The Kashmir Dispute was ‘Almost Resolved’ and Why Not Now?
An Analysis By: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch

The Kashmir Dispute was ‘Almost Resolved’ by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Agra Summit!

 1.     The Kashmir Dispute was ‘Almost Resolved’ by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Agra Summit: Uday Singh Rana | News18.comUpdated: February 13, 2018, 3:24 PM IST

 2.     Who could guess or rightly answer as to by whom, how, why and what for, the signing of the agreement was over-ruled and derailed at the Agra Summit?

 3.     Were then, ‘The Indian Cabinet, Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani’ so powerful to over-rule and derail the agreement in the Agra Summit by passing then the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee or did other “Some Powers”, the Indian intelligent agencies controlling India play the role to over-rule and derail the agreement at the Agra Summit?

4.     Then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had proposed what was called the ‘Four-point solution’ to Kashmir. According to different accounts, the solution was, in principle, acceptable to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but the deal fell through hours before the signing ceremony.

5.     History remembers the Agra Summit as one of the greatest missed opportunities of India-Pakistan relations. Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in his book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’ wrote that the “solution to Kashmir was in the grasp of both governments”.

6.     Then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had proposed what was called the ‘Four-point solution’ to Kashmir. According to different accounts, the solution was, in principle, acceptable to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but the deal fell through hours before the signing ceremony. WHY?

7.     The two-day Agra Summit ended in failure and Musharraf flew back to Islamabad without an agreement being signed.

8.     Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was told that the Indian Cabinet had refused to give its nod,” Musharraf had said at an event in 2004

9.     But according to one account, there was only one man who became a roadblock in the peace deal – separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Kasuri wrote in his book, “He (Geelani) described President Musharraf’s four-point agenda as vague, and criticised the president’s statement on UNSC resolutions’ relevance to Kashmir.”

10.                        But there were roadblocks within the Indian establishment as well. Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Chief AS Dulat said in a 2015 interview that it was then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani who derailed the Agra Summit.

11.                        Some hope was revived when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Lahore to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif. But since then, multiple terror attacks and military confrontations have led to worsening relations. But the key to a lasting solution, many believe, still lies in the Agra Summit.

12.                        Point number 2 of the four-point plan had already been mooted by Vajpayee in 1999, when he visited Lahore. Former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had told a newspaper in 2015 that Pakistan would accept the Vajpayee formula today. “Today, they [Pakistanis] are ready to accept that [Mr. Vajpayee’s offer] with one provision — that there should be autonomy here and they [Pakistani government] will do the same there,” Abdullah had told the Hindu.

13.                        Were then, ‘The Indian Cabinet, Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani’ so powerful to over-rule and derail the agreement in the Agra Summit by passing then the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee or did other “Some Powers”, the Indian intelligent agencies controlling India play the role to over-rule and derail the agreement at the Agra Summit?

14.                        Who could guess or rightly answer as to by whom, how, why and what for, the signing of the agreement was over-ruled and derailed at the Agra Summit?

“The Musharraf plan’s four points were:

A.    Demilitarisation or phased withdrawal of troops:

 Millions of troops, on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), are stationed in Kashmir. According to Musharraf, both India and Pakistan would have scaled back its troops in the region for a lasting peace. Whether this would be gradual, phased withdrawal or not had to be worked out by the two sides.

B.     There will be no change of borders of Kashmir. However, people of Jammu & Kashmir will be allowed to move freely across the Line of Control (LoC).

The LoC is effectively a ceasefire line, which both sides accepted in the Shimla Agreement of 1972. However, neither India nor Pakistan accepts it as the International Border. Both nations claim all of Kashmir. If Musharraf’s plan were to be accepted, India would have to accept Pakistan’s sovereignty over Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (which Pakistan refers to as its province of Azad Kashmir) and in return, Pakistan would accept Indian suzerainty over the part of Jammu and Kashmir on India’s side of the LoC. The ceasefire line would then become the International Border and both sides would give up claims over the other half of Kashmir. However, the people of Jammu and Kashmir would be allowed to move freely to the other half of the region.

C.     Self-governance without independence:

Pakistan has long been an advocate of what it calls ‘Kashmiri self-determination’ but Musharraf was willing to give that up in favour of a greater measure of autonomy. Vajpayee would likely not have too many objections with this clause of the agreement because the Indian Constitution already allows autonomy for J&K under Article 370. While this would have meant that the BJP would have to give up one of its core ideological positions, the repeal of Article 370, it would put an end to Pakistani support to pro-independence Kashmiri insurgents.

D.    A joint supervision mechanism in Jammu and Kashmir involving India, Pakistan and Kashmir”.

Musharraf’s decision to include local Kashmiri leadership in the supervision mechanism would have given him a greater chance at selling a potential Musharraf-Vajpayee accord to the people back home in Pakistan.

15.                        Years after the Summit fell through, Musharraf had claimed that the Indian side had gone back on the agreement even though a draft resolution was ready to be signed. “I was told that the Indian Cabinet had refused to give its nod,” Musharraf had said at an event in 2004.

16.                        Some hope was revived when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Lahore to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif. But since then, multiple terror attacks and military confrontations have led to worsening relations. But the key to a lasting solution, many believe, still lies in the Agra Summit.

17.                        Point number 2 of the four-point plan had already been mooted by Vajpayee in 1999, when he visited Lahore. Former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had told a newspaper in 2015 that Pakistan would accept the Vajpayee formula today. “Today, they [Pakistanis] are ready to accept that [Mr. Vajpayee’s offer] with one provision — that there should be autonomy here and they [Pakistani government] will do the same there,” Abdullah had told the Hindu.

18.                        Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Mani Shankar Aiyar saying in Karachi that while most political parties in Pakistan want cordial relations with India, those in India are "still caught in a partially 1947 situation". "All political parties except the Jamaat-e-Islami say they want peace with India. Now this change in mindset that is taking place in Pakistan is not reflected in India," Mani Shankar Aiyar said: "And I am very proud and half very sad that this sentence of these three words has been accepted as Pakistan policy, but has not been accepted as Indian policy," Aiyar was quoted as saying by the media His words followed an applause from the audience and similarly when and where P Chidambaram speaks about azaadi, in the sense that it means autonomy for Kashmir, they all speak in the light of the unsigned agreement in the Agra Summit.  Courtesy by: Uday Singh Rana- ‘When Vajpayee and Musharraf 'Almost Resolved' the Kashmir Dispute’| News18.comUpdated: February 13, 2018, 3:24 PM IST: NDTV, TOI.

PRAYER: It is being rightly said, ‘Some hope was revived when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise stopover in Lahore to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif’ and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also having capacity, ability with the backing of direct political majority behind him and also seems efficient to control the disturbing agencies if any to sign the agreement on the lines of the agreement likely was about to be signed at the Agra Summit as quoted above, four points formula.

THE Prayer and An Analysis Forwarded by: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch

First Posted On: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 8:20 PM (IST)