Musharraf offers 'positive' Kashmir proposal

He stressed on the need to identify the regions, de-militarise them and to change their status as an independent territory.

Indian analysts are not impressed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's latest proposals for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute but some say there are "some positive elements" in it.

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Musharaf, at an iftar party he hosted for editors of Pakistani newspapers on Monday, said that insisting on a plebiscite or making the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan a permanent border could not solve the Kashmir issue.

Any such solution has to be based on three points, Musharraf said. First, we will have to identify the regions, de-militarise them and in the third stage change their status as an independent territory or place it under joint control or UN mandate, he said.

An analyst, familiar with the thinking of the Indian government, said Musharraf's proposal had "some positive points" like dropping the plebiscite issue that had been the burden of Pakistan's five-decade-old position on Kashmir.

"Pakistan is realising that the positions it held on Kashmir are no longer sustainable or practical. They are moving away, but they still have a long way to go," the analyst said on condition of anonymity.

SK Lambah, a former envoy to Pakistan, said Musharraf's proposal was a rehash of several old ones and it was unlikely to find favour in New Delhi.