Kashmir solution up to India and Pakistan: China

FE Team | Published: November 25, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BEIJING, Nov 24 (Reuters): India and Pakistan should solve the Kashmir dispute between themselves, China said on Tuesday, after Kashmir's main separatist alliance said Beijing had a role to play in the long-running territorial feud.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said last week that China has a stake in peace in South Asia, and Kashmir in particular, because part of the disputed region is under Beijing's control.
"I believe that China is not a party to the Kashmir conflict, but it has stakes as far as peace in the region is concerned," said Farooq, who also said he planned to visit China soon.
The Conference brings together organisations opposed to Indian control of parts of Kashmir, which is claimed in full by Pakistan.
Asked about Farooq's comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang gave no suggestion that his government wants to take up the call to become involved, a step that would certainly anger India.
"Our stance on the Kashmir issue has been consistent, that this is an issue between India and Pakistan left over by history," Qin told a regular news conference.
"We hope that India and Pakistan bilaterally can appropriately resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue and consultation."
Qin's comments were in line with China's past statements on Kashmir, and they suggested Farooq's comments would not open the way to deeper involvement by Beijing.
India is generally wary of China, which has long been a close backer of Pakistan, and Farooq's comments could stir worry in Delhi that Beijing is seeking a bigger role in the Kashmir dispute.
Meanwhile : Last year's Mumbai attacks ruptured a hopeful peace dialogue between arch-foes India and Pakistan and thrust their relations back into a bitter impasse that neither side seems able to break.
Relations between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, which have fought three wars since 1947, have always been fraught, but a peace process launched in early 2004 had significantly lowered tensions-most notably over the disputed region of Kashmir.
That all ended abruptly with the attacks last November by 10 gunmen from a Pakistan-based militant group on multiple targets in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead and prompted India to suspend the dialogue with its neighbour.
The attacks "shattered a relative calm", said analyst C. Uday Bhaskar, head of the National Maritime Foundation.
India has insisted it will not resume talks until Pakistan brings those connected to the attacks to book and clamps down on militant groups operating from its side of the border.
The Mumbai gunmen were believed to be members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit which India says is nurtured by sections of the Pakistani establishment.
India is no stranger to militant violence, but the scale and focus of the Mumbai attacks, which targeted landmark five-star hotels in the country's financial capital, stunned the entire country.
Top leaders from both countries have since met several times on the sidelines of regional conferences, but there has been little progress towards normalisation.