CBMs & Kashmir

There are positive vibes coming from our eastern border as Pakistan and India have reached an agreement to expand people-to-people contacts for Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC). The Pakistan-India Working Group on Cross-LoC CBMs has finalised modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and a Muzaffarabad-Srinagar truck service. In this regard, a joint statement was issued at the conclusion of the working group, saying that the talks took place in a “cordial and constructive atmosphere”.
The meeting, which is an outcome of the decisions taken by the foreign ministers in their meeting on May 21, was held to discuss modalities for implementing those decisions taken by the foreign ministers at that time. The meeting reviewed measures to ensure effective implementation of the existing CBMs. The fact that both the sides were “very happy at the progress” is a good omen for the two countries that have remained stuck in issues that could have been resolved for the equal benefit of more than one billion people on both sides of the border, especially the Kashmiris.
The proposed CBMs include making the procedure for issuing travel permits simple, increasing the incidence of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service, launching a postal service between the two cities, and speeding up the cases of inadvertent crossings of the LoC.
Reports say that the issues of Kashmir and peace and security of the region would be on the agenda when the foreign secretaries of the two countries meet at the fifth round of the Composite Dialogue today.  All these developments indicate that the two countries, despite many ups and downs, are heading in the right direction. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s likely visit to Pakistan in the near future and the resolution of the fee dispute on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline indicate that there is a realisation from both the sides that an amicable resolution of the issues is the only guarantee of peace in the two nuclear states.
In the same way, the success of the composite dialogue is significant because both the countries face the crisis of terrorism, energy deficit, food security, and poverty alleviation, etc.
The efforts in the past to talk to each other seem to be beginning to bear fruit. Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had embarked on the journey of friendship. That attempt at peace-making ended up in the clash of Pakistani and Indian forces at the world’s highest battlefield of Kargil. The clash forced Pakistan and India to stick to their rigid stance on Kashmir. Still, some more ground needs to be covered on the issue of the peace process through the composite dialogue.
As far as the Kashmir issue is concerned, the Kashmiris cannot be left outside the circle of talks between India and Pakistan on Kashmir to arrive at a solution acceptable to both the sides.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq reiterated this very stance while speaking at a reception given by Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister last month. Besides politics and geography, no one can ignore the strong human dimension to the issue. The divided families, living on both sides of the LoC, have not been able to see and meet their close relatives. While it is difficult to predict at this stage how long will it take for the issue to be resolved, we can at least appreciate the fact that at least a beginning to resolve the issue has been made.

Rayees Ahmed
Via EMail