NEW DELHI: The year that began with a truce in Kashmir to end 54 years of armed hostilities is ending with the threat of war between Pakistan and India. The Dec 13 terrorist attack on the Indian parliament has snowballed into a rapid deterioration of Indo-Pak relations, which many thought showed positive signs of recovery earlier in the year.
For the first time since 1965, India recalled its high commissioner from Pakistan after the Dec 13 terrorist attack on the Indian parliament. The Indian government has also unilaterally decided to suspend bus and train services between the two countries from Jan 1, snapping the people-to-people link.
Both India and Pakistan accuse each other of building up troops along the border and deny they are escalating tension. But Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has already given an indirect call for war.
Addressing parliament after the terrorist attack, Vajpayee recited a poem he wrote “jang na hone denge” (we will not let war happen). He said just after he had written it in 1999, the bloody fighting in Kargil broke out. He told the country that though they did not want to have to go to war, they were ready for it.
The year began with India offering groups in Kashmir a truce that was rejected. But this was followed up by Pakistan offering India a ceasefire along the line of control in Kashmir.
The agreement put an end to months of skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian troops. The build-up after the Kargil conflict in 1999 was finally defused.
But this phase also saw fighters stepping up activities in the Kashmir valley. Violence continued unabated. Yet, six months later, Vajpayee was speaking a language of optimism and hope. He invited President Pervez Musharraf for talks in Agra in July. Vajpayee’s surprise invitation for talks to Musharraf, the general India believes is behind the border conflict in Kashmir, broke the ice.
The first summit after the bloody fighting in the Kargil sector in Kashmir was expected to end all hostilities and pave the way for peace. While the Indian prime minister promised not to traverse “the beaten track”, Musharraf promised to be “open-minded and flexible”.
As a precursor to the event, India announced new “confidence-building measures”, promising easier access to Kashmir. While nobody was expecting borders to melt, people called it a new beginning.
But the disputed territory of Kashmir again proved to be a stumbling block and the summit failed. Amid the explosive rhetoric Musharraf and Vajpayee have refused to compromise. While Musharraf insisted on calling Kashmir the “core issue”, India was adamant about a “composite dialogue” which would include the Kashmir dispute.
While everybody was waiting for an agreement between the to two leaders, things were not going as planned at the meetings and after two days of high drama, the summit ended with no declaration. Hawks in both countries had succeeded in ensuring their leaders could not get a deal done. The unrelenting leaders were willing to talk again.
The Sept 11 terrorist attack on the United States brought the two countries on the same side. Both joined the global fight against terrorism. Vajpayee and Musharraf spoke to each other again and there was news of an extension to the Agra summit. But two terrorist attacks later, relations cooled once again.
After the Oct 1 attack on the regional parliament in Srinagar in Kashmir, in which 42 people died, India repeated its demand that Pakistan take action against groups in the Indian-occupied territory.
The recent Dec 13 attack on Indian parliament has made dialogue between the two leaders a remote possibility. Vajpayee has already indicated that he will not talk to his Pakistani counterpart at the upcoming SAARC summit in Nepal.
Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh says the only way to defuse the current situation is for Pakistan to take action against terrorist organizations like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, said to be behind the attack on Indian parliament.
Prior to recalling its high commissioner, a foreign ministry statement said that in view of the “complete lack of concern on part of Pakistan” and “its continued promotion of cross-border terrorism”, India was recalling its commissioner. Musharraf visited China and called India’s reaction “knee-jerk and arrogant”. The war of words between the two countries continues to get shriller.—dpa
