From: gnreddy@cbnewsfatt.com (G.N.Reddy)
Subject: India - Autonomy for Kashmir, peace process gets underway
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 22:15:06 GMT


Source	: News India
Date	: Aug, 28, 1992
Country	: India

* Autonomy For Kashmir

New Delhi: Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao is believed to be willing
to negotiate a settlement on Kashmir that would give the people of the
state far greater autonomy than is guarenteed under Article 370 of the
Indian Constitution, it is reliably learnt.
	Premier Rao has agreed in principle that in case the militants
of the state willing to lay down their arms, greater autonomy within
the frame work of the Indian Constitution could be discussed.
	Sources closer to the Prime Minister revealed that though Rao
has asserted that Kashmir will not leave the Indian Union, he has
given a green signal to make it " a quasi independent region within
the boundaries of India."
	While defense and foreign affairs would be looked after by the
government in New Delhi, the rest could be taken care of by the
Kashmiri people themselves.
	
BJP criticizes the Sell-Out

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which discussed the proposal of
land swap in Kashmir put forward by James C Clad, a senior fellow of
the prestigious Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, criticized
the Narasimha Rao government for "discussing the partition of Jammu
and Kashmir with foreigners".
	In his brief opening remarks at the executive meeting of the
party in Bhopal last week, Dr.Murali Manohar Joshi,  its president,
also criticized the government's move on giving greater autonomy to
the Kashmiris. Dr.Joshi asserted that his party would not allow the
ceding of any part of Kashmir.
	
Government serious on autonomy

While sketchy details are available on the autonomy offered to the
Kashmiris, sources close to the PMO confirmed that they have been
"toying with the idea to defuse the situation in the valley once and
for all."  It seems the prime minister reached this conclusion after
he was presented with an army audit, that reported an expense of Rs 5
crore per day to police in Srinager alone.	
	With hostilities in Siachen also showing no signs of abating,
the burden of the exchequer has been very heavy.
	The cost for the rest of the state would be absolutely
astronomical.  And with the war in Siachin costing the nation well
over Rs 3 crore  day, the premier decided that the best was out of the
whole mess was to make peace.
	It is learnt that feelers have been sent out to various
militant factions in exchange for general amnesty scheme.  While
people in the PMO realize that political parties like the BJP are
likely to oppose the plan, they might just go ahead with it in view of
the costs to the nation.


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