Having unilaterally announced the decision to meet the long-standing demand from Pakistan for a reduction of Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi now expects Islamabad to begin the process of ‘‘dismantling the infrastructure’’ on cross-border terrorism.If Pakistan begins to pull down launch pads for infiltrators across the Line of Control and disband terrorist-training camps, New Delhi could consider additional steps to improve the political conditions in Kashmir and deepen mutual confidence with Islamabad.India hopes that Pakistan will also respond positively to the many concrete Indian proposals for bilateral cooperation across the Line of Control and international border in Jammu and Kashmir.The delicately poised peace process between India and Pakistan now hinges on a series of unilateral as well as negotiated steps.These actions are expected to generate mutual trust, change the ground conditions in Jammu and Kashmir and create a positive environment for the consideration of final solutions to resolve the problem.After the decision to reduce the troop deployment in Kashmir, which will begin to take hold in the coming days, India believes the onus is now on Pakistan to take new steps against cross-border terrorism and demonstrate greater commitment to cooperation across the divide in Jammu and Kashmir.At the first round of talks on Kashmir between the two foreign secretaries in June, India and Pakistan exchanged many proposals for mutual confidence-building and to improve the political conditions in J&K.Besides a bus service across the Line of Control between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and another across the International Border between Jammu and Sialkot, India proposed the initiation of cross-border/LoC trade, joint efforts to preserve the environment and promote tourism.Pakistan, in turn, called for a reduction of Indian troops in Kashmir as well as moves by New Delhi to improve the human rights situation in the state. It also wanted India to allow Hurriyat leaders to visit Pakistan.In the last few weeks, India has taken many steps to deepen confidence building with Pakistan. It has allowed a group of Pakistani journalists to visit Jammu and Kashmir.It has let a small group of pilgrims from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to visit the shrine of Charar-e-Sharif on the Indian side of the LoC.But the unilateral reduction of troops is the biggest single step India has taken to demonstrate its commitment to transform the political conditions in the Valley.Since 1989, India has had to steadily increase the presence of its security forces in Kashmir in order to meet rising levels of violence.The decline of cross-border infiltration in recent months and an improvement of security conditions in the Valley have allowed India to scale down its military presence in Kashmir for the first time in a decade and a half.New Delhi and Islamabad have set dates for talks on clearing the technical hurdles for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.New Delhi, however, is yet to hear from Islamabad on other Indian proposals for cooperation between the divided parts of Jammu and Kashmir.Visible steps by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism in the coming days could help create a positive environment for the visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to India later this month and further boost the Indo-Pak peace process.
