The topic, "Kashmir: Is there a chance for Peace?" is the most urgent and the most important not only because it concerns the .... people of Kashmir but because it touches the lives and future of more than I billion people of South Asia that is home to one fifth of the total human race.

The dispute over Kashmir is not insoluble through peaceful procedures. It appears to be sonly because the obduracy of one of the parties - India - is encouraged by the apathy of the world outside ...

I ... propose seven points to be considered by all parties to the dispute Governments of Pakistan and India and the Kashmir leadership (All Parties Hurriyat Conference), if peace needs to be restored in Kashmir.

·       The Kashmir dispute must not be ... solved militarily. The presence of over '700,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces has made the life of an ordinary Kashmiri like hell. There can be no progress in talks if they are not accompanied by practical measures to restore an environment of non-violence in Indian Occupied Kashmir ... All military activities must come to an end.

·       There cannot be and should not be any conditions from any party, other than commitment to negotiations. Conditions like the talks within the Indian Constitution will never let launch a peace process.

·       All parties to the dispute must get seriously engaged in search of a final settlement. The talks can only be useful if they reflect a sense of urgency and prepare the ground for an earnest effort to frame a step-by-step plan of settlement. Mere continuance of talks - and that too, at a leisurely pace - will, in no way defuse the situation ...

·       The neutral outside mediation has to be considered. Since bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan have proven sterile for over half a century ... Third party mediation and intervention is absolutely essential to resolve the conflict and save the entire region from a nuclear holocaust. The United States and the United Nations (or) alternatively, a person of international standing like ... Nelson Mandela could be appointed either by the US or by the UN as a mediator to facilitate the negotiations.

·       We do not need to invoke principles because, principles can easily be twisted and they can lend themselves to various interpretations. But the principles that are involved in the Kashmir dispute shall remain the guiding force in any final settlement. It is the inherent right of the people of all zones of Kashmir to decide their future according to their own will and that it is impossible to ascertain the will of the people of Kashmir except through a fair and impartial plebiscite, free from any condition of coercion, intimidation or compulsion ..

·       Since we are concerned at this time with setting a stage for settlement rather than the shape the settlement will take, ... it is both untimely and harmful to indulge in, or encourage, controversies about the most desirable solution ... Raising of quasi-legal or pscudo-legal questions during the preparatory phase about the final settlement ... only serves to befog the issue and to convey the wrong impression that the dispute is too complex to be resolved ..

·       Last and perhaps the deciding factor is that the peace will not come to Kashmir without justice and justice shall not prevail without sacrifices.

Each party to the dispute will have to be ready to make some. concessions and compromises to find a lasting solution of the long awaited tragic dispute.

What can the international community do to advance the peace enterprise ... The international community needs to understand that the solution to the sufferings and pain in Kashmir is both urgent and vital ...(Source: The Greater Kashmir, 18 September, 2000)

The K-Word Bind - Editorial, Indian Express, 18 Sept., 2000

Why are Indians so afraid of the K-word being mentioned in international fora? Ditto for that related I-word, internationalisation. These fears could have been rationally explained in the mid-nineties - for example. when Clinton himself famously clubbed Bosnia and Kashmir - when residual Cold War distrust and a still robust US-Pak strategic engagement evoked fears of borders being redrawn. But post-Kargil, they make little sense. In fact, it can be argued that internationalisation would be in India's interest.

Post-Lahore it is clear that even the grandest and most accommodating of gestures by New Delhi will not elicit from Islamabad matching sincerity; hence other spheres of influence have to be tapped if Pakistan is to be persuaded to give up its ever increasing support to cross-border terrorism. Significantly, with last summer's 50-day war rendering Kashmir almost synonymous with nuclear flashpoint, the international mainstream is incredibly wary of any attempt to redraw borders in South Asia. Take, for instance, the first component of Clinton's four-R recipe for a more peaceful and tranquil subcontinent: respect for the Line of Control.

It is against this backdrop that the success of the Vajpayee visit in addressing the Pakistan-sponsored violence in Kashmir and other parts of India must be measured ... India and the US are also to convene a meeting in New Delhi to discuss ways and means to counter terrorism ...