Solution For Kashmir

May, 30(KMW): Only 2 per cent of the people in Jammu & Kashmir want to be part of Pakistan. As much has been revealed by a first-of-its-kind survey that interviewed 3,774 inhabitants on both sides of the Loc. The study not only comes as a significant blow to hardliner Kashmiri separatists, but also makes the question of holding a plebiscite irrelevant. The survey also says that 58 per cent of Kashmir is willing to accept the Loc as a permanent soft border if it could enable a great degree of people-to-people contact and trade. Only 8 per cent voted against making the current LOC a permanent boundary. These are precisely the lines on which New Delhi and Islamabad had been working to resolve Kashmir when President Musharraf was in power, according to revelations made by Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, who was foreign minister under Musharraf. According to Kasuri, 90 per cent of the spadework had been done on a Kashmir deal. This was before political turmoil in Pakistan, and then 26/11, interrupted the process. Squaring Kasuri's revelations with the poll conducted by a reputed international think tank - the London-based Chatham House - a solution for one of the biggest issues between India and Pakistan is within reach. There's plenty of reason for optimism here, as the evidence suggests that earlier talks between India and Pakistan had been on the right track. A template is already available for resolving Kashmir should New Delhi and Islamabad pick up from where they left off earlier. That's what they urgently need to do, putting the baggage of history behind them.