The buzz over the bus

The differences between India and Pakistan over the travel documents required for the proposed bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar exemplify contradictory views of Kashmir’s status. Pakistan wants a mode of entry that could be taken to imply that Kashmir is a disputed territory where Indian sovereignty is not uncontested. India, on the other hand, wants to make it clear that Kashmir is not disputed territory. The documentation required of travellers from the other side should reflect this. But India has made one significant concession. Instead of requiring regular visas stamped on the passport, it is now prepared to issue separate travel permits. But it has made it clear that passports will be mandatory. For Pakistan, this is a visa regime by another name. For India, this is as much as it can concede without buying into the suggestion that J&K is not an integral part of India.

It is unfair and unrealistic of Pakistan to expect India to compromise more at this juncture. Any further liberalisation of the documentation requirements can come at a later stage when two conditions obtain. First, there has to be a greater convergence between the two countries on the status of Kashmir. Second, there should be a history of sustained cooperation between the two sides. The bus service was but a small step towards creating a mechanism of cooperation. It should not be seen by Pakistan as a fundamental change in India’s position. To hold this service hostage to arguments about whether Kashmir is a disputed territory is disingenuous. It is simply a re-run of a difficulty that has plagued India-Pakistan ties. Pakistan does not want to take small confidence building measures until India has veered over to its position. Pakistan should, for now, let the bus move.

But India, for it part, should ensure that the arrangements it proposes do not simply become like a regular visa regime by another name. It should ensure this, not because it is answerable to Pakistan, but because it ought to have the self-confidence to assure the Kashmiri people that it is willing to think out of the box. While India has every interest in identifying who comes and who goes, and it has every right not to cede the sovereignty question to Pakistan, it does have a responsibility to ensure that travel across the border is easy. It would only be fitting if India’s democracy, while safeguarding its territorial interests, made it easier for Kashmiris from both sides of the border to travel. Pakistan may have no locus standi on the question of borders and identification. But it will be India’s greatness if it can demonstrate to the Kashmiris that parchment barriers will will not stand in the way of their freer movement.