Author: Hamid Mir
Publication: Mid Day
Date: June 4, 2002
Diplomats in Islamabad were expecting
General Pervez Musharraf to announce a ceasefire in his speech on May 27.
Government circles close to the general were also giving indications to
the foreign media that a big story was about to break.
On the other hand, there was panic
in Muzaffarabad where leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and commanders
of many jihadi organisations were under the impression that Musharraf was
being pressurised by America to desert Kashmiris if he wanted to save Pakistan
from an Indian attack.
Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain
Ahmad, stationed in Islamabad for a week, was very worried over reports
that the Pakistan Army had started stopping mujahideen from crossing the
Line of Control into the valley in Azad Kashmir. He was planning to contact
all other religious and political parties to launch a countrywide movement
against Musharraf for selling Kashmir. A day before the speech, Qazi told
this columnist that Musharraf was pressurising his party to support him
on the ceasefire issue, but he added that he had refused to oblige.
Some close aides of Musharraf held
an emergency meeting with the Hurriyat and jihadi leaders a few hours before
the speech. It was proposed that Musharraf would announce a ceasefire on
behalf of the Pakistan Army and after sometime the United Jihad Council
would announce a ceasefire on behalf of the mujahideen in Kashmir. But
the proposal annoyed the jihadi commanders. "We will not drink or eat anything
in this meeting as protest," they declared. In this tense situation, only
one leader from the Hurriyat, Mir Tahir Masood, supported the idea of ceasefire.
Mir Tahir is the representative of Maulvi Abbas Ansari, a Shia leader from
the Kashmir valley. But the Shia militant outfit, Hizbul Momenin, opposed
the ceasefire.
The meeting organisers tried their
best to convince the chairman of the United Jihad Council, Syed Salahuddin,
who is also the chief commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, but in vain.
Salahuddin, in a state of sheer anger kept repeating: "You are pushing
us into another Tora Bora and Kunduz. They will butcher our boys after
the ceasefire." The organisers tried to pacify him saying that the international
community would guarantee that India wouldn't persecute the mujahideen
after the ceasefire, but they could not convince him. "What happened after
we announced a ceasefire in July 2000? They tried to create differences
among us and also killed two out of the five commanders who had announced
the ceasefire," Salahuddin told them.
The organisers informed the jihadis
that America was accusing Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism;
therefore, the commanders had to take care of Pakistan also. But the argument
infuriated all the Kashmiri leaders and commanders. "We are fighting for
Pakistan. We love Pakistan. We know the people of Pakistan are not with
you, they are with us. We will go to them. If they support the ceasefire,
then it's okay, we will commit suicide at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore,"
they responded furiously.
It was a revolt-like situation.
Three years ago, when Nawaz Sharif announced a ceasefire in Kargil, the
same commanders of the Jihad Council declared him a traitor and enemy of
Kashmiris. They organised rallies and public meetings against him. Now
they were being pressurised to announce a ceasefire in Kashmir without
any homework.
This meeting lasted over six hours.
In the end, Salahuddin asked three questions of his hosts. Was there any
crossborder terrorism in 1983 when India invaded Siachen? Was there any
crossborder terrorism in the Indian state of Gujarat? Why then did Hindus
kill thousands of Muslims there? And why did Bush keep mum on this massacre?
India is not ready to make things easier for us even in the presence of
the UN resolutions. Even after the sacrifices of 80,000 Kashmiris, what
is the guarantee that India will liberate us if we put down our guns?
The hosts were unable to answer
any of these questions. Some commanders said they were ready to leave Azad
Kashmir. They said they would continue their struggle even using stones
as weapons. "But mind it, America and India will treat you like Palestinians
and Musharraf will be no different from Yasser Arafat. One day, they will
force you to give up your nuclear weapons." These hard-hitting remarks
were enough to end the meeting. After the meeting, many Kashmiri commanders
decided to leave Pakistani territory and reach Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
They are planning to organise disgruntled Muslim youth against India not
with the help of Pakistan but with the help of Kashmiris living in the
West.
After some hours, Musharraf was
on television with some old commitments: "Our territory will not be used
for terrorism in any part of the world." There was nothing new in his speech
except for the election date and the confession that some irregularities
were committed in the referendum and that he was sorry for that.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
is trying to arrange a one-to-one meeting between Musharraf and Vajpayee
in Kazakhstan. Musharraf is not ready to come back with another 'Tashkent
agreement'. Thirty-six years ago, a Pakistan military dictator General
Ayub had signed an agreement with Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
in Tashkent.
Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
opposed the agreement because he was not ready to compromise on Kashmir.
Bhutto was sacked after the Tashkent agreement was signed. A mass movement
was launched against General Ayub. The Pakistan People's Party was the
outcome of this movement, and after some time, the military dictator was
asked by other army generals to step down in national interest. Another
military dictator, General Yahya Khan, replaced the previous dictator in
1969, who lost the war against India in 1971.
One can hope that Musharraf will
not provide any opportunity to his political opponents to launch another
movement in the name of another Tashkent agreement. It is difficult for
him to adopt a softer attitude towards India, as both Musharraf and Vajpayee
are standing on the point of no return, and that's why the war threat still
looms large.
