Pakistan, India were close to deal on Kashmir: WikiLeaks
Monday, April 04, 2011
Mariana Baabar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is tight-lipped about the 'deal' on Kashmir that India and Pakistan were close to agreeing upon, but for opposition from COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
"No clue," responded the spokesperson at the Foreign Office when asked by The News. Kayani had himself made no secret of the fact that Pakistan's Kashmir policy under his former boss Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf would undergo changes as several events had led Pakistan to think afresh.
Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri had on several occasions told The News that India and Pakistan had come close on the Kashmir issue. However, when the government changed, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood denied that his predecessor had left any documents related to such an understanding on Kashmir.
According to WikiLeaks cables accessed by Hindu, Britain's Labour government regarded the Pakistan Army chief as a major "obstacle" to an India-Pakistan "deal" on Kashmir. A cable dated November 28, 2008 from the US Embassy in London showed that until a day before the 26/11 Mumbai bombings, the view in the British Foreign Office was that India and Pakistan were close to an agreementon Kashmir with a "text" ready, but General Kayani was "reluctant". He was seen as the only "remaining obstacle".
The view was based on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's visit to Pakistan on November 25, 2008. A US diplomat quotes Laura Hickey of the Pakistan Team of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as saying that Miliband's assessment was that there was a "deal on paper" and both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari were "ready" to sign it.
"Hickey said Miliband concluded during his trip that it was time to get a deal done on Kashmir. Zardari and Singh were ready, and there was a text on paper. Miliband thought the remaining obstacle was Pakistani military chief of staff General Kayani; he remained 'reluctant' and needed to be persuaded," the cable said.
Ms Hickey said Miliband had "resolved to put energy behind an Indian-Pakistan deal on Kashmir." "She thought the November 26 Mumbai bombings would likely strengthen his resolve. HMG [Her Majesty's Government] is nervous, however, that over-reaction on either government's part could result in a hardening of positions over military action in Kashmir, once again derailing any progress," the cable said.
Pakistan, India were close to deal on Kashmir: WikiLeaks
Pakistan, India were close to deal on Kashmir: WikiLeaks
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