-9/11 has changed the world and Mush,This is exactly what we have written on this pages for years..a belated recognition of facts by the media now
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 12:15:02 AM ]
NEW DELHI: 9/11 didn't change just the world. It changed Pervez Musharraf. Displaying his characteristic candour, but shorn of the swagger that marked the Agra summit four years ago, he played out his transformation in full.
The world has changed and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recognises that. In his hour-long interaction with the Editors' Guild on Monday morning, he spoke 'out of the box,' quite popular phrase now in sub-continental diplomacy.
He was, however, at pains to assert that the change had nothing to do with US promptings.
Musharraf said: "I think the world has changed very much, especially after 9/11." He said, from a focus on geo-politics, the world was now more concerned with economic development. 9/11 showed that terrorism has emerged as a menace and stressed the need for resolution of conflicts, and not brushing them aside.
The General added that the 10-month stand-off following the December 2002 attack on Parliament, had exposed the futility of seeking military solutions and resorting to coercive diplomacy. He also talked about the changed mindset of the leadership as one of the variables prompting the change.
He said, "It's an exaggerated notion that when America sneezes, we catch a cold and that they keep sneezing." He added that... ...only when its vital national interests were concerned did the US sneeze.
Irrespective of what has really led to Musharraf's metamorphosis, there was no mistaking the change. Nothing signalled it more than the General's acknowledgement that the J&K government does have a representative character. He said, "The government does represent some sections of the people of Kashmir" - a shift from the days when the Srinagar government was dismissed as part of 'Indian occupation force'.
On Kashmir, he showed apparent sweet reasonableness. He said there couldn't be a "rigid time-frame" for its solution, nor could a solution be put off indefinitely. He also seemed influenced by Manmohan Singh's persuasive thesis on having a soft border between the two Kashmirs.
He said there were three formulations on Kashmir - one, that borders can't be redrawn as Manmohan had said; two, that the LoC can't be made into the international border as Pakistan insisted; and three, that the borders are made irrelevant by making them soft - a position first espoused by Manmohan Singh but to which he had also come around to.
The implication was clear: the General has finally acquiesced to the Indian position that Kashmir may be on the table but it shouldn't impede progress on the fronts.
Only once did the General strike a note from the past. The conference had wound up and Musharraf had got up to leave, when an editor quizzed him one last time on Kashmir. The General said, "Unless you solve Kashmir, in 10-15 years god knows what will happen." There was an unmistakable you-ain't-seen-nothin'-yet ring to it.
On other points of difference, Musharraf insisted that these - Sir Creek, Siachen, Baglihar and Wullar Barrage - were of mere technical nature and could be sorted out in one sitting. "But Kashmir is different."
He insisted that once the requisite levels of confidence was generated on both sides, the "sky is the limit" for cooperation.
He showed flashes of his wry humour. Asked whether there could be a sea route between Mumbai and Karachi, Musharraf said he saw no problem. "If people can go by road and rail, why not by sea? At least once on sea they would not stray into undesirable directions."
Talking about a perennial source of discord between the two sides - as well as an engagement for the diplomats - Musharraf said fishermen straying into each other's waters shouldn't be caught at all.
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