Kashmir: Views from Islamabad and New Delhi and Learning from the Past
The International Crisis Group today publishes three new reports on Kashmir, for half a century the major point of confrontation between India and Pakistan. Kashmir: The View from Islamabad and Kashmir: The View from New Delhi* lay out the public and private positions of the Indian and Pakistani governments, their politicians and the media. The third report, Kashmir: Learning from the Past,* examines the history of the crisis and evaluates past efforts to resolve it.
An earlier ICG report examined views from within the Kashmir Valley. Taken together, the series analyses the positions and looks at the constraints in terms of ending the conflict, as they are perceived on all sides.
“Mutual distrust and hostility remain high, and both countries’ substantive positions are rigid”, says Robert Templer, Director of the Asia Program at ICG. “In the meantime, the Kashmiri people continue to be caught in the crossfire between the militants and the Indian security forces”.
Pakistan insists that India has no legal or moral right to Muslim-majority Kashmir and rejects attempts to gain international acceptance of the territorial status quo. India’s bottom line on Kashmir has remained unchanged over the decades: the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian Union, and any settlement of the crisis there must be effected within the confines of the Indian constitution.
However, in both Pakistan and India, differences abound within and outside policy circles on the future shape of a possible solution. While Pakistan rejects any option other than a referendum in Kashmir for the territory’s accession to either India or Pakistan, it is also exploring, albeit unofficially, other solutions, including the possibility of restructuring the current Line of Control. In India, there is a still private but increasingly apparent shift in official policy towards recognition of the Line of Control as the international border.
If history is a guide, any sustainable solution will be complex and will require leadership and compromise on all sides as well as international mediation and assistance. A subsequent final report in this ICG series will offer extensive recommendations on how to move forward with a process of reconciliation between India and Pakistan and within Kashmir.
“India, Pakistan and the various elements of Kashmiri political opinion will have to reconsider current policies and preferences if they are to embark in earnest on a peace process”, says Samina Ahmed, South Asia Project Director at ICG.
§ Kashmir: The View from Islamabad, Asia Report N°68 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2407&l=1
§ Kashmir: The View from New Delhi, Asia Report N°69 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2408&l=1
§ Kashmir: Learning from the Past, Asia Report N°70 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2409&l=1
International Crisis Group: http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm
Please also see:
Kashmir independence only way out: Hijazi
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/08/16/stories/0216000c.htm
The International Crisis Group today publishes three new reports on Kashmir, for half a century the major point of confrontation between India and Pakistan. Kashmir: The View from Islamabad and Kashmir: The View from New Delhi* lay out the public and private positions of the Indian and Pakistani governments, their politicians and the media. The third report, Kashmir: Learning from the Past,* examines the history of the crisis and evaluates past efforts to resolve it.
An earlier ICG report examined views from within the Kashmir Valley. Taken together, the series analyses the positions and looks at the constraints in terms of ending the conflict, as they are perceived on all sides.
“Mutual distrust and hostility remain high, and both countries’ substantive positions are rigid”, says Robert Templer, Director of the Asia Program at ICG. “In the meantime, the Kashmiri people continue to be caught in the crossfire between the militants and the Indian security forces”.
Pakistan insists that India has no legal or moral right to Muslim-majority Kashmir and rejects attempts to gain international acceptance of the territorial status quo. India’s bottom line on Kashmir has remained unchanged over the decades: the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian Union, and any settlement of the crisis there must be effected within the confines of the Indian constitution.
However, in both Pakistan and India, differences abound within and outside policy circles on the future shape of a possible solution. While Pakistan rejects any option other than a referendum in Kashmir for the territory’s accession to either India or Pakistan, it is also exploring, albeit unofficially, other solutions, including the possibility of restructuring the current Line of Control. In India, there is a still private but increasingly apparent shift in official policy towards recognition of the Line of Control as the international border.
If history is a guide, any sustainable solution will be complex and will require leadership and compromise on all sides as well as international mediation and assistance. A subsequent final report in this ICG series will offer extensive recommendations on how to move forward with a process of reconciliation between India and Pakistan and within Kashmir.
“India, Pakistan and the various elements of Kashmiri political opinion will have to reconsider current policies and preferences if they are to embark in earnest on a peace process”, says Samina Ahmed, South Asia Project Director at ICG.
§ Kashmir: The View from Islamabad, Asia Report N°68 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2407&l=1
§ Kashmir: The View from New Delhi, Asia Report N°69 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2408&l=1
§ Kashmir: Learning from the Past, Asia Report N°70 http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2409&l=1
International Crisis Group: http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm
Please also see:
Kashmir independence only way out: Hijazi
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/08/16/stories/0216000c.htm