The Hindu : Military officers discount Musharraf offer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 15, 2003

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Military officers discount Musharraf offer

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI AUG. 14. Senior military officers have dismissed the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's offer of a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) as a "gimmick". His proposal might soon become defunct since it is clubbed with demands that no Indian Government can meet. But even if the offer is limited to ceasefire along the LoC, it will be unworkable till Pakistan's basic position on Kashmir and its latent desire for a portion of the Kashmir Valley undergoes a change, say army officials.

Basing their presumption on experience, they say the proposal was unworkable in the past and will not work in future. While serving officers want to remain unnamed in amplifying this observation, the former Northern Army Commander and analyst, Lt. Gen. V.R. Raghavan, says that it is not in Pakistan's interest to let the LoC become quiet and peaceful. "They don't want the LoC to become dormant. They think that a dead issue would not form the basis for a solution. Therefore, they keep it on the boil so that it remains in newspaper headlines," he says.

Serving officers agree with this observation, adding that the Pakistan military establishment seeks to convert every bout of shelling and counter-shelling into news, especially in the Western media.

In the past, both sides have on numerous occasions agreed to stop shelling and firing at each other. This happened at various levels — local flag meetings and meetings of local commanders etc.

Once, the Indian Army's Director-General of Military Operations travelled to Pakistan to work out a durable solution. Yet a typical day's situation report (`Sitrep' in military talk) reads like this: "Bhimbargali: few hundred rounds of small arms fired, no retaliation, Naushera: exchange of few hundred rounds of small arms, Sundarbani: own firing, no retaliation, Dras-Mushkoh: own troops fired 28 rounds of artillery, Pakistan 38 rounds.''

This situation will continue. None can verify who started the firing. Once, both sides complied with a United Nations mechanism to establish culpability after one of the sides complained of having been attacked. India put a stop to it after the Shimla agreement "because we were fed up with it". Rudimentary inspection tools and a four-to five-day delay to reach the site make it a purposeless exercise. However, inspections by U.N. officials continue on the Pakistani side.

"There is no need for a grand announcement of this type. All they have to do is stop firing. We never start it," says Lt. Gen. Raghavan.

Why did Gen. Musharraf make the announcement? The military establishment offers several theories, from a brewing intrigue in the Pakistan Army, U.S. pressure on Gen. Musharraf to "behave" till the Senate passes the aid package to domestic compulsions brought about by Maulana Fazlur Rehman's India visit.

Officials partly attest the notion that most of the firing by the Pakistan army is to facilitate infiltration. Nor do they completely agree with the perception that firing is part of the continuous jostling among the two armies to occupy key positions.

"They are not doing this everyday. It is done on a selective basis as a punitive action," says Lt. Gen. Raghavan.

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