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Roundup: Indian Ruling Party Shows Signs of Stand Change onKashmir Issue
Initial signs showed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might give up its consistent policy on the disputed Kashmir and adopt a realistic stand if and when New Delhi sits down for talks with Islamabad.
Senior BJP leaders hinted recently that the line of control in the Kashmir valley could be converted into, as a first step, a line of actual control and eventually make it as an international border between the two neighbors.
The BJP insisted in the past that not an inch of land could be given away and that Pakistan should first vacate the land it occupied in Kashmir in 1948, one year after Britain promulgated " Mountbatten Plan" which divided India into both India and Pakistan.
All political parties in India have been bound by a parliamentary resolution adopted unanimously in early 1990s, which stated that "the whole Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inseparable part of India."
However, as the first sign of stand change, Chief Minister in India-controlled Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, has of late openly talked about a possible resolution in the disputed area by accepting the line of control as an international border.
Last Sunday, a spokesman of the hard-line Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), or Association of National volunteers which is part of the 24-party BJP-led coalition government, suggested that this conception could become the basis of talks with Pakistan.
The RSS view is a complete somersault from its previous stance that based on its pet theory of a pre-partition India.
And on Monday, BJP Vice President Jana Krishnamurthi was no- committal when asked for his comments on the RSS statement while in the past the BJP would have rejected such a suggestion as anti- national.
On the much-talked talks with Pakistan, Krishnamurthi said the two sides had not yet reached the stage of talks "as violent incidents are still taking place," and "talks can be held when all violence stops."
However, he added, when the two countries sit down for talks, they would have to be comprehensive though he saw a long and uneasy process towards peace in Kashmir.
Another senior BJP leader, J. P. Maghur, admitted that time does not stand still and views of parties on Kashmir also change.
When asked about his comments on the RSS suggestion, he responded indirectly by saying "in politics nothing is static."
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