‘ Willing to discuss Kashmir with Pak’
With Pakistan President Asif ali Zardari having raised the Kashmir issue during his recent meeting with Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, India has expressed its willingness to talk about Kashmir to go a step further in its on- going peace process with Pakistan.
Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai in an interview to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday is reported as having said that while India is willing to discuss Kashmir, it wants Pakistan to take serious action against home- grown terrorists who attack India. Indeed, the Wall Street
says that “Pakistan’s failure to clamp down on militant groups that have attacked India is the major roadblock to peace talks.”
In this regard, he has drawn attention to the fact that LET founder and Mumbai attacks mastermind, Hafiz Saeed continues to address public gatherings freely in Pakistan.
In its report, the Wall Street Journal has written that his comments “suggest that a recent thaw in rela- tions between the two countries could lead to discussions on the key territorial issue, which has been off the table since 2007”.
It also notes, “As the talks develop, India would consider reopening a serious discussion on Kashmir,” Mr Mathai said. New Delhi, he added, “would be happy to start talks toward a deal to keep Kashmir’s borders as they are but allow greater trade and movement of people across the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that divides the territory.” The story further notes, “A deal over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, split between India and Pakistan in 1948 and claimed in its entirety by both, is vital to a longterm peace deal between the two nations, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.”