Author: IANS
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 1, 2003
URL: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20031130100939&Page=H&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=%2D100&
Permanent peace would come to Jammu
and Kashmir only after Pakistan's "mischievous designs" were neutralised,
the state's governor said here on Sunday.
"So long Pakistan has the potential
of creating mischief in Kashmir, prospects of peace are grim," Lieutenant
General (retd) S.K. Sinha said.
"Something needs to be done to reduce
this mischief and that would happen only if Pakistan disintegrates due
to its own internal problems or there is an economic collapse in that country
like in the former Soviet Union," he said while speaking on the "Current
Situation in Jammu and Kashmir" at an Indian Army base here.
According to him the U.S. had compelled
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf "to change his stand" and that is why
Islamabad had proposed a ceasefire in Kashmir that had come into effect
November 25.
"Both external and internal pressures
forced Pakistan to go for a ceasefire," he contended.
At the same time, he warned there
would be no let up in the vigil against infiltration into Kashmir.
"We will not open fire expect when
we come across infiltrators from across the border and if that happens
the situation can escalate and jeopardise the fragile peace," Sinha said.
Sinha said the people of Kashmir
were "tired of violence" and craved for peace in the region.
"The problem in Kashmir is a complex
one with international interventions and religious fundamentalist forces
of its worst kind complicating matters."
The governor said a series of development
and confidence-building measures had been undertaken by the Indian government
to restore peace in Kashmir.
"We have launched a three-pronged
strategy - a coordinated security offensive, psychological initiatives
and economic development schemes to win the hearts of the Kashmiris," Sinha
said.
Among the economic measures were
jobs for 100,000 Kashmiri youth, tube wells for 100,000 farmers and a mega
railway project linking the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India.
"We are working on these projects
under a special policy called Vision 2007," the governor said.
