. A columnist in the News, unhappy with the British Foreign Secretary's stand, said: "Quite frankly, I don't think we should try to cling to a straw named Straw.''

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