KASHMIR and IDPs

K.N. Pandita, (written on 23.5.07),

Some time back the European Parliament assigned to Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, the task of preparing an updated report on the situation in the strife – torn State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Baroness visited both parts of the State, conducted her study and observations, and, after working studiously on the project, drafted a report that was submitted to the European Parliament.

The discussion on the report in the European Parliament invited strong objections from the Pakistani official delegation on the findings and reporting of the Baroness. It countered all the items that cast aspersions on Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir issue. Pakistani foreign office launched a stout anti-report campaign inside and outside the European Parliament aligning many members to its version of the story and discounting the facts stated in the report. As a result the report got politicised and pulls and pushes marked its history.

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By K.N. Pandita

Some bizarre yet contradictory statements on Kashmir issue coming from responsible leadership in India and Pakistan have cast a pall of mystery on the bilateral talks between the two countries underway for more than two years in the past. They go even to the length of anticipating a time frame for the final resolution of the tangle.

The actors have kept the main features of this dialogue a closely guarded secret. The opposition’s demand that the Prime Minister take the house into confidence on the subject was not responded. Even a reference to the parliament’s unanimous resolution of 1994 on Kashmir made no impact and the government was not forthcoming.

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