When will General Musharraf learn that his interests and Pakistan's prosperity lies not by submissively seeking assistance from the US or China or both but by befriending India and making lasting peace with it? A recent media report said that a survey showed that the number of Pakistanis willing to accept the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir as the international border is on the rise. It is not a substantial rise but an indicative one.

Three years ago, 69 per cent of Pakistanis had rejected the conversion of the LoC to an Indo-Pak border; presently, it seems the percentage has fallen to 58. There is still opposition to the proposal to turn the LoC into an international border but it is equally obvious that slowly but surely Pakistanis are getting fed up with the military government's stand.

Possibly though it is too early to come to a definite conclusion Pakistani civil society is getting weary of the stalemate in Kashmir and the terrible toll on Pakistan's economic, not to speak of the financial drain that is taking the country nowhere. Just the conflict over Siachen has been bleeding both India and Pakistan by several hundred crores of rupees.

In the matter of the LoC, Pakistan was for a long time hostile to the idea of turning it into an international border. But only last year, Musharraf was quoted as saying in an interview that the way Indo-Pak relations are moving, borders between the two countries were "becoming irrelevant".

In a recent interview Musharraf has even gone to the extent of saying that Jammu & Kashmir as existed before partition must be taken as a whole and should be under the joint management of both India and Pakistan.

Musharraf did not exactly spell out what "Joint management" meant or how it was to be practised, except to say that "Joint framework for self-governance should be worked out" and "institutional arrangements" arrived at.

But the question may well be asked: if a united Jammu & Kashmir can be under the joint management of India and Pakistan, what prevents Musharraf from agreeing to a confederation between India and Pakistan in which Jammu & Kashmir becomes an integral part?

All three, Pakistan, India and Jammu & Kashmir can then become eternally one. The three can have all the internal freedom they want, but they could have one defence and one united policy in foreign affairs. There could also be a common current and free movement of people, as in the European Union. That would eliminate interstate struggle for all time and save both India and Pakistan literally trillions of rupees and manpower.

A confederated South Asia can then thumb noses at the entire world. It would probably be the most powerful combination in the world that could stand up against all, including China, the European Union and the United States.

Musharraf does not then have to rush to Beijing seeking support, nor does he have to lick America's feet all the time. As was recently reported in the media, the American offer of 36 F-16 aircraft to Pakistan is a joke. That will explain why India has remained significantly silent on the score.

The truth is that, the F-16s, for all purposes, will remain under US observance. This became apparent during a hearing of the US House International Relations Committee on July 20 when John Hillen, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department was a witness.

During cross examination, Hillen revealed that in agreeing to sell 36 F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, an "unprecedented" Security plan had been mutually agreed upon between Washington and Islamabad.

And what was this Plan? Hillen said: "We've put into the deal that they (Pakistan) must comply with the approved security plans for their F-16s related bases and facilities before we'll release any systems for sale. We will have a US presence to monitor compliance with the security plan requirements, a very enhanced and end-use monitoring programme.

Routine access to F-16 aircraft equipment and munitions is in restricted areas. There is a two-man rule, so to speak, for acess to this equipment and restricted areas and F-16 flights outside of Pakistan must be approved in advance by the United States government". In effect what Hillen was telling the house Committee is that any flight by the F-16 aircraft outside of Pakistan must be aproved by Washington.

Islamabad will have to submit to American controls on how these aircraft are used, despite paying for them! Worse still, according to Hillen, the F-16s will not be able to deliver nuclear weapons. No wonder India has been keeping quiet over the US sale of F-16s to Pakistan. Hillen apparently also made it clear that the US will also have access to Pakistan's strategic sites and will be in a position to monitor as much as three-fourths of Pakistan's air space.

If all this is true and there is no reason to doubt media reports on what Hillen said then Pakistan is wasting its limited resources to purchase F-16s which, if they are to be used, can only be against India which, again, one would presume, the U.S. will not permit.

As one media report said, with the enticing of Pakistan by the US into a security stricture that involves direct intervention by American personnel, India has little to fear. It is against this background that one must ask why Musharraf is not coming to terms with India and agree to an Indo-Pakistan Confederation that will make the purchase of any wasteful war material totally irrelevant.

The benefits to both Pakistan and India under a confederation is unimaginable. Both countries can save billions of dollars, hatred of each other will become a thing of the past, trade and commerce will set the peace balls rolling and in no time South Asia will catch up not only with China but even with the European Union. Muslims will no longer be suspect in international eyes as terrorists.

Indeed, a South Asian Confederation will be held not only in high regard but in even fear. It should also be open to Sri Lanka and Nepal, not to speak of Bangladesh, to join the Confederation.

The LTTE problem would get solved under a confederation, even as the problem of Jammu & Kashmir would. Isn't that something to look forward to, Musharrafbhai?

By now Musharraf should know that no amount of blood-letting and terrorism will get him Jammu & Kashmir. He has sold his and Pakistan's soul to China and the United States. It is time he took it back for the greater glory of his own country and the peace and prosperity of all of South Asia.

As of now he should be ashamed of himself, having permitted himself to be enslaved by the United States.

Courtesy: www.samachar.com