During 1986-90 when I was in government as Cabinet Secretary and then as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, it was my firm impression that we have always thought that the LOC can be converted into an international boundary and that this is the only possible and desirable solution.
We have always wondered as to why after the 1971 Bangladesh war in which Pakistan was soundly defeated, we did not get this done. I asked this question to Sardar Swaran Singh when he was alive but could get no answer ... My impression, however, is that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto told Indira Gandhi in their one-to-one meeting that such a condition cannot be accepted by him openly then as he would be finished politically on his return to Pakistan from Shimla and that India would then have to deal with somebody far more difficult. Through hindsight one must say that Indira Gandhi, an astute politician and a crafty player, was taken for a ride by Bhutto. He had no intention of fulfilling this part of the bargain but cleverly carried out the other part favourable to him, i.e. incorporating the Northern principalities as well as Pak-occupied Kashmir firmly into Pakistan.
It must, however, be clearly said that no political party in power can now openly take the position that the LOC can be negotiated to be converted into an international border ... The position that the LOC cannot be converted into an international border is also a bargaining position. This is very natural that if this opening position is given up, then India may be forced to make much bigger concessions to strike a deal.
That we were prepared to redraw this line which was called cease-fire line before 1971 can be established ..
.. It is just not possible nor worth it to ask or to fight for the POK areas. As a matter of fact, I was told that the ethnic composition of these areas is rather different from that in the Valley and it would be an unbearable burden on us to control and govern this area. The real dispute, therefore, regarding Kashmir is where the old cease-fire line and now the LOC is and to make marginal adjustments in the field. At a certain point in the North, this line is not defined on the maps and that is the reason for the Siachen dispute but this can also be negotiated. We should ... not be too rigid about the area which Pakistan has given to China in the Korakoram Pass region. Strategically, there is no difficulty in converting the LOC into an international border till the point it is well defined.
The point, however, is well taken that we ourselves need not raise this issue in any negotiations with Pakistan but at the same time it should also be accepted by us that Pakistan would not raise this issue as they are claiming the whole of the Kashmir Valley. If it is so, then what should be done ?... Unfortunately, we have again unintentionally internationalised the dispute for the second time. The first was when we went to the United Nations in 1948 ... Most of the international community now thinks that if a nuclear race and armageddon is to be prevented in the Indian sub-continent, the Kashmir dispute will have to be sorted out.
... Without giving up our position that the issue is a purely bilateral one, we can respond positively and constructively if proposals and suggestions are made by friendly nations. To ensure that these proposals are not unfavourable to us, we can even start informal off the record dialogues with them. Our apprehensions that at least America and China would always tilt towards Pakistan's interest is well-founded. But then the rest of the international community and even America would not favour a plebiscite as demanded by Pakistan. They are all aware that another round of partition ... would lead to another ... population movement which will unsettle a strategically critical South Asian area.
Such a behind-the-scenes dialogue should be considered seriously by us. The friendly international community can be asked to bring pressure on Pakistan to honour this new international boundary and desist from encouraging trans-border terrorist activities ... If it continues ... this would in the new scenario be an act of open war against India. India can then take any appropriate action. I the world community would side with it. (Source: The Times of India, 15 July, 1998)