Fact Sheet

THE BETRAYAL AT AGRA

 Almost every thing that the present regime has done or said suffers from lack of credibility.  From the very first act of snatching power in Islamabad to the latest episode of seemingly inconclusive talks with the Indian leaders at Agra, the facts have been kept hidden from the eyes of the public.

 

It was easy to do that in October 1999, because very few people were in the know of the fact as to who kept the flight from Colombo hovering over Karachi until the well thought out takeover was completed.  There was no problem in silencing them.

 

It is not so easy to hide the purpose and outcome of the Agra Summit.  The media hype that was built up well in advance, the incredibly optimistic atmosphere created by an army of sycophants and the boastful declarations of creating history – all was aimed at diverting the attention of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir from what was really going to happen, and did happen.

 

From the day he received the invitation from Prime Minister Vajpayee, General Pervez Musharraf kept up drumming the theme that he was going to do at Agra what no previous government had done.  And then, in his post-summit press conference he claimed that he was the first Pakistani leader to tell the Indians that Kashmir was the core issue to be settled between the two countries.

 

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) is releasing this fact sheet to enlighten the people that at least the government led by Muhammed Nawaz Sharif did not even think of what General Musharraf has achieved, in the garb of his enthusiastic “flexibility and open-mindedness.”

 

Pivotal Nature of Kashmir Issue

 

But first, let us deal with his claim that no politician ever used the term or told India to resolve the “core dispute” of Kashmir.

 

In fact, it was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who first insisted on the pivotal nature of Kashmir issue.  For instance, in his letter to Mr. Vajpayee on March 20, 1998, Nawaz Sharif asked the BJP government to resolve the key issue of Kashmir through negotiations. "The resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India for redressing all outstanding issues between our two countries, including a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, will pave the way for a new era of peace and stability in the region," he said.

 

Again, in his historic speech at the UN general Assembly, on September 23, 1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared settlement of the Kashmir dispute as the foremost condition for signing the Comprehensive Test ban Treaty (CTBT).  He said, “Above all, durable peace between Pakistan and India – and restraint in their military postures will be, as always, critically dependent on the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute which has been the root cause of all conflicts and tensions between Pakistan and India.”

 

Innumerable occasions can be cited where Nawaz Sharif did not fail to mention Kashmir without stressing that it was the key issue that hampered progress towards normalization of relations with India. He warned of the consequences of not resolving the core dispute.

 

On April 06, 1998, he told civil and military officers at the National Defense College, “We have to eliminate the causes of conflict of which Kashmir is the key issue. We aspire for regional peace. At the same time, let me state that we are fully prepared for all contingencies.”

 

Again, addressing a huge rally of over 25,000 Pakistani expatriates and Kashmiris in Manchester June 13, 1998, Nawaz Sharif regretted that India had been negating resolution of Kashmir dispute, "which is the core issue and cause of confrontation between India and Pakistan for the past half a century." Normalization of relations between India and Pakistan, he said, is only possible if Kashmir issue "is amicably resolved, as per U.N. resolutions."

 

Primacy of UN Resolutions

 

The second outstanding and consistent feature of the previous government’s Kashmir policy was the emphasis on a settlement of the dispute on the basis of the United Nations resolutions regarding plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. General Musharraf changed that stance apparently under foreign pressure.

 

Many Western officials are on record dismissing the applicability of the UN resolutions “as so much water under the bridge.”  They want to seek other avenues to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Nawaz Sharif always rejected this view, and insisted that there was no other way to peace in South Asia except to ascertain the wishes of the Kashmiri people through a plebiscite under the UN auspices.

 

On March 26, 1998, addressing a banquet hosted in honor of the visiting Crown Prince of Thailand, Nawaz Sharif said: "We are determined to persist with our effort to reach a peaceful settlement of this core issue, central to which is the exercise of the right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir in accordance with the numerous resolutions of the UN Council.”

 

We omit mention of a number of similar statements of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the sake of brevity.  However, it would be interesting to note that three months after the Lahore Declaration, which General Musharraf is very fond of repudiating, Nawaz Sharif stood up in the joint sitting of the Parliament on June 06, 1998, and called upon the Indian Prime Minister, "Vajpayee Sahib, come forward, and let's end the arms race in this region and honor the pledge with self-respecting people of Kashmir to give them the right of self-determination according to UN resolutions."

 

Musharraf’s Deviation

 

Contrary to Nawaz Sharif’s determined adherence to Pakistan’s principled stand, General Musharraf chose to deviate from it.  Never throughout the run up to his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister at Agra, he mentioned the UN resolutions or the plebiscite as the only just and fair means to determine the future of Kashmir.

 

In fact, the General’s utterances during his visit to India, and later at home, have strengthened the impression that he does not believe in the primacy of the UN resolutions on Kashmir in seeking avenues of normalization of relations with India.

 

In his first important speech in India at the presidential banquet, he preferred not to mention the United Nations Resolutions, which, the observers said was quite significant. He followed this omission with the call that the two sides must not allow the past to dictate their future.

 

Rejection of History

 

Forgetting the past, burying the history, has been his favorite punch line whenever he talks about Kashmir. 

 

IN an interview to India's Zee TV channel and Times of India, on July 5, 2001, General Pervez Musharraf stressed the need for a change in mindset in the public as well as in leadership on both sides. To a question whether a new framework will emerge, he said: "Clearly it indicates that we must shun rigidity on both sides. This can't be done one-sidedly. Open mindedness has to be from both sides, if progress has to be made."

 

And when, at his post-summit press conference in Islamabad, he was asked to explain his silence on the UN Resolution, he avoided a clear answer and said that both the countries would have to soften their stiff positions on the issue. "We are not moving away from the national stand, but let's agree to a solution. I will generate a consensus in Pakistan and ascertain the desire of Kashmiris."

 

It was in the same vein that he repudiated the Shimla Accord and the Lahore Declaration.

He told the Times of Inda: "A lot has changed since the Lahore Declaration and since the Shimla Accord. We are both nuclear powers now. We probably have realized that the time has come for taking bold decisions. So things have changed."

 

Towards a Rogue State

 

The rather disdainful dismissal of the UN Resolutions, Shimla Accord and the Lahore Declaration as garbage of history, was in fact in line with General Musharraf’s repeated assertion that he was going to New Delhi with an open mind and a flexible attitude.  And he himself explained what he meant by flexibility.

 

Talking to Gulf News, on July 13, he said: “I have never at all said that I will be flexible on the issue to be discussed which is Kashmir. I have said that Kashmir is the only issue. Yes, I will be flexible on Kashmir, but I would like to correct this misperception, this misunderstanding. I have never said that flexibility will be shown on the issue to be discussed.”  In other words, he made it clear that he was rigid only in declaring Kashmir as the core issue; so far as the settlement of the issue was concerned he was prepared to be flexible.

 

After this explanation, General Musharraf’s claim that he adheres to Pakistan’s traditional stand is mere double talk.  He has, in fact, put vital national interests in jeopardy by his unilateral rejection of the international and bilateral agreements.

 

According to experts of international law, the change that General Musharraf has brought about in Pakistani position on Kashmir has serious implications. For example, one consequence is that Pakistan can no longer insist on a UN-supervised plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people of Kashmir, and that this could take place through some other method.

There is a danger that Pakistan may be accused of being a "rogue state" if it acts arbitrarily in moving away from the Shimla agreement and the Lahore declaration.

 

It appears that General Pervez Musharraf is not content with dealing a fatal blow to Pakistan’s case for Jammu and Kashmir.  He has brazenly declared that he is going to change what he calls the mindset of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir.  He must remember that a free and fair plebiscite under the UN resolutions remains the bedrock of the mindset of the people.

 

As Nawaz Sharif declared on July 28, 1999, “it is in the interest of both Pakistan and India that Kashmir issue is resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions and Lahore Declaration since peace was the need of both countries.”