'Fighting terrorists is one thing. Fighting insurgents is worse. Fighting a population is worst of all,' says Mihir S Sharma.
The United States has rejected Pakistan's request to mediate between it and India to help both resolve outstanding issues, including Kashmir and the river water sharing dispute. During a joint media interaction with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington would continue with its "hands off" policy concerning the Indo-Pak impasse.
Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and hard-line religious parties joined a rally in Islamabad organised by a front of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah, during which speakers called for a jihad to resolve the Kashmir issue. PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Samiul Haq and representatives of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference joined the rally organised by the Tehrik Azadi-e-Kashmir.
The Pakistan government has trashed former president Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula to resolve Kashmir issue, saying it was "his thinking" which did not have the endorsement of Pakistan Parliament or Cabinet and suggested a fresh approach to address the vexed problem.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has rejected claims by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that he had supported the event in the Jawaharlal Nehru University in memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
It seems that realisation has dawned, at last, in New Delhi that the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir has become a national crisis. The government is waking up to connect to the state, which is under the wave of violence, notes Sheela Bhatt.
"Kashmir is an issue concerning the people living in five regions -- three under Indian control and two under Pakistani control. The state should be united as it existed on August 14, 1947 and its people decide the future," Mirwaiz said addressing the congregation at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.
"The people, who were in power earlier, now are suddenly taking U-turn. They are making such statements shamelessly," he added.
He said 90 IS sympathisers had been arrested across the country.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has once again raked up the Kashmir issue, and said peace and stability in South Asia is not possible unless the long pending disputes between India and Pakistan are resolved.During a meeting with foreign diplomats in Islamabad, Bashir said India should also come forward to resolve water issues with Pakistan in accordance with the Indus Waters Treaty, and added that Islamabad is committed towards resuming a sustained engagement.
'No dialogue with India can be successful without the Kashmir on the agenda'
Former R&AW chief A S Dulat, India's foremost expert on the Kashmir issue, argues that the central government should offer Kashmiri separatists a solution in line with the accord signed by Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah in 1975.
"Any kind of solution... must be acceptable to all regions of J&K and to all sections of J&K people, and it should have complete endorsement of public opinion as is expressed in Parliament of India and only then can we carry things forward," Dileep Padgaonkar told reporters in Jammu before leaving for Delhi along with another interlocutor, Radha Kumar
Despite managing to get $2.29 billion in fresh military aid, Pakistan failed to extract anything from the US on two key issues of civilian nuclear deal similar to that of India and American intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue.
United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates has rubbished Pakistan's long-standing stance that unresolved issues like the Kashmir dispute were breeding terrorism and providing food for thought for banned extremist organisations like the Al Qaeda."Al Qaeda doesn't care about Kashmir, what it cares about is creating problems and provoking conflicts," Gates said.Gates's latest remarks are in addition to his statements, which he gave in New Delhi earlier this week.
With United States' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by his side, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday raked up the Kashmir issue and said his country wants a sustained dialogue with India.
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