The onus for changing this state of affairs rests with Pakistan since India has not cast its identity, nor does it think of its own destiny, in anti-Pakistan terms. Unfortunately many in Pakistan continue to view their own country’s identity, and its destiny, as inimical to India. This anti-India attitude is deeply ingrained in its military set-up as weak as its religious establishment. On this prejudice rests a wholly mistaken notion about India’s perceived weaknesses, making some in Pakistan believe that they can wrest Kashmir by bleeding India through a thousand cuts. This will never happen.

On the contrary, as all right-minded people in Pakistan realise, Pakistan itself will have to pay a heavier price if it continues in this misadventure. For too long, many of its leaders have deluded themselves by claming that Jammu and Kashmir is the ‘unfinished business of Partition’ and thereby justifying Pakistan’s continued meddling in the affairs of the state. This delusion, which Musharraff exhibited in Agra by describing Pakistan-backed terrorism in Kashmir as indigenous ‘freedom struggle’ is counter productive. In this sense, Pakistan today stands at a critical crossroads. It must make the right choice for its own good, and for the larger benefit of South Asia.

I believe that the socio political constituency in Pakistan for peaceful and friendly relations with India had considerably expanded in recent years. We in India have to work closely with this constituency, by shedding some of the anti-Pakistan prejudiced that have got accumulated over the years a s a reactive response. But, as I have said earlier, the absolute precondition for any fundamental transformation in India-Pakistan relationship is a decisive decimation of terrorism, fuelled by religious extremism on the one has and state-sponsorship on the other, in Pakistan itself. Once that happens, the two countries can consider an array of creative solutions to the long-standing problems between us, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.’