The Hindu : Front Page : "We do not know what the General wants"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 14, 2005

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"We do not know what the General wants"

Harish Khare

National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's upcoming visit to India.

M.K. Narayanan: "We are not afraid of discussion."

"On the table, Pakistan has produced very few proposals on Kashmir. We remain unsure what the General Saheb wants," says the National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, just a few days before the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi for talks with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Narayanan pointed out "the Pakistani President has not come out openly to suggest A, B, C. He keeps talking in broad terms of the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Does he know what the people of Jammu and Kashmir want?"

Mr. Narayanan has in recent weeks emerged as a key foreign policy voice and played a crucial role in the just-concluded India-China dialogue. His views reflect the wider optimistic weariness about the Musharraf visit in the Manmohan Singh Government.

In fact, once the date of Gen. Musharraf's visit got firmed up and it became obvious that he had more than cricket on his mind, Satish Lamba, the unofficially designated (and, therefore, unacknowledged) "envoy" for back-channel talks with Pakistan, was sent to Dubai to find out from Gen. Musharraf's envoy, Tariq Aziz, what precisely his leader wanted to discuss in New Delhi. Mr. Aziz is believed to have promised to let New Delhi know before Gen. Musharraf arrives.

"We are not afraid of discussions, though the Prime Minister has already laid down the parameters: no change of boundaries," caveats Mr. Narayanan. He believes that "India has displayed maximum trust." And if the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad is any index, "we have made major concessions."

New Delhi is in the same mood as it was on the eve of the first Manmohan Singh-Pervez Musharraf dialogue in Hotel Roosevelt in New York last October. "Expect neither a dramatic breakthrough nor a break-down," is the preferred one-liner.

On the possibility of a dialogue with the leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mr. Narayanan is unambiguous: "If they want to meet the Prime Minister, it would be possible. If they are willing, we are available." But he says "they keep saying they want to meet the Prime Minister, but then nothing happens. We presume there are pressures on them" and they must act as per their "instructions."

In other words, there is a willingness to engage with the Hurriyat leadership but not as long as it chooses to act as if it "is acting at the total behest of Pakistan." Mr. Narayanan adds that for anyone to insist that the APHC is the "sole representative" or "the answer" would not help matters. "We are not even sure what their demands are, what they do want," he adds.

For instance, there was so much talk of Pakistan wanting them [the Hurriyat leaders] on the inaugural Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, but "they did not even apply [for bus permit]."

The only area where Mr. Narayanan saw the possibility of Pakistan's professed concerns getting accommodated was in the matter of the size of the security presence in Jammu and Kashmir. "If the level of violence comes down, and if the infiltration remains low — and we will know only when the snow melts — then the level of Indian forces can come down."

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