Kashmir Solution Vital

Publisher and Managing Editor IKRAM SEHGAL wrote these articles for THE NATIONwhich we are re-producing with thanks.

As the star attraction of the WEF 2003 Annual Summit at DAVOS, Former US President Bill Clinton waxed his usual eloquent self. In a late night informal session (a nightcap) with two other former Presidents, Zedillo Ponce de Leon of Mexico and Jose Mario Figueres of Costa Rica in which they “Reflected on the Past” and talked about the “Lessons for Future” they had drawn because of their experience, former US President Bill Clinton said that one of the greatest flashpoints on Earth was “if the Indians and Pakistanis go crazy and start lobbing nuclear bombs at each other”. He said it was not only in the interest of the two nations but of the entire world that the core problem of Kashmir was resolved.
Bill Clinton said that both the countries have not only to evaluate the consequences of conflict but the great economic, political and human benefits of resolution of the problem. He maintained that the BJP leadership must come to terms with their responsibilities to control communal tension and not allow narrow prejudices to spiral into conflict. The former US President said the solution of the core question of Kashmir was vital to peace in South Asia and both sides had to compromise. He felt that though the Pakistani President was hard-pressed by the Afghan situation complicating Pakistan’s domestic scenario, he was a tough and proven leader capable of taking decisions that would not be immediately popular but would be in Pakistan’s long-term interest. He said he was ready to do his part if the US Government asked him to do so and both the sides were amenable to his ideas of “conflict resolution”.