Calling India and Pakistan’s recent spat at the United Nations a “tit for tat,” former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said both sides would inevitably return to talks. Speaking to The Hindu in Delhi, Mr. Kasuri said the recent attempts at the UNGA by Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue internationally, as well as the Indian government’s push to highlight human rights abuses in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were “irrelevant,” and the final settlement of Kashmir would mirror the current ground position.
“You can’t take away from us what we have [of Kashmir], we can’t take away from you what you have [of Kashmir],” Mr. Kasuri said in an interview to The Hindu , ahead of the release of his memoirs “Neither a hawk nor a dove” in India. Mr. Kasuri’s statements are likely to be as controversial in Pakistan as they are in India, given that Pakistan has always refused to accept a “status quo” solution of Kashmir.
Mr. Kasuri, who has recounted what he calls the “only insider’s account” of negotiations between the Indian and Pakistani governments between 2004 and 2007, says they led to a “near-breakthrough” on Kashmir. “We have had nine wars or near-war situations between us that I have recounted in the book. Mere statements don’t change ground reality, you can say what you like, we can say what we like. The situation will only change when we talk to each other,” Mr. Kasuri said.
Significantly, Mr. Kasuri says one of the “near-war” situations came just after the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, when he was told by senior U.S. officials including the then presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke and Senator John McCain that India was planning “an airstrike on Muridke (Pakistani city believed to house LeT training camps).” “With no hesitation, I told them, this would mean war. If India launches an airstrike, the Pakistan Army would give a measured but equal response to an attack on Muridke, which India would respond to. It would take us up an escalatory ladder, and nobody could predict what it would lead to,” Mr. Kasuri said.
However, Mr. Kasuri’s contention was challenged by former Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan. Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Narayanan said, “Pakistan may have had such apprehensions, but far from preparing such a strike on Muridke, the government never even contemplated such a raid. We don’t believe in bombing people out of existence.” Mr. Narayanan added that India’s decision not to respond to the Mumbai attacks with a knee jerk response was its “finest hour.”
In the current impasse, Mr. Kasuri said, the NDA government had “broken the cardinal rule” of India-Pakistan engagement, not to declare victory after a meeting. “When PM Sharif came to Delhi, he was embarrassed by India and the same happened in Ufa. Indians claimed victory, saying Kashmir has been left out of the statement. How could it be left out? When you start proclaiming victory, these are pyrrhic victories,” Mr. Kasuri said, adding that he was sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi would answer the “call of destiny” and restart talks with Pakistan “in order to create history.”
For the first time, in his book, Mr. Kasuri has not only given details of the 8-points agreed to between the two sides on Kashmir, but said they were to have paved the way for a “Peace, Security and Friendship treaty” between India and Pakistan.
The agreements include the Kashmir 4-step, proposed by President Musharraf to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of a ceasefire at the LoC, demilitarisation of Kashmiri cities, conduct of elections and self-governance, and building joint mechanisms between PoK and Jammu and Kashmir.
In addition, Mr. Kasuri said there would be agreements on sharing water and promoting development, while Foreign Ministers of both countries would meet annually, and the agreement would be reviewed after 15 years. However, none of it came to fruition because of the “missed opportunities” between PM Manmohan Singh and President Musharraf at the time, he writes in his book.
(This article has been corrected for a factual error)
