More India-Pakistan
I have been spending lots of time recently at the National Archives, so I just yesterday saw the interviews with Musharraf and Vajpayee conducted by the Washington Post. There is also an interview with the English Independent as well. I am really curious what the two of these guys are up to. For example, Musharraf, in this interview, now says that he never promised to stop infiltrations permanently. He says there is a "freedom struggle" going on in Kashmir. He is right, or rather, he was right. There was a legitimate freedom struggle in the early 1990's, and India must come up with a satisfactory political solution to fulfill its obligations to its people. Vajpayee on the other hand is talking about free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir state, and, in addition, economic development strategies for the state. This seems to be unsatisfactory for Musharraf, b/c it seems the Pakistani position (at least for Musharraf) is that since Kashmir is "disputed" elections should not happen there. Seeing Vajpayee's interview, shows that India is willing to engage in dialogue, but not as a quid pro quo for the temporary stopping of incursions. There seems to be the beginnings of an article here. Nevertheless, the interviews are a must read to get a better perspective on the whole thing.

posted by sajit @ 9:21 AM