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Kashmir in the Crosshairs
Editorial Team

An interesting development that sums up the previous Vajpayee government’s foreign legacy occurred soon after the NDA lost the elections to the Congress-led UPA. Mr.Natwar Singh, the new Foreign Minister, stated that the border problem with Pakistan would have to be solved in the same manner as the Chinese border. He also suggested trilateral nuclear non-proliferation initiatives involving India, Pakistan and China. These expressions drew angst across the border and General Musharraf phoned up the ex-PM Vajpayee to convey concern that the “goodwill” generated in the latter’s period could be frittered away by the new Indian government. Vajpayee is said to have “assured” Musharraf that he would put in a word to Natwar Singh.

This whole farce reveals two things: the extent to which Musharraf had come to depend on the avuncular Vajpayee for more than 5 years. No single head of state benefited as much from Vajpayee’s generosity and compulsive peace itches as Musharraf. Every time Musharraf’s cover was transparently being blown, the Americans got Vajpayee to soften up the pressure and call for round after round of talks.

The second revelation of this backdoor diplomacy between Musharraf and ex-PM Vajpayee is that the new government has promised to maintain an even-handed approach towards the US. Affirmation of belief in non-alignment and independent foreign policy had been discarded in Vajpayee’s time as old fashioned and time worn. As soon as Natwar Singh laid out a balanced foreign policy as imperative, there were jitters felt in the US and some of the shivers Musharraf showed in that desperate phone call were derived from what the US ambassador in Islamabad instructed him.

So, where does this change of guard in Delhi leave Kashmir? Theoretically, J&K’s state government is now being ruled by the same party as the center, Congress (with PDP as the coalition partner). What repercussions it is going to have on the ‘healing touch’ nonsense in the valley remains to be seen. Congress ruling at the centre may free the state-level J&K from the clutches of Mufti Sayeed and his coterie. On the bilateral stage, India has taken the correct approach of sidelining what only Pakistan considers to be the ‘core issue’ and concentrating on water sharing and the Wullar barrage issue. Sadly, no strong comments have emerged from Delhi about Pakistan’s continued abetment of terrorist infiltration and violence in J&K. For a government which claims to be charting out an independent foreign policy free of American pressures, the Manmohan Singh regime is yet to focus its publicity engine on Pakistan’s perfidies as a terrorist sponsor that never turns a new leaf.

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