Posted on 01/28/2006 12:19:33 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
NEW DELHI: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has always stolen a march from the Indian dispensation on the big occasions in the world arena. Whatever may be Indian political firmament's opinions on Musharraf, he has always charmed even his fiercest critics with his demeanour, wit, oratory and his natty dressing sense through televised interviews which has most often irritated South Block. Some even say he exudes more warmth and hospitality than most Indian politicians alongside demonstrating his leadership skills.
In what seems to be music for India's ears, Musharraf rallied his speech defending Pakistan's natural gas pipeline project with Iran that involves India, lending his bit to this year's theme of 'The Creative Imperative' at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos. He sent a clear message saying that economic project, which is the pipeline, should be separated from Iran's own nuclear project. This is bound to fluster the American leadership as it is opposed to the 2600 kilometre pipeline project estimated at $7 billion.
His remarks come in the wake of David Mulford's threat to New Delhi that if it voted in favour of Iran in the forthcoming IAEA's Board meeting on February 2 India should be prepared for a fallout on the nuclear deal which was met with a firm rebuttal-India's decision would be based on its own independent judgment and guided by its own national interests.
Determined and playing to the gallery, Musharraf lead by throwing his Kashmir card by calling India and Pakistan in working out a solution that could lead to self-governance and make the Line of Control (LoC) irrelevant. He proposed a step-by-step approach that would begin by defining Kashmir's borders and end with a joint cross-border administration.
"I am not sure he knows what he is saying", says Suba Chandran, Assistant Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, IPCS. Adds Chandran, "Whether his recent remarks on self-rule and making the LoC irrelevant should be viewed as reflective of his uniform approach or his crazy ideas is the moot question. His ideas on regional plebiscite and demilitarization seem to convey to India that it can have Jammu and Ladakh while he is bothered only about the Kashmir valley, Baramullah and Kupwara in particular."
Critics feel that whenever there is tension within and Musharraf is burdened with too many internal problems, he seems to divert attention by raising the Kashmir issue. As a result his remarks hardly elicit any surprise. "Being what he is, his comments come hardly as a surprise. He is trying to move away from the Baluchistan issue. Even his allegations that India is responsible for brewing trouble by funding in the Baluch region are unfounded", says Kanchan Lakshman, Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management.
These charges may not be entirely false. A highly placed security source quoting a former Indian general says, "Baluchistan and Karachi town are two places where India is involved but what to what extent is the question. Reaching Baluchistan via Iran or Afghanistan may be a bit of problem but it India is trying to work through the Russians. There is also this theory whenever there is a blast in the Kashmir valley there is a corresponding blast in Karachi."
India doesn't enjoy good relationship with the Pasthun community and Kandahar is out of bounds. And hence the only route is Russia. That is because, sources say, "the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) chief was educated in Moscow and the BLA itself was a brainchild of the former KGB."
In a curious diplomatic shade to the Baluchistan affair, Musharraf has welcomed Jaswant Singh of the BJP to Baluchistan to visit a Hindu shrine during the first week of February. Singh will lead a seventy-member delegation to the shrine of Bibi Nani Ma. The delegation will travel through the Kokhrapar-Monabao rail link.
Meanwhile at Davos, Musharraf went ahead and said he was "bold enough to go out for an out-of-the-box solution." Speaking to reporters he said, "But we cannot clap with one hand. I expect India to join."
"The out-of-the-box solution he has offered includes self-governance, joint management and demilitarization", says Lakshman. Musharraf hinted that self-governance will not be possible with a large presence of Indian soldiers in Kashmir.
In what seemed to be a speech targeted at the Indian leadership, Musharraf said, "Grasp these fleeting moments at this time. Fleeting moments come and go. It is incumbent on all leaders to grasp these moments, otherwise they are not leaders." He urged both countries to move forward and said, if they don't, permanent peace cannot be guaranteed in the region. He admitted that while confidence building side of the talks was progressing but the resolution side was lagging behind.
Lakshman adds, "Yes, India has no problems as far as the CBMs are concerned but the problem will arise when it comes to the ground situation in Kashmir and Siachen."
Apart from Kashmir, Musharraf outlined the qualities of leadership in the wake of natural disasters and clarified there is no conflict between Islam and modernization and underscored that Islam was committed to qualitative improvement in the lives of all people. Known for making others blink, the Pakistani President said that a leader should never panic whatever may be the circumstances.
Chandran feels, "Musharraf firmly believes himself as a messiah of Pakistan. He wants go down in the history of Pakistan what Jinnah couldn't achieve."
Probably that is what he wants to convey to his own people and charm the world at large at Davos.
Hmmmmm good to know your favourite dictator and paymaster is doing so well.
Don't you support this pipeline to Iran he's defending which will make India dependent on Pakistan for energy needs?
It looks like Leftist policies are taking hold in India. I do sure hope that they wake up.
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