A 'joint mechanism' for the state will be up for discussion when the External Affairs Minister goes to Islamabad on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: After months of intensive preparation by their special envoys and other back channels, India and Pakistan are ready to negotiate the next big step towards an understanding on Jammu & Kashmir.
A “joint mechanism” for the state will be up for discussion when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee goes to Islamabad on Saturday to deliver an invitation for the SAARC summit in April to President Pervez Musharraf.
The contours of the mechanism, that is, its composition, powers and the territory over which it will extend, will be the subject of hard negotiation, given the differing perceptions on both sides. But, according to information gleaned from various sources involved in pre-visit consultations, it looks like India and Pakistan have decided to take the bull by its horns and try for an agreement in preparation for a visit to Islamabad by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later this year.
Interestingly, India had proposed a joint consultative mechanism for the divided state when the foreign secretary-level dialogue was resumed in 2004. The idea was picked up
by President Musharraf in the four-point formula he floated last month for a resolution of the dispute. He called it a “joint supervision mechanism”.
The differing terms are not just a matter of semantics. They underline the distance India and Pakistan have to walk before reaching an agreement.
The biggest hurdle lies in defining the powers of the mechanism.
India wants to limit its jurisdiction to softer issues of common interest like border trade, tourism, river waters management, and environment. Pakistan wants to broaden it to include the entire gamut of governance.
Secondly, India wants to stay out of the mechanism and leave it to representatives from the two parts of Jammu & Kashmir to manage. Pakistan wants to be part of it with India and, of course, nominees from Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Thirdly, India’s position is that the jurisdiction of the mechanism should extend over the entire undivided state of Jammu & Kashmir. In other words, it wants the Northern Areas (Gilghit and Baltistan) to be brought under its purview. Pakistan is resisting this.
With back-channel negotiations having reached this far, much depends on Mukherjee and whether his talks with the Pakistani leadership can take the matter closer to an agreement. If he succeeds, he would pave the way for the PM to go to Islamabad and unveil another milestone on the difficult road to a solution of the vexed Kashmir issue.
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