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| India-Pakistan | |
| Pak for 'out of the box' settlement on Kashmir | |
| 2008-07-13 | |
| Seeking an "out of the box" settlement to the Kashmir issue with India, Pakistan has said that the two countries need to go beyond the confidence-building measures and engage in serious dialogue to address the "real issues." "We have to look out of the box...We have to look at innovative ways of resolution (to the Kashmir issue). We have our minds open to such issues," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday, while delivering a lecture at the Brookings Institution. "It is now our hope that the leadership of the two countries would not shy away from taking such steps and move beyond the CBMs to engaging in a serious dialogue to address the real issues, not only the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," Qureshi said. He said that Islamabad has shown "flexibility," adding that there was "a general feeling and a public perception in Pakistan that a matching response should come from India." Qureshi said that India-Pakistan dialogue should "now move from resolving conflicts rather than lingering with them".
"We have to be honest. We have to be realistic. But the issue needs to be addressed. We cannot keep it under the carpet indefinitely," he said. "That is why we are building an environment of confidence for any resolution. But the most important thing is trust, belief. And that is what we are trying to do," he said. | |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #4 Actually it called for Pakistan to withdraw its troops and Pashtun tribal raiders. The Indian army was to take control. Only when security was reestablished was a plebiscite on joining either India or Pakistan to be held. Pakistan never withdrew. India held elections in its part where a majority voted for the Pro-Delhi party. Since then, Pakistan has (a) never held elections in Kashmir (b) has settled Punjabis in Kashmir, changing the demographics. Hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Hindus have also been ethnically cleansed from Indian Kashmir By contrast, India does not permit non-Kashmiris to settle in J+K. It also holds regular elections. About 3 years ago there was a poll by a Brit company on the option of India or Pakistan, most Kashmiris actually choose India (for economic reasons). Since the instrument of accession (mandated by the UK's Indian Independence Act) was in favor of joining the Dominion of India, India's position is that it has legal claim to Kashmir. Like the US, the Indian constitution does not allow secession from the Union. Throughout prepartition India the Muslims and Hindu populations were intermixed. Partition was only possible by the massive ethnic cleaning that occured in the Punjab and Bengal. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-07-13 15:04 |
| #3 I believe the old UN resolution actually called for a vote of the people, which never occured. Surprise, surprise. True democratic proposals from the people themselves, rather than have artificial tribal boundaries imposed from bureaucrats at the UN (or Britain) may just work this time around. Muslims can live and worship in their sector and Hindus in their historic lands. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2008-07-13 14:05 |
| #2 I think they might mean "outside the box." |
| Posted by: Fred 2008-07-13 11:01 |
| #1 How about India taking charge of the whole of Kashmir? That is sufficiently out of the box. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-07-13 09:07 |