Autonomous zone in Kashmir proposed

Published December 11, 2003

NEW DELHI, Dec 10: A US diplomatic team has advised against making the Line of Control (LoC) into a permanent border in Kashmir, urging a solution that “humiliates” neither Islamabad nor New Delhi, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

According to the Asian Age, the US diplomatic team discussed the creation of an autonomous zone that would include parts of both Azad Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir.

The US delegation, comprising former ambassadors Frank Wisner (in India), Nicholas Platt (in Pakistan) and retired State Department official Dennis Kux, made the suggestions in a report on American policy in South Asia, the newspaper said.

Their paper will be submitted to two influential international think tanks, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society.

It said objection from Pakistan was reason to stop the LoC becoming an internationally recognized border.

It also says Pakistan should declare a “policy of non-violence” across the LoC and that Kashmiris should be consulted in the final resolution of the region’s future.

They also advised Pakistan and India to “go carefully... get the momentum (in the peace process) going,” the paper said.—AFP

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