THE Indian leadership just cannot get out of its obdurate and stale mindset in terms of the Pakistan-India relationship, especially where Kashmir is concerned. Once again Indian External Affairs Minister Krishna has given out that all was going well in the July talks between him and Foreign Minister Qureshi and many issues were nearing agreement before Qureshi went public in the media and destroyed everything! Krishna then went on declare that Jammu and Kashmir were India’s atoot ang and Pakistan was abetting terrorism there. Now how many times has one heard this diatribe from the Indian side before?
The reality is that generation after generation of Kashmiris are fighting Indian Occupation and seeking their right to self determination as promised to them by the Indian leadership and the UN Security Council. So, it is time India removed its blinkers and accepted that its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir is untenable. It continues to use violence to suppress the Kashmiri people but they continue to rise in revolt against it.
Equally disturbing is Krishna’s statement that Pakistan and India were close to many agreements in July. He refused to identify on what issues these agreements were so close which in itself raises serious questions about the intent of the two sides through such secretive deal-making. Given the total lack of trust between the two sides, any backroom deal on any of the outstanding conflictual issues or even on trade, would backfire and therefore could not be sustained – Nation