NEW DELHI, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A senior member of the nationalist BJP Party argues that India "frittered away a historic opportunity" for a Kashmir settlement at the end of the 1971 war.
In a statement to mark the 35th anniversary of the war between India and Pakistan that ended with the creation of Bangladesh, former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said 90,000 captured Pakistani soldiers could have been used as a bargaining chip, the Press Trust of India reported.
"It was the biggest surrender since World War II. Had the Indian government of the day used this advantage in summit talks with Pakistan in Shimla in 1972, the Kashmir issue could have been solved once and for all," he said.
Kashmir remains divided between India, Pakistan and China almost half a century after the partition of the Indian subcontinent, although India does not recognize the other country's territories.
