The issue here is not Kargil, it is Kashmir. Hundreds of Kargils are waiting to explode if the Kashmir issue remains unresolved. India might in the end be able to flush out the mujahideen from hill tops, but can it flush out all the Kashmiris from their land? It is, therefore, fruitless to get caught up in a micro debate about who is to blame for the Kargil flare-up, because this debate misses the larger picture. Western diplomats in Islamabad, often prisoners of their governments' inherent biases, should try and take a dispassionate look at this issue before rushing to narrow and myopic judgments. The world can do itself, and the peoples of Pakistan, India and Kashmir a whole lot of good by stepping in and helping them resolve this issue.

India has queered pitch, ignore it

(From a letter to the editor): This is not the first time that Indians have tabooed playing with Pakistani cricketers. History bears testimony to the fact that cricketing ties betweenthe two countries have been perennially dislocated and revived, because when there are Kapil Devs in Indian cricket there are Gavaskars as well who keep the flag of Indian cricket flying high sans politics and sans Shiv-Senas. For the Pakistani cricketers and the officials managing the cricket affairs in the country the advice to treat the irresponsible and unsporting utterances of their Indian counterparts with the contempt these outbursts deserve and ignore them.

Since war is over, begin jaw-jaw

This disengagement while important in itself because it has averted the risk of war, must form part of a broader process if the underlying cause of tension between India and Pakistan is to be removed. Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz has said that ``a consensus has emerged that immediately after the de-escalation in Kargil, the focus must shift to the expeditious solution of the Kashmir dispute''. The question is: will this hope materialise?

A great deal depends upon how India reads and interprets thedenouement of the Kargil episode and more so the intent and stipulations of the July 4 joint statement. If it draws the conclusion that Pakistan has been humbled and there is not need to reach out for a serious dialogue with it, it will be tempted to take a nonchalant line, paying lip-service to the Lahore Declaration and not really engaging Pakistan in serious dialogue over the future of Kashmir.