SHAUKAT ALI MUKADAM,
Sir, - I would like to commend your Editorial of January 3rd, aptly entitled "Tension over Kashmir". It rightly underscores the importance of defusing tension between India and Pakistan generated mainly by the non-resolution of the Kashmir issue.
While your Editorial has presented a good analysis and made valid observations on some points, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Government of President Pervez Musharraf is not facing any threat as a result of the present situation, as stated therein. The majority of the Pakistanis solidly back the Government. This was also demonstrated vis-à-vis the Government's stance against terrorism.
According to the Government policy of consultative process for all important decisions, President Musharraf is already in contact with all segments of society including religious leaders and the political leadership, who have expressed total support for the Government's policy in the present situation.
You describe the Kashmir problem as "a source of instability since Britain partitioned the sub-continent in 1947" and refer to the "previously indigenous movement for Kashmiri self-determination". There is no doubt that since the late 1980s what is happening in Kashmir is an indigenous struggle for the right of self-determination by the Kashmiri people. It has no relationship with terrorism. It is a genuine struggle for self-determination, a fundamental right promised to them by the UN Security Council. The world has witnessed the sacrifices made and should realise that this movement will go on until such time as the Kashmiri people achieve the objective of self-determination promised to them by the international community.
Therefore, the only way to settle this problem is to resolve it on the basis of the UN Security Council Resolutions which call for an impartial plebiscite in Kashmir, so that this long festering problem is finally resolved. Pakistan will certainly welcome the final settlement of this problem in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people as promised to them by the international community and the United Nations Security Council. This is the only way for reducing tension in the region and establishing lasting peace and stability.
Your attention is also drawn to an intentional confusion between a freedom struggle and terrorism. The question is, who is the terrorist: Kashmiris, who have suffered 75,000 deaths seeking nothing more than the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions according to which they are entitled to decide their own future on the basis of a free and impartial plebiscite? - Yours, etc.,
SHAUKAT ALI MUKADAM,
Counsellor,
Embassy of Pakistan,
Dublin 4.