Pakistan Has Bright Prospects For Peace With India

Commentary By Beena Sarwar

But one thing is clear: people want peace with India. And so apparently does Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the country's new leader.

Addressing the nation on Oct. 17, he announced a unilateral withdrawal of troops from the border with neighboring India. He said improving relations with India and international security and disarmament would be priorities in foreign relations.

"Pakistan has always been alive to international non-proliferation concerns," he said. "Last year, we were compelled to respond to India's nuclear tests...In the new nuclear environment in South Asia, we believe that both Pakistan and India have to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility."

He said he welcomed Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's offer for friendly relations with India, and added that Pakistan wanted to see "unconditional, equitable and result-oriented dialogue with India."

But there would be no compromise on its "unflinching moral, political and diplomatic support" to the Kashmiris in their struggle for self-determination, he said, urging India to honor UN resolutions and its own commitment to the people of Kashmir.

Kashmir is a bone of contention between the two countries, and almost sparked another war this summer when fierce fighting broke out in India's Kargil sector for 10 weeks which stopped only after U.S. pressure on Pakistan forced a withdrawal.

Rumors of serious differences between the army and the Sharif government continued to circulate in the weeks leading up to the bloodless coup by the military on Oct. 12.

On Oct. 15, Gen Musharraf suspended the Constitution and proclaimed himself the new chief executive.

Those least surprised by Gen. Musharraf's actions may be friends and colleagues who say he is known for his "flexible position on professional matters" and his preference for "seeking a collective decision over his personal position," according to Kamran Khan, a correspondent with "The News" daily.

In a front-page report on Oct. 19 titled "Portrait of a general as a young man," citing "sources close to Musharraf," the reporter said "even on the Kargil issue, Sharif had been briefed about the development at the ISI headquarters in March.

"Instead of raising any objection or reservation about the mission, Sharif raised his hands in prayer for success in Kargil," Khan wrote, quoting a source "privy to the briefing."

"A few weeks later, before India even had an inkling of the Mujahideen occupying the Kargil heights, Musharraf informed Sharif that if he desired, the Army could arrange for the Mujahideen's withdrawal, an offer almost instantly rejected by Sharif," Khan reported.

Meanwhile, New Delhi's response to the general's gesture of troop withdrawal has been less than enthusiastic, with the Indian army chief V.P. Malik stating that he did not set too much store by this initiative.

"We should not read too much in this Pakistani announcement," he told the "Press Trust of India" news agency. "We shall assess the situation on the basis of the overall security situation along the international border as well as the Line of Control."

His wait-and-see attitude was mirrored by the foreign ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal, who was reported to have "shrugged off" Pakistan's move and demanded an end to "cross-border terrorism" sponsored by Islamabad.

Analysts here are unsurprised by India's reluctance to respond positively to Gen. Musharraf's olive branch. "India seeks, as always, to project itself as the aggrieved party," commented the respected Lahore-based political observer Abbas Rashid.

"Tens of thousands of innocent Kashmiris have been killed in the Valley by Indian security forces. It was India that introduced nuclear weapons in South Asia last year," he wrote in a front-page comment in "The News" on Oct. 19.

Rashid emphasized that Gen. Musharraf's re-stating of Pakistan's position on Kashmir "should not detract from the significance of the initiative. Nor is there reason for India to assume that it occupies, on a permanent basis, the high moral ground," he said.

He pointed out that "it is no secret that the army has had a major say in formulating policy on Afghanistan and Kashmir. Maybe it can now manage a settlement that civilian governments, not always for lack of trying, could not."

Sharing this optimism is Dr. Mubashir Hasan, a former hawk-turned-peace activist who was a federal finance minister some two decades ago. A leading exponent of dialogue and Track II diplomacy for several years now, Hasan is a member of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy's National Council.

"The process of rapprochement between India and Pakistan is unstoppable," he said. "The pace can vary.

"Pakistanis must understand that the extraordinary step taken by the Indian prime minister last February (coming to Lahore by bus across the Wagah border) was not the action merely of the BJP but of a whole gamut of Indian political opinion.

"Since that step was taken in the interest of India, there is no reason to imagine that the compulsions which made it take that step have in any way reduced."

Hasan believes that the Kargil episode has, in fact, made it all the more imperative for India to "act with greater vigor than before and for Pakistan to respond with greater fervor than before."

Given the Western -- particularly U.S. -- disapproval of the situation in Pakistan, his advice to India is to "avail the opportunity and assure Pakistan that India stands for real peace in the region and would not like to support the USA in arm-twisting Pakistan."