International - India & World

Reaction to Zardari’s remark mute

ISLAMABAD: Even more remarkable than President Asif Ali Zardari’s description of militants in Jammu and Kashmir as “terrorists” is the virtual absence of any reaction or protest against his remarks in Pakistan.

Still, on Monday, Mr. Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party issued a clarification meant to pacify ruffled feathers.

“The President has made it very clear that the just cause of Kashmir and its struggle for self-determination has been a consistent central position of the PPP for 40 years now. There is no change in that policy. [Mr. Zardari] has never called the legitimate aspirations of Kashmiris an expression of terrorism nor has he undermined the sufferings of the Kashmiri people. All other statements about India were in the context of our current bilateral relations,” said Information Minister Sherry Rehman in an SMS clarification sent out to journalists.

Mr. Zardari’s remark came in an interview to Wall Street Journal in which he also said India had never been a threat to Pakistan, and he and his government were not scared of Indian influence abroad.

Despite the apparent radical change that Mr. Zardari single-handedly made in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy during the interview by projecting Kashmiri militancy as terrorism, there has been very little reaction, and that too, very muted.

Pakistani newspapers did not give much play to the interview, and those that did, made no mention of his remark on Kashmiri militancy, choosing instead to focus on what he said about relations with India. Most television stations chose to ignore the interview altogether.

As might have happened in some other era, there have been no spontaneous protests or reactions against Mr. Zardari’s remarks on Kashmir. The only reaction came from Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami, who also heads the parliamentary committee on Kashmir, after he was asked for a comment by the BBC’s Urdu service. His response was muted.

“We will certainly ask him to take back his words,” said Mr. Rehman. “It’s alright that he is the President of our country, but when it comes to making statements and choosing his words, perhaps he needs a little more experience.”

There was no reaction from the top leadership of Nawaz Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N). It was left to a second-line spokesman, who was asked for a comment by Dawn News Television, the only private channel to focus on Mr. Zardari’s remark, to say that the party would raise the issue in Parliament.

Even the Jamat-e-Islami, which swears by the slogan “Kashmir Banega Pakistan” (Kashmir will become a part of Pakistan), had nothing to say.

In contrast to the political arena and the press, the BBC Urdu Service blog was buzzing with barely controlled anger.

One blogger on the site said “tomorrow Mr. Zardari will say Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister of Pakistan”. Another said that “it seems that [former president Pervez] Musharraf is still at the crease, and Zardari is his runner”.

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