ISLAMABAD,
October 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A national debate
raged in Pakistan Tuesday after President Pervez Musharraf outlined a
range of bold new options for divided Kashmir that include
independence, joint control with India and demilitarization.
Musharraf
used a public address to local media Monday night to present a
three-stage formula for ending the 57-year dispute with India over
Kashmir that would result in a “change of status” for the
Himalayan state.
“Change
in status could be independent status, condominium which includes
joint control, it can be UN mandate also,” he said.
“We'll
have to sit down with legal experts who can give their opinion on what
other status are possible, I don't know.”
Pakistan's
long-held position over Kashmir has been that its people should vote
in a plebiscite to decide which nation the state should join.
But
Musharraf stated that a plebiscite was not acceptable to India and
therefore other options must now be explored, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Controversy
His
comments dominated the front pages of newspapers, led television news
bulletins and provoked a mixed reaction that ranged from applause and
uncertainty to calls for jihad, or holy war.
Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the powerful Islamic alliance that is one of two
major opposition groups in the federal parliament, immediately
rejected the proposals.
“Its
a U-turn, a rollback to Pakistan's policy on Kashmir since its
independence,” MMA vice president Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told AFP.
An
activist from the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group said:
“For us nothing short of jihad (holy war) on Kashmir is
acceptable”.
Veteran
Kashmiri leader Amanullah Khan welcomed the prospect of independence
but rejected the notion of joint Pakistani-Indian control.
“The
good aspect is that for the first time independence of Kashmir has
been mentioned as one of several options,” said Khan, the leader of
the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.
The
Indian government was yet to react to Musharraf's comments.
New
Options
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Kashmiris perform prayers during Ramadan (AFP)
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In
what appears to be its new non-negotiable position, Musharraf said the
one thing that was not acceptable to Pakistan was making the Line of
Control that divides Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian zones a
permanent border.
“I'm
allergic to this and the Indians know that,” he said. “A
plebiscite is not acceptable to India and making Line of Control a
permanent border is not acceptable to Pakistan.”
Calling
for the nation to debate his options before Pakistan presents a new
position to India, Musharraf said the process should start with
determining the religious and ethnic make-up of the seven regions of
Kashmir.
Demilitarizing
all or some of these regions could follow, followed by changing their
status.
“So
there is some solution, identify regions, demilitarize, change status.
The whole debate on options will be based on this,” he said.
The
dispute over Kashmir has been the cause of two of the three wars
between Muslim Pakistan and mainly Hindu India since their
independence from Britain in 1947.
The
then-Indian prime minister Atal Bahari Vajpayee kick started the new
peace process in April last year when he offered a symbolic “hand of
friendship” to Pakistan in a speech while visiting Kashmir.
Musharraf
said Monday dramatic progress had been made since then, particularly
when he met Vajpayee's successor Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of
the UN General Assembly in New York last month.
“I
strongly believe there are options and there is a solution,” he
said. “For the first time we see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Musharraf
said his proposals were “food for thought” for Pakistan.
“I
have never spoken like this before to anyone. I will request you to
debate on these lines,” he said.
