Time not right to declare line of actual control as international border: US scholar

It is not yet time for the line of actual control between India and Pakistan to be recognised as the international border, says Richard N Haass, chairman of the independent task force which recently compiled the report, New US policy towards India and Pakistan for the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

Haass, who is currently visiting India, was replying to a newsperson’s question whether the Kashmir problem could be resolved on the basis of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's suggestion to convert the LAC into the international border.

The US, he said, had no proposal to offer India and Pakistan on Kashmir or other disputes though it encouraged India and Pakistan to initiate dialogue to improve their relations and resolve differences.

Haass, who served in the Bush administration, lauded India's role in taking many commendable steps to improve its relations with Pakistan. This, he felt, would help in easing tension and set in motion the process of normalisation of relations between the two neighbouring nations.

The Kashmir issue, he said, should be put on the backburner while the two countries take initiatives to improve relations in economic, trade, tourism and investment. Normalisation of relations is possible without resolving the Kashmir issue, he added.

Haass also favoured modifications in the US policy towards India and Pakistan, to arrest their nuclear weapons and missile development programmes.