Pakistan's Spoilt Broth

NO one in Islamabad could have imagined that the British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, would back out so quickly from the mediation offer on Kashmir that he made here. Surely he was aware that the Indian media would pick up the statement even before his arrival in New Delhi. So why all this fuss about backtracking on an issue that Labour has been very vocal about even before reaching 10 Downing Street?

바카라 웹사이트"Let us not forget that, as Napoleon remarked long ago, the British are essentially a 'nation of shopkeepers' and when it comes to choosing between India and Pakistan, they will not hesitate to go for the bigger market. The Labour government may acknowledge the need to do something about Kashmir essentially because of the Kashmiri constituency of many of its MPs," says Inayatullah, a political commentator.

Interestingly, few in Pakistan knew that Robin Cook was going to be included in the Queen's entourage, so it was quite a surprise when he was introduced at a reception the Queen hosted for the Pakistani media. And he was surprisingly forthcoming, though instructions had been issued by the British high commissioner that nothing be reported about the function. Perhaps that accounts for Cook's frank statements on Kashmir, some of which were reported despite the ban.

When asked by this correspondent about his forthcoming meeting with prime minister Nawaz Sharif the next day, he replied: "We will be speaking on all issues including Kashmir." About his meeting with foreign minister Gohar Ayub earlier in the day, a foreign office official emerging from the meeting said: "The British are quite sympathetic to our views on Kashmir."

At the same reception Cook told the Jang, the largest circulated Urdu language newspaper, that "Kashmir would be on the top of my agenda for talks with the Pakistani leadership and I would take up the issue of Kashmir with India as we realise it is our responsibility to resolve this dispute in view of its historical perspective. The Labour Party wishes to solve this problem according to the aspirations of the people of Kashmir and, therefore, the two parties should accept her role in this regard".

Cook also met POK prime minister Sultan Mehmood and said that holding an intra-Kashmiri dialogue would be a useful step in building confidence amongst the parties concerned and in solving the dispute. The Nation reported: "Cook said he would take up the matter with the Indian prime minister and would impress upon him to proceed for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue." The tenor of Cook's discussions with Pakistani officials was similar. The foreign office issued the following statement: "Britain has said that there was no doubt that Kashmir was the main stumbling block in the normalisation of India-Pakistan ties. In his view, it would be difficult to register any progress in the dialogue unless a fair and just solution of the J&K problem was found. He thought that this matter must be resolved in the interest of peace and security of South Asia. He indicated that he would be raising this issue in New Delhi." The rest is history.