| Omnis Kashmiria in septem partes divisa est... |
In an interview to the CNN, President General Pervez Musharraf has said that there is a scope to divide Kashmir into seven parts. "The parts of Kashmir held by Pakistan and India separately can be divided geographically into seven parts," The News quoted him as saying in Jakarta on the sidelines of the 50th Afro-Asian summit. "Either any specific portion of the Kashmir or its entire area could be declared a non-military zone. The status could be changed afterwards," he added. He further said that whatever the portion be for this purpose, it must be made with consensus between India and Pakistan and he hoped the masses of both countries could accept it. "Deployment of heavy troops on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) is creating problem for the people," he said. Friday's statement assumes significance in the light of an earlier statement made by him on October 25, 2004, when he told select journalists at an Iftar dinner that India and Pakistan should consider the option of identifying some "regions" of Kashmir on both sides of Line of Control, demilitarise them and grant them the status of independence or joint control or under UN mandate. The statement created a controversy and there was a response from India that there would no redrawing of the boundaries. After his talks in New Delhi, President Musharraf stated that there are three main elements as far as the Kashmir issue is concerned -- India's position that there would be no redrawing of the boundaries, Pakistan's position that the LoC cannot be a permanent border and third that the softening of the borders will help, but is not a final solution.