India okayed Hurriyat trip, it’s breakthrough, let’s get started: Gen

‘‘Now the Kashmiris are the APHC and there are Pakistan and India. Now we have a breakthrough. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has allowed them to travel to Pakistan. So once they visit us and they also talk to the Indian government, which we will try to facilitate, we shall have a trilateral arrangement going.’’

‘‘Let us start from here and see if there is any other group which also represents the Kashmiris and needs to be included. If so, then let’s bring them together. As I said, if you are moving forward towards a resolution I am sure these are small issues that can be solved as we move forward. Let’s move forward, as I said, towards demilitarisation and issues of governance.’’

Responding to a query on where he sees the peace process heading in the next one year, Musharraf said ‘‘if we move forward, which we can, if we have the courage I am very sure this (Kashmir) whole issue can be put behind in 12 months.’’

He said the process may take a better shape within a year’s time. ‘‘I see them looking much better. My only hope is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stays and is allowed to move forward. I am very glad to say that my interaction with BJP leaders, Advani and Vajpayee, has been very good. The only thing that I said was please don’t oppose it because you are in the Opposition. And then the coalition partners, the Communist members who are very strong in the coalition, they are totally on board. We must resolve this issue,’’ he said.

The moderate faction of Hurriyat said its executive council would meet on Wednesday to discuss the invitation from Islamabad. Shabir Ahmad Shah, whose Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party was suspended from the Hurriyat nine years ago, said he had accepted the invitation and would be visiting Pakistan.

Musharraf met Hurriyat leaders last month when he made his first visit to New Delhi since the Agra summit in 2001 and urged unity. He told Daily Times that he would prefer some kind of ‘‘international guarantees’’ for implementation of any pact on Kashmir with India.

‘‘I don’t know, I haven’t thought of this point, but may be the peace process should be guaranteed by the international community. I think if we reach an agreement there should be something other than just bilateral guarantees. I think the international community should play a role in the guarantees. And this is a new thing that I am saying.’’

Last week, he said a solution to the Kashmir issue cannot be on ‘‘any religious basis’’ and will have to be found within India’s stand of no redrawing borders, Pakistan’s stand that the LoC cannot be a permanent border and the boundaries becoming irrelevant.

He said that he did not want to be drawn into a ‘‘debate on sensitive issues’’ such as inviting elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir like leaders of the ruling PDP and the Opposition National Conference.

Replying to a question that even moderate Hurriyat leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have ‘‘accepted the fact that the APHC is not the exclusive representative of the Kashmiris’’, the PDP and the National Conference have their constituencies and also represent the Kashmiris, he said: ‘‘I am not going to comment on it. To us, the APHC is the sole representative. But if we see forward movement and flexibility on the other side, we would like to show flexibility on our side. But I will not show flexibility if I don’t see flexibility on the other side.’’

To a question whether he was in a position to enforce a ceasefire by militants in Kashmir, Musharraf said militancy could die a natural death if there is an agreement acceptable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiris and he could try to persuade the militants to stop their activities if India was willing to demilitarise.

‘‘If there is an agreement, up to a point one can try and do something (on ceasefire). But I can’t give a guarantee that there will no bullet fired. Absolutely not, that’s clear. I don’t hold a whistle which when I blow it will end all militancy.’’

Referring to the April 6 attack on a bus station in Srinagar, Musharraf said he was against it. ‘‘We are going in a certain direction. Obviously, these are individuals who don’t agree with me or with India’s PM. Unfortunately, these elements will be there to create problems in the transition period. But they will die their own death if we reach a conclusion which the vast majority of Kashmiris and Pakistanis and Indians are willing to accept.’’

‘‘If there is willingness on the part of the Indians to demilitarise, and if the requirement is that there is no militant activity there, then one could get involved in a discussion with all roots and try to persuade and influence them to stop this activity. But this has to be tied in with demilitarisation because there is so much of mistrust and these things can’t be one-sided. It cannot be that you stop all your activities and we will stop or demilitarise later. This is not do-able. It has to be taken as a package,’’ he said. (Reuters and PTI)