New Delhi, October 30
India today rejected outright Pakistan’s new as well as old Kashmir-specific confidence-building measures (CBM) announced yesterday with a diplomatic reprimand that Islamabad should not target any particular Indian region.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) this evening announced a strong 12-point reaction to Pakistan’s response to the October 22 Indian proposals. Pakistan had said three CBMs would be immediately implemented: allowing citizens above 65 years to cross Wagah on foot; establishing links between Indian and Pakistani Coast Guards; and resumption of bilateral sporting ties.
The MEA stinker came in context of the three “fresh” Kashmir-specific proposals Pakistan made yesterday: 100 scholarships to Kashmiri children; treatment to aged Kashmiris; and help to widows and victims of rape in Kashmir.
The ministry said: “As far as Pakistan’s offer of 100 scholarships is concerned, we believe the process of building trust and cooperation between India and Pakistan, and establishing lasting peace, would be facilitated if offers are not targeted on any particular region of India. India has never adopted, for instance, a selective approach for Balochistan, Sind or the NWFP, or for any particular community. Our offers have been available to any Pakistani. If Pakistan were to make such non-discriminatory and general offers of cooperation, then it would no doubt contribute to taking the process further.”
New Delhi was equally acerbic in its reaction to Pakistan’s politicisation of the Indian offer for a bus link between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.
Islamabad yesterday tried to dodge this “humanitarian” Indian proposal by welcoming it “in principle” and in the same breath asking that the check points along the way be manned by UN officials and that people moved with UN documents.
India’s black-and-white response to this today was: “It is unfortunate that Pakistan has instead opted to politicise and disrupt this by attaching conditions that they knew would not be acceptable. In fact, even now people from these regions travel without the kind of documents that Pakistan spoke about.”
Besides, the MEA was “amused” at Pakistan’s profession of concern at the plight of disabled and negatively affected people in Jammu and Kashmir.
“If Pakistan’s concerns are really sincere, it should take immediate steps to end infiltration, dismantle the infrastructure of support to terrorism, and offer compensation to those affected by the terrorism it has sponsored,” the MEA spokesman said while reading out a prepared statement. “Its references to alleged repression in J&K are obviously only a ploy for its failed attempt to camouflage its sponsorship and support for terrorism.”
Significantly, the MEA reaction also notes with disappointment the Pakistani rejection of three major Indian proposals aimed at improving people-to-people contacts: running extra buses on the Delhi-Lahore route; establishing links between Mumbai and Karachi, Khokrapar and Munabao, and Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. The MEA stressed that these people-friendly proposals could have easily been put into effect through technical-level discussions.
While there has been movement on the resumption of civil aviation links, the fate of the Samjhauta Express still remains uncertain. India has spoken of talks on the train after successful completion of talks on air links, while Pakistan has been harping on early resumption of the train, rejecting the Indian suggestion of adding more buses to the existing Delhi-Lahore service.
The MEA’s stand on the train is that New Delhi would look forward to holding technical-level talks for resumption of the rail service in the middle of December, as proposed by Pakistan, after the successful conclusion of the talks on December 1 and 2 on civil aviation.
On Pakistan’s “new proposal” for a bus link between Lahore and Amritsar the MEA poured cold water, saying, “We can assess the requirement for this after progress on the Delhi-Lahore bus, civil aviation and the Samjhauta Express”.
As regards the Pakistani rejection of another important proposal-holding of visa camps-New Delhi urged Islamabad to reconsider the decision and not to link this CBM to increase in the size of respective missions.
