home > by publication type > daily analysis > Musharraf’s Kashmir Offer
Email
| Author: | Carin Zissis |
|---|
Kashmiris exchange letters between Indian and Pakistani zones by attaching them to stones and hurling them across the Neelum River. (AP/Roshan Mughal)
President Pervez Musharraf said last week on New Delhi Television that Pakistan will give up its claim on Kashmir if India accepts a four-point resolution, including autonomy for the region under a joint government with Indian, Pakistani, and Kashmiri representation. Within days, a spokeswoman from Pakistan’s foreign ministry followed up by asserting that Islamabad did not consider the territory an “integral part” of Pakistan. Tasnim Aslam, whose remarks at a press conference in Islamabad drew criticism (The News) from Pakistani journalists, said that conflict between India and Pakistan was over the Kashmiris right to “decide their future” rather than claims on the India-controlled area of the Himalayan region. The comments have stirred speculation about whether Pakistan is making a break with decades-old policy or merely maneuvering to fend off international criticism on other fronts.
In the television interview, Musharraf also said that as part of the potential agreement, Pakistan would give up its former demand, based on a 1948 UN resolution, for Kashmiri people to hold a referendum to decide their representation. The dispute over the territory sparked a pair of wars between the two countries, which have both claimed Kashmir since their partition in 1947. Shortly after that, Kashmir’s Hindu leader chose to join India, setting off a conflict that left the predominantly Muslim area divided between the two countries along a border called the Line of Control. Since 2004, the two nations have engaged in peace talks. They have hit periodic roadblocks, most recently after India linked Pakistan’s intelligence agency to the July 2006 Mumbai bombings.
Although Musharraf’s comments signal a shift from decades of Kashmir policy, they do not represent a new proposal from the Pakistani leader, who has introduced similar ideas since 2004 peace talks began and in his recently published memoir. Instead, his remarks represent “another small step in a long diplomatic process rather than a breakthrough,” according to the Guardian. While New Delhi has not released an official response to Musharraf’s latest proposal, Anand Sharma, a junior external affairs minister, told reporters India remains committed to the region’s peace, but warned it can only come with the “removal” of distrust (Hindu). A new paper by the South Asia Analysis Group questions whether Indians and Pakistanis can get over their mutual, longstanding negative perceptions.
Stratfor, an intelligence analysis site, says the timing of Musharraf’s comments is important, coming amid increasing international pressure to control terrorist movements within his country. Stratfor says: “Musharraf hopes to counter accusations that Islamabad is backing militants while portraying India as the inflexible participant in the Indo-Pakistani talks.” India has long accused Pakistan of backing a violent separatist movement in Kashmir, which has claimed some 68,000 lives since its emergence in 1989. Separately, the Pakistani government faces constant calls to crack down on pro-Taliban forces, the latest such criticism coming in an International Crisis Group report.
An editorial in the Hindustan Times suggests Musharraf’s Kashmir proposal is an attempt to “regain relevance before his domestic constituency after enormous criticism from abroad.” The Pakistani opposition has used the U.S.-Indian nuclear deal, which passed through the U.S. Congress last week, to fault the Musharraf administration. The opposition says Musharraf permitted India to gain preferential treatment, despite the supposed U.S.-Pakistani alliance, says the Times of India.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.