Former union Law Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the Indo-Pak relations were in their fifth and the "most dangerous phase".
Demarcating the five phases Jaitley said that the first phase was the phase of accession of the Hindu but secular India with the Muslim dominated Jammu and Kashmir.
"During this phase, the Indian leadership then after signing the instrument of accession created a hurdle in Article 370 for the state due to which the big investors outside the state could not put their money in the state leading to underdevelopment," the senior Bharatiya Janta Party leader said over the 17th death anniversary of Prem Nath Bhat, the function for which was organised by Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust in Jammu. Terrorists had gunned down Bhat, a Kashmiri Hindu, on December 27, 1989.
Jaitley termed according special status to the state as a Herculean blunder on the part of Indian leadership. The second stage, he said, was when the Congress governments at New Delhi played the "politics of opportunism" by arresting the first Prime Minster of Jammu and Kashmir and the state's most towering leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. "Later they handed over the government to the same leader," he said about the National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah.
According to Jaitley, the Indian intelligence and security agencies were caught napping in the third phase when insurgency erupted in the state in late eighties. "Pakistan had failed to win the conventional war against India in Kashmir thrice. So they decided to go for the unconventional war and supported terrorism. It was during this period that the Kashmiri Hindus suffered the most," he said.
{{/usCountry}}According to Jaitley, the Indian intelligence and security agencies were caught napping in the third phase when insurgency erupted in the state in late eighties. "Pakistan had failed to win the conventional war against India in Kashmir thrice. So they decided to go for the unconventional war and supported terrorism. It was during this period that the Kashmiri Hindus suffered the most," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The senior BJP leader said that the entire world opened its eyes to terrorism in the fourth stage. "The stage started initially in 1999 at the time of the Kargil war and later completely after the 9/11 in 2001. During this stage India was able to internationalise cross-border terrorism. Previously Pakistan used to internationalise the human rights issues in Kashmir whenever the Kashmir issue came up," he added.
However, Jaitley feels that the present stage, the fifth one, is most dangerous for New Delhi. "Back channel diplomacy with Islamabad is going to be disastrous for us," he said adding New Delhi was giving up to the Pakistan president's formulas on Kashmir during this stage.
"Musharaff's idea of joint mechanism on Kashmir is coming up, which is a complete surrender," Jaitley said.
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