As 1999 begins, the terrorist violence in the state continues with little hope for peace. At this juncture, a task force, which includes US foreign policy experts Richard Haass and Morton Halperin of the Council of Foreign Relations and Brookings Institution, has put forth a policy paper which delves on the Kashmir issue and possible solutions of the so-called "nuclear flashpoint" (Kashmir Times, Dec. 29, 1998).

The task force suggests steps to be taken by both India and Pakistan in order to help resolve the Kashmir issue. Both countries are asked to reduce their level of armed forces in the region and accept increased number of observers at the Line of Control (LOC) that divides the Indian and Pakistani-controlled regions. India is asked to grant increased autonomy to residents of the Jammu and Kashmir state. Pakistan is asked to reduce its military action at the LOC, which it uses as a cover for terrorist infiltrators to the Indian side, and to end support to the terrorists as well as providing of safe havens to them.

While Haass and Halperin appear to have hit the mark with most of their suggestions, they appear to have missed the crucial aspect of the Kashmir problem. Pakistan is willing to go to any length to grab the Indian portion of Jammu and Kashmir. If it includes ethnic cleansing, support for international terrorism, danger of a nuclear war, danger of itself getting destroyed by the growing Islamic fundamentalism being fomented by it, then so be it. Pakistan is the only country in the world whose military provides artillery cover for international terrorists infiltrating into a neighboring country. Pakistan is also the only country that has sustained a decade of terrorism through the use of nuclear threats. Pakistan is also the only the country whose terrorist bases have been used to inflict 29,000 civilian deaths within a decade.

The CFR/Brookings policy paper, while well-meant, is unfortunately a non-starter with respect to Kashmir due to the single-minded pursuit of the state by Pakistan. Pakistan, in its recent talks with India, refused to even accept its role in violence in the state. A country is clearly not going to take steps such as ending support to terrorists or giving them safe havens, if it won't even accept these widely known facts.

India already provides a higher level of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir state compared to the rest of the country, and is willing to talk with all Kashmiris who put down arms and join the electoral process in the state. Indian military levels in the state are a direct corollary to the repeated influx of thousands of Pakistan-based Islamic terrorists. One can not imagine the mayhem that would be created in the state if the Indian Army withdrew at this point. The Indian Army and other security forces are deployed in the state precisely because the local police were overwhelmed by the heavily armed terrorists and mercenaries trained at sophisticated terrorist bases in Pakistan.

The world community needs to make a new beginning in 1999 by forcing Pakistan to ease its do or die stance on Kashmir and end its support for Islamic terrorists who threaten not only Kashmir and South Asia but the rest of the world. Pakistan also needs to be pressured to withdraw its support for ethnic cleansing in the region and potentiate the return of nearly 300,000 ethnic Hindus rendered landless at the point of the gun. 

The United States is one country that has potential influence over Pakistan in this regard. It remains to be seen if the US will take the lead or shirk from it.