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In the background of continuing Middle East violence, the 50+ year-old conflict in Kashmir continues to languish in the back pages of the world’s newspapers. This, despite being a potential powder keg between two nuclear powers, not to mention another terrorism “honey pot“. However, there has been movement behind the scenes as India and Pakistan send out feelers and make confidence-building moves, including bus travel (without passports!) between the regional capitals of both halves of Kashmir. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf used his recent trip to the White House to buy some weapons and cash in some hard-earned chips in exchange for progress on the Israel-Palestine and Kashmir conflicts. (This despite shrugging his shoulders at bin Laden’s cold trail and telling Bush to his face that invading Iraq made the world “less safe”.) “We must address the root causes, and get to the source of what produces terrorism,” said Musharraf in Washington. “That would kill 50 per cent of the problem.” On Kashmir, Musharraf wanted to get Bush’s backing of his own efforts at a diplomatic solution to the conflict (he ended up getting outgoing Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s praise), after getting positive reaction from India to some trial balloons he launched in the media. “A proposal made at Iftar cannot be accepted as a formal proposal,” said Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. “If such a formal proposal is made, we will certainly look at it.” Meanwhile, as in Iraq, attacks on security personnel continue, with the outlawed Pakistani militant group Hizbul Mujahedeen taking responsibility for the latest one that killed 11.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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