Amid a new hiccup in the peace process that threatens to become a seizure, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today reminded India of its commitment to negotiate seriously on J-K and gave some clarifications of his own on the nature of the final settlement. Musharraf’s message was simple: If there was no flexibility in India’s position on J-K, the peace process would go nowhere.Musharraf hoped that ‘‘the light at the end of the tunnel’’ on J-K, which he saw after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York on September 24, ‘‘is not being switched off by India’’. The joint statement in New York talked of exploring all options for a peaceful settlement in J-K.In a series of what Musharraf called ‘‘discouraging vibes’’, New Delhi had recently referred to J-K as an ‘‘integral part’’ of India and insisted that a final solution to it must be ‘‘within the Constitutional framework’’. Wanting to know if these were deliberate signals on a hardening Indian attitude, Musharraf said: ‘‘I only hope that this is merely my suspicion.’’ After press reports this week, Musharraf said he needs reassurances from India that it was prepared to go beyond stated positions on J-K. The meeting next week between the two Prime Ministers in New Delhi, therefore, assumes a special importance. Musharraf declared that if India was indeed returning to its old position on J-K, he will do the same. If India insists Kashmir is an integral part of India, Musharraf says, he will not give up the demand for self-determination in J-K through a plebiscite. ‘‘I have said we should show flexibility in Kashmir. We have to meet half way. Pakistan will not unilaterally give up its stated position on Kashmir.’’Musharraf also explained the ideas he floated recently on resolving the Kashmir question. In late October, Musharraf suggested that India and Pakistan identify any of the seven regions in J-K, demilitarise it, and change its political status. That status, according to Musharraf, could be independence, control of the UN or joint Indo-Pak sovereignty. Trying to dispel Indian misperceptions, Musharraf insisted that ‘‘I have not given a solution.I only have set a direction to the. various options’’.Musharraf cited two reasons. One, he believes, there are ‘‘options on Kashmir beyond the stated positions’’. Two, he insists that a public debate on Kashmir must precede a final solution between the two leaderships. ‘‘Won’t it be awful if the public rejects a settlement’’ that the two sides hammered out in consultations, he asked.Musharraf also demanded that the loud-thinking on Kashmir ‘‘has to be from both sides’’. Responding to the Indian charge that he is obsessed with Kashmir, Musharraf said he was prepared for a discussion on all subjects. But ‘‘Kashmir remains the core issue’’, he added.While acknowledging the importance of confidence-building measures on trade and people-to-people cooperation, Musharraf said ‘‘CBMs must move in tandem with conflict resolution’’. He was adamant that ‘‘whether now or later, we must involve the people of Kashmir’’. The charitable interpretation here is that Musharraf needs an endorsement of the Kashmiris to get a final settlement accepted by the people of Pakistan. He also rejected the Indian suggestion that passports must be the only valid document for travel by the proposed bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. ‘‘We reject passports because Kashmir is a disputed territory,’’ he said.Musharraf was optimistic about resolving the Indo-Pak wrangling over travel documents for the bus service across LoC: ‘‘Not one bus, let’s have two or three.’’
