UK panel debates situation in Kashmir

London: The international community does have a role in defusing tension in Kashmir and an India-Pakistan dialogue could help arrive at a solution akin to the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, which allows a level of free exchange on both sides of the border, according to strategic experts.
Sir Mark Lyall Grant, National Security Advisor to former British Prime Ministers Theresa May and David Cameron as well as a former Representative of the UK at the UN, lamented the “missed opportunity” of such a solution during the talks between former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2001.
“The political stars never quite aligned but a solution similar to the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement, with a soft border allowing locals to travel freely from one part of Kashmir to the other, will have to be the outcome of any peaceful solution,” he noted.
During a panel discussion entitled ‘The Cost to Britain of the Kashmir Crisis: Is There a Solution?’, organised by strategic advisory group CTD Advisors at Chatham House in London on Thursday.
Indian, Pakistani and British experts had a lively exchange against the backdrop of India’s revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. (PTI)