LAHORE: Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said despite irreconcilable positions of Pakistan, India and Kashmiris, the back channel diplomacy of the Musharraf government had finally devised a framework acceptable to all stakeholders.

Giving the contours of a possible agreement on Kashmir, involving inter alia demilitarisation, the challenge of non-state actors: centres to wean militants off through DDR, self-governance, conduct of elections in J&K, defining units of Kashmir, joint mechanism, common policies towards development of water resources, monitoring and review process, conversion of the Line of Control (LoC) into a mere ‘Line on the Map’ and signing of a ‘Treaty of Peace, Security and Friendship’ like the Élysée Treaty between Germany and France, Mr Kasuri said Pakistan faced 10 wars and war-like situation over the Kashmir dispute.

He was talking about preparing a framework solution acceptable to all three stakeholders through three-year back channel diplomacy at a discussion on his book ‘Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove’ here on Saturday.

The book is being launched here on Tuesday (Sept 8). Former Indian diplomat and politician Mani Shankar Aiyar will be key-note speaker.

“Pakistan would not accept a status quo solution to the Kashmir dispute. Kashmiris did not want a division of the erstwhile princely state and India would not accept any changes in geography. This was the challenge and this is what took three years of hard work and negotiations involving an exchange of drafts between the two countries as well as multiple meetings in different capitals of the world before a framework was devised which the negotiators thought would be acceptable to a large majority of the people of Pakistan, India and Jammu and Kashmir and which they proposed to present to their respective constitutional authorities for final approval,” Kasuri says.

Mr Kasuri (foreign minister 2002-07) further says: “One of the most important features envisaged in this mechanism was to encourage the promotion of common policies towards the development of infrastructure, hydroelectricity and exploitation of water resources. Water is and can become even a greater source of friction between the two countries. Water poses existential threats to Pakistan since two-thirds of its population relies on water from rivers coming through Kashmir. Even the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee has warned in a recent report that unless Pakistan and India are able to resolve their water disputes amicably, a future war between them cannot be ruled out.”

Mr Kasuri says he met with leaders in Pakistan and India and other countries of the world, sometimes secretly, over Kashmir framework to understand their position. “I did this because I feared that any solution that the two governments worked out could be rejected by them. As a politician, I knew if the majority of the Kashmiris rejected the envisaged framework, the people of Pakistan would do likewise. Talking to Kashmiris was very useful in devising the framework.”

Mr Kasuri says Pakistan cannot just accept the status quo because the territorial situation has not changed despite wars and continued tension and the two countries have now become nuclear states, making war impossible. Pakistan was in no position to compromise on the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. The Pakistani would have rejected any solution if it gave the impression of bartering away Kashmiri sentiments on the issue, he adds.

Mr Kasuri expressed his belief that the framework worked out during his tenure was better than the others as it would stand the test of time and that at an appropriate moment it would serve as a benchmark or a guideline when there were statesmen at helm in both the countries with the required political will.

On being asked by senior journalist Najam Sethi, who moderated the discussion, to name the three most memorable politicians, Mr Kasuri listed Aghar Khan, Z.A Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2015

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