PM's K plan

India is resurrecting PM Manmohan Singh’s vision for a Kashmir solution—no redrawing of boundaries but making them “irrelevant” by encouraging cross-LoC trade and movement of people. This was part of the peace process during the Musharraf years (2004-2008), which stopped abruptly after the Mumbai attacks For the first time, India put a stamp of approval on the “complex negotiations and unsung efforts” on a Kashmir “solution” that was the subject of deep discussions in the “back channel” for three years until Pervez Musharraf’s troubles overwhelmed him in 2007.
Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said, “We have to reaffirm the progress made through complex negotiations and dialogue through patient and unsung effort whether in the composite dialogue or back channel diplomacy, during this period. We must seek creative solutions.” In a significant speech before the next round of talks with Pakistan in July, Rao addressed the Jammu & Kashmir issue as well as Pakistan’s major issues with India. She told delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India at a think tank here that India wanted to “build” on the “progress made based on the common understanding that boundaries could not be redrawn but we could work towards making them irrelevant; and people on both sides of the LoC should be able to move freely and trade with one another”.
The four-year-old peace process saw a “number of cross-LoC CBMs—opening of five crossing points on the LoC; introduction of triple entry permits; increase in frequency of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot buses; starting of cross-LoC trade on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot routes”, she said.