Natwar to build on Simla deal for peace with Pakistan

The man tipped to be India's new foreign minister reiterated India's stand on the Kashmir issue saying that a durable peace and a forswearing of arms will self-evidently lead to an amicable resolution of the dispute.

"I hope President Musharraf will not keep saying that Kashmir is the core issue," Kunwar Natwar Singh said yesterday.

India, he says, will discuss everything with Musharraf. But said he wants "to build on the 1972 Simla agreement, which emphasises durable peace" and considers "a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir" as part of the larger picture.

The distinction is an important one because Islamabad projects Kashmir as the singlemost important issue dividing India and Pakistan.

At his official residence in New Delhi, he made it clear the new government's top foreign policy priority is Pakistan, and that it has no difficulty in dealing with a military regime in Islamabad. "We can't choose Pakistan's government, just as they can't choose our government; we deal with the government that is in office."

This does not preclude "good relations with civilian politicians" such as former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.

Natwar, a product of Cambridge, where he was befriended by the late E. M. Forster, and former professional diplomat, struck a personal note. He describes how he was India's envoy to Pakistan from 1980-82 and befriended prominent Pakistani families such as the Sumroos, the Bhuttos and the Daultanas. He singled out Pervez Ellahi, chief minister of Pakistan Punjab and Shahryar Khan, who heads Pakistan's Cricket Control Board as "great friends."

Natwar is confident Musharraf will "don civilian clothes". This seems to have been one of the reasons why New Delhi agreed to support the Commonwealth Ministers Action Group's decision to revoke Pakistan's suspension from the Commonwealth.

He says, "We were consulted about this and we told the BJP-headed government to go ahead with it".

He concedes there is currently an upward trend in bilateral relations. "I think the improvement in relations with Pakistan is most welcome and we are supportive of the process – we will carry it forward in all areas."

Natwar's responses suggest there will be no fundamental change in promoting the peace dialogue with Pakistan, but a change of nuance is expected on Iraq and Palestine.

Natwar referred to the "shameful photographs of the maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners" and said India had a duty to speak out as a friend of the United States.