LONDON, March 10: In a break from the past, the new Labour Government in Britain has said it was not for ``imposing any solution on Kashmir from outside'' and endorsed the ``crucial importance'' of ongoing bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan for resolution of the issue.``The Labour government has no property rights or any claims to resolution of the issue,'' British Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Derek Fatchett told a meeting here last night. ``It is ridiculous to claim we are in favour of imposing any solution from outside,'' he said.
Fatchett's remarks assume significance in the background of the Labour's national executive resolution passed in 1995, when the party was in opposition, in which it had stressed on ``imperial legacy'' to its claim for a role in resolving the Kashmir issue.
However, at the meeting organised by the Next Century Foundation, a West Asian think tank, the British Minister parried a direct question on how the Labour Government could equatethe 1948 UN resolutions and the Simla Agreement on Kashmir keeping their diverse thrusts.
He clarified the Labour Government had no ``magic formula'' or ``master plan"''on Kashmir.
Fatchett also agreed with the assessment of the gathered intelligentsia from the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan that it was time New Delhi and Islamabad ``highlighted mutualities'' to arrive at ``a 1998 solution to Kashmir and not look back 50 or 20 years back,'' an obvious pointer to 1948 UN resolutions and 1972 Simla Pact respectively.
``Indeed, we might have to refer back to the comfort of the history. But the impetus should be on highlighting common interest and a will to constructively disengage from military confrontation,'' Fatchett said.
He counselled that before grappling with the major contentious issue of Kashmir, both India and Pakistan should first pave the way for it by Confidence Building Measures. ``It would be better if both the parties involved did not come to the negotiating table with pre-conceivedjudgements, but to encourage meaningful talks,'' he said. Fatchett claimed there were three parties involved in the Kashmir issue- India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir-and it would be proper to involve the people of the state in any negotiations.
He build upon the issue at the meeting saying it had become an issue for British politicians like ``walking on the edge'' and being wary of facing egg shells. ``With a large population of people of South Asian origin, it has inevitably become a British political agenda,'' he said. ``We do not want to be arrogant to impose our ideas and we do not want to be accused of any new form of imperialism. We would like a solution which satisfies all the parties concerned,'' he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
