Seema Guha

New Delhi: A major bid by militants to cross into Kashmir that led to heavy exchange of fire along the border is clearly an attempt by certain elements to sully the atmosphere between India and Pakistan who are striving to put the peace process back on track.

The timing, ahead of a crucial visit to Islamabad by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on May 21, is significant.

This will be Mukherjee’s first interaction with the newly elected democratic government of Pakistan. The aim is to get the composite dialogue moving and restore the flagging peace talks.

The dialogue had stuttered in recent months because of the unprecedented convulsions that followed the assassination of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto. New Delhi’s stand during the upheaval in Pakistan following the assassination has been sympathetic, yet there was a clear attempt by New Delhi not to interfere in Islamabad’s domestic affairs.

This stand was appreciated by the Pakistan establishment and the wish to improve relations with India was publicly aired by political leaders across the border.

Both PPPs top boss Asif Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League’s Nawaz Sharif have made it clear that they believe in improving ties with India. Analysts here say that it is highly unlikely that Islamabad would want to soil the atmosphere around Mukherjee’s visit by ordering a major infiltration of militants into Kashmir.

This is a sure way of ensuring that the peace process does not move forward. The ministry of external affairs has played down the incident and has not yet issued a statement, which would have normally been done by now.

Privately, officials say this is certainly not the time for Islamabad to go out of its way to help militants infiltrate across the border into Kashmir. But they do not rule out either rogue elements within the ISI or Islamic fundamentalists within the armed forces who do not want better relations with Hindu majority India.

Officials believe the new establishment has little to gain by starting another truck with India. Pakistan already has a troubled neighbour in Afghanistan and the situation in the NWFP region is a major worry at the moment.

“It is very difficult to say who is behind the incident. It could be rouge elements within the establishment, but it is too early to pinpoint who they are. There are some speculations that president Musharraf ’s loyalists may have tried to create problems for the government, but again there is no evidence to suggest so,” says analyst K Subrahmanyam.

“This is an isolated incident and I certainly don’t think the government has a hand in it. It could be militant groups working together to wreck chances of peace between India and Pakistan. The militants will be affected if New Delhi and Islamabad continue on the peace track,” says former foreign service office Bhadrakumar.

Significantly, Pakistan’s defence minister does not want another war with India over Kashmir, and has categorically said so. Pakistan’s defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said on Friday that relations with India at present are the “best” the two countries ever had.

”We have a very nice relationship with India, the best we have ever had. The confidence-building measures are working very well and I think the defence of Pakistan today is much safer than five years (ago),” Mukhtar, senior leader of the PPP said.

“I am sure that both countries are showing flexibility from their traditional positions. We don’t want to fight a war,” Mukhtar said in an interview to a television channel.

He said the issue will be resolved only through the opening up of the borders and greater intermingling of Kashmiris from both sides. The minister’s views on Kashmir are exactly what the prime minister has been emphasising.

Source : DNA