There has been some disquiet in India about the role of Richard Holbrooke, the newly appointed US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many in the Indian establishment had speculated that Holbrooke’s mandate would extend to prodding India and Pakistan to finally solve the dispute over Kashmir which has dogged a solution for nearly six decades. The White House has ruled this out.
Acting White House spokesman Robert Wood clarified Holbrooke’s role, when he said in response to a question on Kashmir, “Well, it’s not in his mandate to deal with the subject of Kashmir. His mandate is to go out and try to help bring stability to Afghanistan, working closely with Pakistan to deal with the situation in the FATA region. With regard to Kashmir, I think our policy is well known. I think India has some very clear views as to what it wants to do vis-à-vis, dealing with the Kashmir issue, as well as the Pakistanis. But with regard to ambassador Holbrooke’s mission is to deal strictly with the Pakistan-Afghanistan situation,’’ the spokesman said.
But despite this, it is unlikely that the new administration will not at some point try to get India and Pakistan to sit down and get the Kashmir issue resolved.
Both Kashmiri separatists and Pakistan will try to get third party interference. In fact, president Asif Zardari, writing an opinion piece in the Washington Post which appeared on Wednesday wrote that ambassador Holbrooke should be roped in for this. “We hope that the special envoy will work with India and Pakistan not only to bring a just and reasonable resolution to the issues of Kashmir and Jammu but also to address critical economic and environmental concerns,” Zardari wrote while comparing Kashmir with Palestine in his piece.
