Pakistan and India need people-centric policies

India and Pakistan will have to move from state-centric approaches for resolution of the Kashmir dispute to some people-centric approaches. This was observed by Dr Shaheen Akhtar, a senior research analyst, during a roundtable discussion held here at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) on Wednesday. He was of the opinion that with the change in the regional and global realities, a military solution to Kashmir had become obsolete. He said this during a roundtable discussion at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) on Wednesday, according to a press statement issued here. She said the economic and energy needs of India and Pakistan as well as the global redefinition of the concept of security in favour of human security had compelled the two countries to hold peace talks. She added that the pressures of increasing population and the need for economic and energy security had gradually pushed Pakistan towards normalisation of its relations with India. Dr. Akhtar said the Kashmiri leadership had also expressed its willingness towards accepting an alternative solution acceptable to India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiris, which, she said, was beyond their long-held position on right to self-determination.
She said India and Pakistan had come a long way from their stated positions on Kashmir like the “jugular vein” and “integral part” to “human security and development”. She hailed Pakistani leadership for showing the courage towards redefining Pakistani narrative on the Kashmir dispute after the resumption of the Composite Dialogue in 2004. Dr Akhtar regretted the fact that Pakistan’s bold initiatives on Kashmir during Musharraf era were not fully reciprocated in the same spirit by India. Foreign policy analyst, BA Malik, said Pakistan’s Kashmir policy was out of sync with its domestic realities, and that the decision-makers needed to have a serious rethink of its policy towards India in general and on Kashmir in particular. He suggested that Pakistan could compromise on a slow progress on the Kashmir dispute for the dividends that would ensure peace with India. He said that peace instead of Kashmir was the core issue for Pakistan.
Agreeing with Amb Malik, defence analyst, Lt Gen (retd) Saleem Haider, said India was an emerging economy in the world and that the way forward for Pakistan would be to benefit from the growth of India. Mr. John Hill, the deputy political counsellor at the US embassy, said that the US would welcome any proposals from Pakistan for a role it could play for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute. He cautioned, however, that in the past their role had also proved counter-productive “on some occasions”. Mr Pierre Mayaudon, the deputy head of the EU delegation in Islamabad, appreciated the progress towards normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan.