The general146;s albatross

Much like the Ancient Mariner in S.T. Coleridge8217;s masterly poem, General Pervez Musharraf has but one magnificent obsession which he ca...

Much like the Ancient Mariner in S.T. Coleridge8217;s masterly poem, General Pervez Musharraf has but one magnificent obsession which he carries with him like an albatross round his neck. And that is Kashmir, Kashmir, Kashmir. Therefore, regardless of occasion or circumstance, he dwells upon it, totally unmindful of the general consternation he causes as a result. So it was last September, before the UN General Assembly, when he could not help but observe that the Kashmiris had waged a struggle 8216;8216;for decades against India8217;8217;. And thus it was on Monday, at the Non-Aligned Movement summit at Kuala Lumpur, when he spoke of the 8216;8216;flagrant violations8217;8217; of international law in Kashmir, Rwanda and Palestine.

As for the international community, it cannot choose but hear as the bright-eyed general holds forth, but it is an entirely different matter whether it is in consonance with his sentiments. At Kuala Lumpur, host Malaysia politely but pointedly observed that the 8216;8216;issue between Pakistan and India is between Pakistan and India8217;8217;. Clearly, it did not appreciate this attempt to introduce a contentious bilateral issue at a multilateral forum that was seeking issues that unite member-states. Of course, why Pervez Musharraf flogs Kashmir is well known. He had himself famously revealed during that breakfast meeting with the media at Agra that if he were not to espouse the Kashmir cause he might as well pack up his belongings and return to his ancestral haveli in Delhi8217;s Chandni Chowk. Later, in a television speech to his people, he romanticised that sentiment further by observing that Kashmir ran in the blood of all Pakistanis. It is also well documented that the general has done his bit to keep the Kashmir cauldron boiling in the name of waging a just freedom struggle.

It is unfortunate that the general does not seem to understand that the law of diminishing returns can also apply to abstract causes. The fact is that a great deal has changed in the world and the region since the days when Kashmir was a useful stick for Pakistan to wield against India. At least two of these can be considered here. One, the public mood in Kashmir has undergone considerable transformation, as the successful conduct of elections there and the not inconsiderable progress the Mufti government has achieved in terms of delivering governance, testify to. Two, the world itself has demonstrated little sympathy for terrorists passing themselves off as freedom fighters. Therefore, in keeping with the new ground realities, could we request Musharraf to move on from his stuck-record act on Kashmir? Ironically, it is only when the rhetoric on Kashmir gets less strident that the possibility of both countries sitting across the table and discussing the issue brightens.