COUNT-DOWN TO INDO-PAK SUMMIT--V
by B. Raman
The following political leaders responded to the
invitation of Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the self-styled President and Chief
Executive of Pakistan and its self-reinstated Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), and
attended the so-called all-party meeting held by him on June 27 to evolve
a national consensus on his forthcoming summit with the Indian Prime
Minister, Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, Mian Muhammad Azhar, of the Pakistan Muslim
League (Like Minded--PML-LM), which is anti-Nawaz Sharif; Asfandyar Wali
Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP); Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, of the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM); Qazi Hussain Ahmed, of the Jammat-e-Islami
(JEI); Maulana Fazlur Rehman, of the Jamaat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI); Sardar
Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, of the Millat Party; Maulana Shah Ahmed
Noorani, chief of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Pakistan (JUP); Hamid Nasir Chattha,
of the PML (Junejo); Dr Tahirul Qadri, of the Pakistan Awami Tehriq (PAT);
Imran Khan, of the Tehriq-e-Insaaf (TEI); Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch of the
Balochistan National Movement (BNM); Wasim Sajjad, former Chairman of the
dissolved Senate, who belongs to the PML, but has kept away from the
factional struggle; Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi, of the Shia Tehriq Jafria
Pakistan (TJP); Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, of the PPP- Saheed Bhutto SB,
which is the party of the loyalists of the late Murtaza Bhutto; Air
Marshal (retd.) Asghar Khan President of the Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, Maulana
Samiul Haq, of the JUI-S opposed to Maulana Fazlur Rehman;Ajmal Khattak,
of the Awami National Party Pakistan (ANPP); Elahi Bux Soomro, former
Speaker of the dissolved National Assembly, who also belongs to the PML,
but has kept away from the factional struggle; and Fatehyab Ali Khan of
the Mazdoor Kisan Party.
The following did not attend for personal reasons:
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, former Prime Minister and chief of the National
People's Party (NPP); and Pir Pagaro, President of the PML
(Functional). The following rejected the invitation: Makhdoom Amin
Faheem, senior Vice-Chairman of the PPP; and Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan,
President of the Alliance For the Restoration of Democracy (ARD). It
is not known whether Hasil Bizenjo of the Balochistan National Party
(BNP), who was also invited, attended.
It would be obvious from the above that :
* The PML of Nawaz and the PPP of Mrs.Benazir Bhutto, ,
which held the overwhelming number of seats in the dissolved National
Assembly and the Senate, boycotted the meeting. The leaders, who
attended, either did not have any representation in the dissolved Houses
or their representation was negligible.
* All the Islamic parties attended the meeting.
The Jihadi parties were not invited on the ground that they operate in J
& K and have no presence in Pakistani territory. However,
Musharraf is planning to meet them secretly. He has already secretly
visited the headquarters of the Markaz Dawa Al Irshad, the political
wing of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, at Muridke on June 11.
* All the parties representing the non-Punjabi
minorities, excepting the Sindhi nationalist parties, the Balochi
parties of Akbar Khan Bugti, Khair Bux Marri and Sardar Ataullah Khan
Mengal and the Pakhtoonkwa Milli Awami Party of Mehmood Khan Achakzai,
which were not invited, attended.
It is learnt that during the meeting:
* The Punjabi and religious leaders, while backing
Musharraf's initiative, insisted that any progress in the summit should
depend on India accepting J & K as a disputed territory and the
validity of the UN resolutions.
* The non-Punjabi parties strongly supported the
summit and called for a political solution to the Kashmir problem, but
made no reference to Kashmir as a disputed territory or to the UN
resolutions.
* Except Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the other leaders of
the Islamic parties insisted that the jihad should continue till India
agreed to the implementation of the UN resolutions.
* Musharraf listened and took down notes without
making any substantial comments. He kept repeating that he would
not agree to any solution, which was not in the national interest and
which would not meet the approval of the Kashmiris.
An official announcement of Musharraf's office after the
meeting said: "The political leaders unanimously endorsed the
decision of the President and the Chief Executive to respond positively to
the Indian invitation. They assured him of their fullest support in
his endeavours to resolve the long outstanding issue of Kashmir with India
and prayed for his success. They (politicians) informed the
President that even though they did not expect a resolution of the issue
in just one visit, they expected the Indian leadership to send out
positive signals from the summit which could lead to the initiation of a
meaningful process for the resolution of the Kashmir problem.
President Musharraf also assured politicians that he would take them into
confidence on all important national issues. The spirit and manner
in which the political leaders had expressed their views reflected the
unity of the nation on issues of national integrity, nuclear deterrence
and national security."
After the meeting, the participants claimed that
Musharraf reassured the politicians that as far as he was concerned,
Kashmir would be the core issue in his talks with the Indian Prime
Minister and everything else would follow. The following were the
individual comments of some of the participants after the meeting:
Farooq Leghari: "There was a very clear near
unanimity of views that Pakistan needs to stick to its principled stand
and seek peace with India. It was a good step, and a good thing to
consult politicians who told him that he is going to India as the
representative of Pakistan."
Qazi Hussain Ahmed: "We have reposed full confidence and
trust in President General Musharraf. We stressed that India should
accept Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory."
Mian Azhar: "All expressed the hope that the Indian
leadership would realise the usefulness of a dialogue that could focus on
a settlement of the Kashmir issue. We have given President Musharraf
the full mandate to talk to India as an ambassador of peace. We proposed
that he should stick to Pakistan's stand on Kashmir, particularly the 1948
UN Resolutions. Despite our differences with President Musharraf on
political issues, the entire national leadership is behind him on this
issue. We demanded that the President should reconvene a similar
meeting and invite those who had not attended today. We told him to
talk to India with the full confidence and support of the nation."
Imran Khan: "India should be forced to accept Jammu and
Kashmir as a disputed territory, as a resolution of Kashmir would augur
well for both the neighbouring South Asian nations. I think
relations with India can be improved if a peaceful solution to the dispute
is found. I also asked the General to hold similar consultative
meetings with politicians on other economic and political matters.
The Government should lift the ban on political activities."
Elahi Bux Soomro: "It was a good beginning and this
process should continue. President Musharraf has not unfolded any
agenda of talks with India, as the agenda of talks would be
non-structured."
Asfandyar Wali Khan: " I told the General that my
party felt fully vindicated that after 53 years, the military regime has
decided to travel to India to discuss the Kashmir issue.
"Today I feel very happy that at least my father
(Khan Abdul Wali Khan) and grandfather (the late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan)
have been vindicated. My family has been called traitors, Indian
agents and sent to jail for their principled stand that Pakistan and India
should sit and talk about the solution to the Kashmir issue. Today
it gives me great pleasure to see that the Generals are ready to proceed
to India to talk with the elected leadership there, on how to solve the
Kashmir issue.
"I told the General that I wanted to make this
point clear that by coming to this meeting, it did not mean that I had
parted ways with the ARD. There is no problem between the ANP and
the ARD and I will continue for the struggle for the restoration of
democracy with the Alliance.
" I raised the issue of how there
should have been an invitation to a cross section of the politicians since
most had been represented in Parliament. I pointed out to the
General that politicians like Akbar Bugti, Sardar Mengal, Mehmud Achakzai
and even the PML (N) had not been invited. The first three
represented the largest province in the country.
" I reminded the General that for 53
years only one option for solving the Kashmir issue had been tried.
I advocated that it is now time to try the method of dialogue. The
ANP has always said that one should go for dialogue before
destruction. I did not raise the Kargil operation.
"The best presentation came from Balochistan's
Abdul Hayee Baloch, who made a powerful presentation, and was heard in pin
drop silence. It is healthy for the military leadership to listen
for themselves to the grim realities that the people of the smaller
provinces are suffering. Also these people face the leaders of the
day without any fear.
"I reminded the General that when Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto was leaving for the Shimla Conference and he came to Parliament to
seek a vote of confidence, Khan Wali Khan told him that though he had no
confidence in Bhutto, yet he was giving him a vote as he wanted relations
between India and Pakistan to improve.
"On Wednesday it was the turn of the younger
leadership to tell the General: Though I do not agree with any of your
internal policies but I have come to this meeting because I feel that
without the solution to Kashmir, Pakistan cannot take off
economically."
Briefing pressmen on the ARD decision taken at its
meeting on June 26 to boycott the all-party meeting convened by Musharraf,
the Nawabzada stated as follows:
* Except for the Awami National Party, all other parties
in the Alliance decided to join the boycott.
* Twelve out of the 16 parties in the Alliance were
not invited at all. The PML had clarified that Wasim Sajjad and
Illahi Bux Soomro, though invited, would not be representing the party
even if they participated
* Invitations had been extended to various political
leaders in their individual capacity to 'fragment' the ARD.
* Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, of the ANP, explaining his
party's decision to attend the meeting with Musharraf, said only a
military government in Pakistan and a BJP-led 'fundamentalist'
government in India could solve the Kashmir dispute. The dispute,
according to the ANP, could not be settled by any political government
in Pakistan. The ANP felt that unless the Kashmir issue was
settled, military interventions in Pakistan's domestic politics would
not end.
* The ARD was not opposed to talks between Pakistan
and India. It wanted a solution to the Kashmir problem so that any
chance of a fight between the two nuclear powers could be averted.
But for talks to be successful, the Nawabzada said, a conducive
atmosphere was necessary which was not prevailing at the moment.
In this regard, he cited the statements of the Indian Prime Minister and
some other Ministers that Kashmir was an integral part of India.
At its meeting on June 26, the ARD also,
through an unanimous resolution, rejected the assumption of presidency by
Musharraf and pointed out that the Constitution had ceased to exist and
that the parliamentary system had been illegally converted into a unitary
form of governance.
The resolution added that neither the Supreme Court (SC)
nor the National Reconstruction Bureau had the mandate to amend the
Constitution; only the elected Parliament had that power. It
described Musharraf's self-elevation as the President as unconstitutional
and expressed its surprise over the presence of SC judges at the ceremony
and the administering of the oath by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan.
In a statement issued on June 26, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said: "We
propose that all guns, both of the Indian Army and the Mujahideen, be
muted for sometime; Line of Control (LoC) be softened to allow Kashmiris
meet freely; and that General Musharraf and Vajpayee should not become
prisoners of past."
An unidentified senior official of the Foreign Office
was quoted as reacting as follows to the Maulana's statement: "The
Kashmiri Muhjahideen are reacting to the repression by the Indian forces
and fighting a struggle for their freedom. You cannot equate the
fighting by the Mujahideen and that by the Indian forces."
The Maulana described the forthcoming summit meeting at
Agra as a "sensitive step towards a peaceful solution of the Kashmir
dispute," and added that all sides should give it a chance. He
said he appreciated the reported Hurriyat decision to call off strikes and
protests before the summit and urged India and the militant outfits to do
the same. "No doubt, Kashmir should be given the top priority
in the dialogue process; all other areas of confrontation such as the arms
race and Siachen, and areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, like trade
and the gas/oil pipeline should also be given due attention with an open
mind," he added.
His appeal was vehemently rejected by the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) on the ground that this would betray the memory of
all those killed in J & K. It said that the "jihad"
would continue till India withdrew its forces from Kashmir and added that
the Maulana had no authority to issue such an appeal.
The Maulana has been adopting a moderate posture ever
since the visit of some Deobandi leaders from India to attend a Deobandi
conference in Peshawar in April. The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM),
which is close to the Maulana, has also been significantly muted in its
reactions to the summit. The Al Badr, formerly close to the JEI and
now to the Maulana, has also been restrained in its reactions. These
two jihadi organisations have not been as virulent as the LET.
On June 27, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani of
the JUP, Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the JEI, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the JUI
(F), Maulana Sami-ul-Haq of the JUI(S), Allama Sajid Naqvi of the TJP and
Professor Sajid Mir of Jamiat Ahle Haidth, met separately under the
presidentship of Noorani and expressed their resolve to work jointly for
the independence, solidarity, security and Islamic identity of Pakistan
and "to struggle for the establishment of real Islamic democracy in
Pakistan."
A resolution adopted by them said:
" Islam is the basis of Pakistan. On the basis of Islam, the
1973 constitution of Pakistan guarantees the establishment of
parliamentary democracy and a federal system of government in the
country. The six parties are committed to seek the restoration of
the Constitution. Besides, they want to establish an Islamic society
guaranteeing the independence of the people, religious values, culture,
civilization, economic justice and prosperity in the confines of Quran and
Sunnah, guidelines given in the Constitution and the recommendations of
the Council of Islamic Ideology.
"The leaders of the religious
parties declare the formation of a "Muttahida Majlis Amal"
[Joint Action Committee] which would take all the decisions with
consensus. Besides holding meetings, it will take a joint position
on various religious and political issues cropping up from time to time.
"The JAC platform would also work
for the sectarian harmony in the country thus enabling the
religious-political forces to thwart the onslaught of secular elements and
focus their attention on creating an Islamic order in the country.
"The religious parties
categorically reiterate the principled and national stance on Kashmir
issue. Kashmir is the top most contentious issue between India and
Pakistan.
"They believe that a lasting
settlement between the two countries is not possible without the solution
of the Kashmir issue. The people of Jammu and Kashmir could better
decide their fate freely in accordance with the UN resolutions.
"The prime objective of the
Indo-Pak talks should be aimed at seeking recognition of the contentious
status of Jammu & Kashmir and ensuring the right of self-determination
for the people of Jammu & Kashmir under the UN resolutions."
Addressing a convention of local
councillors at Jamia Tafheemul Quran Mardan in the North-West Frontier
Province (NWFP) on June 24,
Qazi Hussain
Ahmed said "Someone becoming President on the basis of the might of
stick has got no constitutional bearings nor does he hold any public
support and backing. Assuming the office of President by General
Musharaf was a blatant violation of the Constitution and law. We do
not recognize the General sahib as President. We are for dialogue on
Kashmir, but these talks could only bear positive fruits when New Delhi
concedes Kashmir as a disputed territory and stops human rights violations
in the Indian Held Valley."
Despite repeated denials by Musharraf
himself that any track II or back channel diplomacy through US
intermediary had brought about the summit, there has been persistent
speculation in Islamabad that India's invitation was preceded by intensive
informal consultations during which an understanding has already been
reached on certain deescalation measures such as troop reduction on both
sides of the Line of Control (LOC), a Pakistani commitment to prevent all
illegal infiltration without specific reference to cross-border terrorism,
reduction of violence on the ground, greater interaction between the
Kashmiri leaders on the two sides, the strengthening of hot line
communications, and the setting up of an Indo-Pak political mechanism
(examples Jaswant Singh-Talbott talks series or the Bhutto-Swaran Singh
talks) to maintain a sustained dialogue on the Kashmir issue etc.
Unidentified military sources have been briefing the
media to refute speculation of differences amongst the Corps Commanders
over the summit. They have been quoted as claiming that all the
Corps Commanders have extended full support to Musharraf and agreed that
priority should be accorded to the economy by normalising relations with
India. They have also been cautioning that nobody should expect
resolution of major problems during the summit. "It will be a
breakthrough if both the sides agree to continue talking."
(The writer is Additional
Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently,
Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com
)
