Pak’s U-turn on Hurriyat leaders’ release in 2000 ‘surprised’ US

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s ruler Pervez Musharraf and his top diplomats made a U-turn on talks with India after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee released Hurriyat leaders in early 2000 as part of his peace initiatives on Kashmir, according to a declassified US cable.

Washington, September 4

Pakistan’s ruler Pervez Musharraf and his top diplomats made a U-turn on talks with India after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee released Hurriyat leaders in early 2000 as part of his peace initiatives on Kashmir, according to a declassified US cable.

Conversations between top US and Pakistani officials in 2000, before and after release of the All Party Hurriyat Conference leaders, as documented in now some of the declassified cables, reflect that the Pakistani leaders were pleading before the US to use its influence to get Hurriyat leaders released.

And when they were released by Vajpayee, who announced a road map for peace talks with the Kashmiri leaders, the then Clinton Administration sent his top diplomats to Islamabad seeking reciprocal gesture from Pakistan, only to find it having making a U-turn on its promises. In a meeting with the then Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering, the then Pakistani Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq refused to ensure Americans that they would not let terrorists cross the Line of Control (LoC) as part of their push for a complete ceasefire on the LOC.

“Pushed by Under Secretary Pickering about the meaning and ramifications of a “complete ceasefire” – did this mean the GOP (the government of Pakistan) would end infiltration across the LoC? – Haq suggested Pakistan would seek to curtail them in the context of a ceasefire, but quickly added given the length of the border, the GOP could not fully control the LoC. “We cannot assure you of no official support for such incursions,” according to the declassified cable of their meeting.

At the meeting, Pickering expressed concern that after Musharraf had asked then US President Bill Clinton to secure the release of Hurriyat leaders, his foreign secretary was dismissing that move. As per the cable, when Pickering asked Haq for reciprocal gesture from Pakistan after the release of Hurriyat leaders, he dismissed it as nothing has been done by Delhi. — PTI