Letter to The Pioneer, 30 March, 2000

Apropos Brij Bhardwaj's article on the Kashmir .. situation (29 Mar), I broadly agree with him that a substantive and formal solution should be found urgently and that negotiations between India and Pakistan should be held as soon as Pakistan stops training, arming and infiltrating militants across, the LOC. But Bhardwaj does not see that the status of the Valley is the crux of the problem, it is the real bone of contention, the apple of discord. And it is not a desolate area like Aksai Chin or Siachen but a territory humming with life, with nearly 2/3 of the people of the State, as a whole.

Bhardwaj has ruled out any change in the status of the Valley on the ground that 'Kashmir Valley supports India'. This would indeed grade as the overstatement for all times to come. The Kashmiri people of the Valley are, to say the least, not happy with their present status. Most of them want 'Azadi'; some want Valley to join Pakistan. But none of the three - India, Pakistan or Kashmiris - can decide the future of the Valley on their own terms, So a compromise is a must.

"The only workable solution appears to lie in reducing the Kashmir problem to the Valley, through integration of other parts of the original territory with India and Pakistan and then placing the Valley under a special regime. The Valley could have the status of an autonomous non- Sovereign territory, geographically and ethnically delimited, under the joint control of India and Pakistan, within the larger context of a permanent Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation between the two major States of the Sub-continent. Such an approach will give the substance of Azadi to the Kashmiris, apart from other benefits by access to both countries, Pakistan, a toe-hold in the Valley and India, a continued role in the affairs of the Valley. And the people of the Sub-continent shall have a sigh of relief and devote all their energy and resources to development.