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| Monday, 12 January 2004 |
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Slowly rebuilding trust key to Kashmir peace by Simon Denyer ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) For five decades India and Pakistan have stoked the fires of hatred over Kashmir. This week's dramatic meeting between the leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals could help smother the flames, but a final settlement of their dispute over Kashmir could be years away. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met on Monday and agreed their governments would start formal talks next month over a range of issues including their claims to the Himalayan region of Kashmir. But when they get to the negotiating table, they are likely to find they are still miles apart over the fundamental issue, the stunning and strategic Kashmir Valley, a mainly Muslim region ruled by New Delhi but claimed by Pakistan. Observers say there are no quick fixes. Neither side seems ready to give up its claim to the Valley, nor are Kashmiris likely to accept any compromise the two might reach. Instead of locking horns over a final solution, India and Pakistan should concentrate on rebuilding mutual trust and ending the violence and alienation in Indian-held Kashmir, political analysts say. "To hope for a quick result would be totally unrealistic," said Kalim Bahadur, professor of international relations of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. "This is a process which must start, but most not have any set solutions." India and Pakistan need to lower the temperature by restoring people-to-people contacts and improving the lives of ordinary Kashmiris. And do it one step at a time. "Pick the low-hanging fruit first," said Uday Bhaskar of New Delhi's Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, urging both sides to keep the momentum going with agreement on a range of smaller issues like trade and transport. "It is important to have mini sort of achievements, modest achievements." STRUGGLE FOR THE VALLEY India might be prepared to give up its claim to parts of greater Kashmir ruled by Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. Pakistan is not really interested in Hindu or Buddhist regions of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. But both have built up formidable national myths about the Kashmir valley, the centre of a bloody struggle between Muslim rebels and Indian security forces for the last 14 years. The violence, has cost tens of thousands of lives, inflamed passions on all sides and made compromise seem like weakness. "There has to be a fundamental change on the ground to make a solution possible," said one Western diplomat. "But they can deliver some quick wins. Kashmiris have down-to-earth demands and aspirations." One of their most fundamental aspirations is to see their families again. Throughout Kashmir, thousands of families have been ripped apart by the conflict, divided by the military front line for more than 50 years. MARGINALISE THE EXTREMISTS Last week, thousands of Kashmiris held a demonstration asking India and Pakistan to restart a bus service between the capitals of divided Kashmir, and the two sides have agreed to talk. For the moment, though, Kashmiris can only dream of a soft border. As a first step, Pakistan will have to fulfil a promise to stop militants crossing into Indian-held Kashmir, and here at least there are hopeful signs. India says infiltration has dried up since Islamabad announced a ceasefire along military front line dividing Kashmir in November, although the real test may come when the snows melt on mountain passes next spring. India also faces a major challenge to get its house in order after five decades of clumsy and often brutal rule in the state. But observers are encouraged by its decision to enter talks this month with an important separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference. It is far from clear what New Delhi will bring to the negotiating table, but optimists hope for progress this year on issues like offering an amnesty to former rebels and reducing the Indian army's overbearing presence in the Valley. There are concerns that hardliners and extremists on both sides could sabotage progress towards peace at any stage, especially if militants carry out an attack like the December 2001 assault on the Indian parliament. But former Pakistani Senator Shafqat Mahmood says the peace process could also generate its own momentum. "Imagine a point where Kashmiris are travelling to each others' homes freely, we are all going on summer holidays to Kashmir, where the violence is marginalised and there is no Indian occupying force in Kashmir," he said. "Yes, the dispute will still have to be finally resolved, but a land where there is activity, tourism, business going on - that takes the edge away from the worry about a final solution." (Additional reporting by Terry Friel in New Delhi). |
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