Its only been a week since Vajpayee and Musharaff met on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, so not surprisingly the movements towards negotiating a peaceful settlement on the Kashmir issue are now gaining momentum. Some interesting points to note:
1: There is no ranting from either the Indian or Pakistani government on having talks with APHC (this is the umbrella organisation for all Jihadi groups within Kashmir, a definite trait is to politicise these groups) individually, this is something that was a sticking point 12 months ago but obviously an agreement has been reached that all sides can talk to each other separately. This is an indication that all parties at a governmental level have agreed the final outcome of Kashmir and these are the signs of the preparatory work to get the public opinion more so in India to move along and agree with the final outcome.
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2: India is not laying down any preconditions on cross border incursions by Pakistan and for them to stop before any form of Diplomacy can take place and was a stick the Indian government would regularly use to beat the Pakistani’s with. The reason for the rather more relaxed approach is the fact the Indians have obtained technology from the “Israeli’s” that can monitor the border for any kind of infiltration from Jammu and Kashmir.
3: The killing of people considered to be obstacles to the peace process and Islamic sympathisers including Bilal Habhse (top brass chap within Hizbul Mujahideen) to name but one.
Furthermore there have been great changes in the BJP’s political stance since its winning election in 1999. Moving away from Hindu Nationalism and claiming that “we need to ‘Hindufy’ the Muslims (in India) to a more passive stance”. The Indian government is acutely aware that it will not win the next general elections (next year) on the back of Hindu nationalism. With the Babri Masjid episode and the Gujarat violence these are all signs to the Indian masses that Hindutva is not the answer. Craving for recognition on the international stage and being enticed with a seat on the security council the US has deployed many styles to uproot the idea of Hindu nationalism and replace this with a more reserved approach within India.