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Pakistan Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz’s attempts to pervert the meaning of the Clinton-Sharif statement to escape Mr Nawaz Sharif’s commitment to withdraw Pakistani troops to their side of the Line of Control are as disingenuous as they are perfidious. For one thing, Mr Aziz’s brave words are meant not so much to be an act of defiance of the US as a desperate ploy to mollify extremist elements within Pakistan.
Taking refuge in the absence of a time-frame in the joint statement for the withdrawal of troops, the Pakistani Foreign Minister has sought to convey the message to militant elements opposed to withdrawal that the government is under no pressure from the US in this regard. Clutching at another straw, Mr Aziz has cited a phrase in the Washington statement which says “the Line of Control be respected by both parties” to indicate that India too had violated the LoC and should withdraw from Siachen glacier. The reference to Siachen is at once illogical and irrelevant. For one thing the joint statement from Washington speaks solely of “the current fighting in the Kargil region of Kashmir”. Having failed to link its violation of the Line of Control with the Kashmir problem as a whole, the Sharif government is now raising bogeys which would make it look ludicrous even in the eyes of its former geo-political patron and guardian.
The Siachen reference is out of place as far as the question of Line of Control is concerned. When the LoC was delineated by mutual agreement in 1972 under the Simla Agreement, both sides agreed that the line on the map ended at Point NJ 9842 beyond which lay the snowy wasteland of Siachen glacier. In 1984 India foiled an attempt by Pakistan to station its own troops along the glacier and placed its troops on the heights. For over 14 years Indian troops have remained there with Pakistan not making much noise about it. The invention of an Indian violation of the LoC in Siachen and its linkage with the Pakistani violation in Kargil are a measure of the Nawaz Sharif regime’s desperation. India has rightly rejected this linkage but it should suit this country if Pakistan were to delay the withdrawal of its troops. It gives India the time and chance to drive the intruders back to the Pakistani side of the LoC by decisive victories on the battlefield. That is a consummation to be devoutly wished for!