archive: 'Humiliating' deal puzzles Pak media
'Humiliating' deal puzzles Pak media
UNI
Rediff on Net
July 6, 1999
Title: 'Humiliating' deal puzzles Pak media
Author: UNI
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: July 6, 1999
Puzzled Pakistani newspapers today called on the government to explain
what Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief agreed to do in Kashmir in his
weekend talks with US President Bill Clinton.
''The joint statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief and President
Clinton, as released by the White House, is likely to leave many in
Pakistan bewildered,'' The Nation newspaper said.
The agreement said Pakistan would take 'concrete steps' to restore the
Line of Control, which, US officials said, meant that Islamabad would
pull back forces which captured strategic Indian heights in its Kargil
sector.
Editorials asked if this meant pulling out Mujahideen Muslim militant
groups, a reversal of Pakistan's position that it has no influence
over Kashmiri 'freedom fighters'.
''While our government spokesmen will, as usual, try to put all kinds
of spin on this statement, the people have a right to know what the
country has gained and what it has lost,'' said The News.
''Mr Sharief, after all, himself sought a meeting whose outcome, as is
evident from the joint statement, is the very opposite of his stated
objective and recent rhetoric,'' The News editorial said.
Editorials questioned whether Clinton's commitment to take a 'personal
interest' in promoting the resumption of Indo-Pakistani peace talks
would move the 50-year Kashmir dispute any closer to resolution.
''India is not bound to offer any quid pro quo for any pullout
Pakistan might undertake. And there is no provision in the statement
which obliges the US make India offer any quid pro quo. In that sense,
the statement is one-sided,'' said The Nation.
''In other words, if President Clinton too fails, what would Pakistan
have received for its pains? Nothing. In fact, Pakistan would probably
be much worse off than it is now,'' it said.
The News echoed this line: ''It is plain that the joint statement
places obligations on Pakistan to take concrete steps but hardly
commits the US to promote a solution of the Kashmir dispute.
''Reaffirming the sanctity of the Line of Control as the way to defuse
the current fighting is an unmistakable affirmation of the position
taken by the Indians throughout two months of the Kargil crisis,'' it
said.
''The government must also explain why the prime minister needed to go
all the way to Washington, amid unprecedented international pressure
on Islamabad, just to commit himself to taking steps without securing
any commitment that the larger issue of Kashmir would be addressed,''
The News said.
The Nation commented, ''The point to ponder for our policy-makers in
Islamabad is: why was the Kargil initiative taken in the first place,
if it has to be abandoned in such a hasty and humiliating manner?''
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