Another "peace" overture

Yesterday (20th Dec), in Amritsar, our PM Dr.Singh somewhat indirectly responded to Pak Pres. Musharraf's four-point solution in which he (Mush) proposed in an interview to NDTV's head honcho Prannoy Roy. I agree with the line in today's TOI article -"the PM reacted...to Musharraf's offer...in what is seen as a move to blunt the General's PR advantage." Its true as the Gen is very candid during interviews and is approachable (many interviews are proof of that) and answers most of the questions posed with an open mind. This is not saying that I endorse TOI's viewpoint everytime though.

Sometimes I get the feeling that our PM merely wants to impress upon us the idea of him being sincere, forward-looking and peace-loving. Ask me, I feel this is all too cliched (in Musharraf's words - it is 'hackneyed') . If one can recall (as several papers have reported), our PM conveyed similar feelings last year on an earlier occasion in the same city! The "peace, security and friendship" speech was made in March while flagging off the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib (Sikh pligrimage place in Pak) bus service as well. Coincidence? I think so. What other reason can there be? He could not have possiblly anticipated that Gen Musharaff would put forward his four-point solution around this time and that he (PM) would respond to it while visiting the Gobindgarh fort in Amritsar to inaugurate some projects to woo the junta for the upcoming assembly elections in the Punjab.And Im sure the PM DEFINITELY did not not choose Amritsar, the border-city (Wagah closeby), for his speech so that his voice through the microphone can be heard across to the other side!


So what did Gen Musharraf exactly propose in his interview on Dec 5th?

1. No change in the borders of J&K (I think he meant no territories be acceded to either side)
2. Make borders and the LoC irrelevant (promote cross Loc movement for people and trade,maybe opening more points across LoC)
3. Staggered dimilitarisation (hinting at OUR army's presence in J&K to be reduced)
4. Autonomy or self-governance with a joint supervision mechanism (beats me!)

The moment this interview was shown on TV, our external affairs minister - Anand Sharma chose to play it down saying boundaries cannot be redrawn but New Delhi stands for peace. Our govt always criticises the General for negotiating through the media. I see nothing wrong with that. The proposals are significant proposals and the interview itself was a significant one as Musharraf offered to give up Pak's demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir (1st time ever.. on TV atleast) which we all know, is stated in the UNSC resolution, 1948. He also ruled out independence for either parts of Kashmir.

I hope some concrete moves are made in Jan when our Foreign Min, the bombastic bong (I love alliteration), Mr.Mukherjee goes to Pak and meets his counterpart Khurshid Kasuri. These proposals can surely be discussed.