U.S. and Kashmiri 'self-determination'

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, DEC. 10. All those in Pakistan and Kashmir who have long held that America strongly supports ``self-determination'' for the Kashmiri people might do well to read a recent article on the subject by Mr. Strobe Talbott, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.

Writing in the well-known journal, Foreign Policy, Mr. Talbott discusses the many struggles for separate nationhood all across the world from Aceh in Indonesia to Quebec in Canada. He goes on to outline the broad principles that must guide U.S. approach to seccssionist demands anywhere. Interestingly, in his tour d'horizon of the politics of ``self-determination'', Mr. Talbott choose not to refer at all to Jammu and Kashmir, which has nurtured one of the oldest movements for separatism. There may be good diplomatic reasons for Mr. Talbott's silence.

Any American reference to the ``K word'', however innocuous, sends the Indian foreign policy establishment into a tizzy, kindling the darkest fears of a suspected American conspiracy to create an independent Kashmir. American mention of J & K also dramatically raises expectations in Pakistan of an American intervention to ``liberate'' Kashmir.

Looking beyond his silence on Kashmir, Mr. Talbott's new principles on dealing with self-determination and secession should come as a big relief to the Indian side and deeply disappoint Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists.

The first among the three points Mr. Talbott makes is about the tension between the ideas of independence and interdependence. Conceding that the search for separate national identity has become a powerful impulse in the post-Cold War world, Mr. Talbott argues that the ``rise of interdependence among states offers a remedy for conflicts within states that is better than secession.'' The U.S. should try to ``combine the promotion of democracy on the part of the central government with an effort to help would-be breakaway areas benefit from cross-border economic development and political cooperation.''

Second, the U.S. aim must be to ``remake the politics'' of a particular region, rather than ``redraw the map''. Mr. Talbott says there is no sense in ``splitting up large, repressive, or failed states into small, fractious mini-states that are neither economically nor politically viable.'' Instead, he says, the U.S. must ``define and apply the concept of self-determination in a way that is conducive to integration and not to disintegration.''

And finally, Mr. Talbott comes up with the core principle on self-determination. ``On the one hand, international borders should not be changed be force - either by wars of aggression or by wars of secession; on the other hand, governments have a responsibility not just to defend the territorial integrity of the state but to establish and preserve the civic integrity of the population.''

India should have no problems with Mr. Talbott's formulations and their application to J & K; and if the American message gets across clearly to those nurturing ambitions of separation in Pakistan and in Kashmir, a way should open for a reasonable resolution of the Kashmir conflict. The elements of such a settlement can only be formalisation of the de facto partition of Jammu and Kashmir; promotion of trans-border cooperation that will overcome the partition, and encouragement to democracy and good governance on both sides of the border.

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The departure of the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, along with his family, to Saudi Arabia this morning leaves all the three top political leaders of that nation in exile. Ms. Benazir Bhutto, chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, and Mr. Altaf Hussain, boss of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, are already in London.

In the coming weeks, Pakistani media will debate the implications of the deal between General Pervez Musharraf and the Sharif which apparently was brokered by one of the members of the Saudi royal family. It was well known that Mr. Sharif had developed very close personal ties with the Saudi princes as well as the Sheikhs of the United Arab Emirates. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE had reportedly been pressing Gen. Musharraf over the last one year to spare the life of Mr. Sharif.

For India, the Saudi involvement reveals the extraordinary influence Riyadh has come to acquire in Pakistan over the decades. It may be recalled that during the Kargil conflict, the Saudis worked along with the Americans to get Mr. Sharif to agree to an unconditional withdrawal of his forces from across the Line of Control. When Mr. Sharif signed the July 4 agreement with the U.S. President, Mr. Biu Clinton, in Washington, the Saudis were there to hold Mr. Sharif's hand and give him the much needed political cover to accept defeat in Kargil.

The restraining influence of Saudi Arabia over Pakistan, which is in danger of becoming a radical Islamic state, is of considerable interest to India. It is not for nothing that India has begun to reach out to the Saudi Kingdom. Mr. Jaswant Singh, New Delhi's top diplomat, is heading for Riyadh next month in what will be the first ever visit by an Indian Foreign Minister in decades.

There was a lot of needless speculation about the Saudis' motives asking for a postponement of Mr. Singh's visit in October. The reason was simple enough - new tensions in West Asia and a hurriedly convened summit of the Arab nations. Riyadh came back very quickly with alternative dates and is said to be very keen on making Mr. Singh's visit as a first step towards a new engagement between to nations.

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Improving relations with China is now at the top of India's diplomatic agenda. The visit by the Chinese leader, Mr. Li Peng, next month is the highest political level visit to India since the relations between the two countries went into a deep chill after New Delhi's nuclear tests in May 1998.

The President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan's visit to Beijing last May broke the political ice. And the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, came here in July with a framework for re- engagement. Since then the two sides had a productive discussion on the boundary question, in which they formally exchanged maps of the contested border for the first time since they fought each other in 1962.

Mr. Li is a former Prime Minister and currently heads the Chinese Parliament. He is coming here at the invitation from both the Vice- President, Mr. Krishan Kant, and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi.

Sources here say the high-profile visit by Mr. Li, second in the Chinese political hierarchy, would mean that the proposed visit by the Prime Minister, Mr. Zhu Rongji, will have to be delayed until the end of the next year. Mr. Zhu, who ranks No. 3, was originally expected to come in March. The Chinese decision on Mr. Li's visit was a surprise, and it is said that Beijing does not usually send their top-ranking leaders in quick succession to one country.

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