The LoC agreement of 2007 deserves a relook

Last Updated23/04/2023

Former Special Envoy Satinder Lambah in his book confirmed that the agreement on LoC in Kashmir, was indeed ready to be signed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & Pakistan President General Musharraf.
But the stand-off with the judiciary that erupted in Pakistan in 2007, and the Mumbai 26/11 attacks in 2008 came in the way, effectively shelving any plans to revive it.

Lambah first referred to the settlement publicly in 2014, while addressing a university audience in Srinagar, making it clear that India would never agree to giving away any territory.
He expanded on the agreement, drawing the progression of the original “4-point solution” to a “14-point set of guidelines” for any settlement between the two countries.
The list hinges on one simple idea that the “Line of Control has to be respected like a normal border between the two countries”.
It is an idea that has stood the test of time, circumstances and radical shifts in the India-Pakistan equation.
Two decades after the process began, nearly everyone involved in the talks from 2003-2008 in India and Pakistan has either passed away, is out of power, or would find it politically inconvenient to discuss a resolution.

India & Pak have reportedly discussed responses that would lead back to quasi-normalcy-restoration of statehood and elections in J&K, reappointment of High Commissioners & restoration of visas & ties.
These would include initiatives such as the Kartarpur Corridor, with Home Minister hinting this month that a “Sharda Peeth Corridor” across to the temple in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Neelum Valley is being thought of.
The next step would be to revisit the nearly-ready agreement of 15 years ago, that was legally vetted.
One of the big changes from then to now was New Delhi’s moves on August 5, 2019 (revoking J&K’s special status and Statehood), which led Pakistan to snap trade and travel links and recall High Commissioners.

Article 370: A temporary provision, and diluted over the decades, was never recognised by Pakistan.
Article 35(A): Redefined permanent residents of the State, has had little to no effect in changing demography thus far.
Gender parity in property inheritance: Implemented in 2002, when the J&K High Court ruled against the provision taking away property rights of women who married outside the State.
Downgrading the State to a Union Territory: Planned to be reversed, according to the government, once elections are held.

Despite the precariousness of the situation within J&K, the LoC has been more or less stable for more than half a century.
Any military operation by either India or Pakistan to reclaim the other side is unlikely to make much headway, and would undoubtedly unravel more than just the boundary between them.
While Pakistani politicians have been heavily opposed to accepting any “status quo” solution to Kashmir, Pakistan’s own internal crises (political and economic) ensure that it is on a weak wicket.
It is the threat to India from China at the Line of Actual Control that is more likely to continue to be India’s bigger challenge; and as a result, India’s need for a more stable LoC grows.

The residents of J&K deserve a chance to prosper without the constant overhang of war and a proxy war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Revisiting the non-territorial near-agreement LoC of a decade-and-a-half ago is eventually the only way forward, regardless of how much time goes by, how much water flows in the Indus, or how many lives are lost before both sides deem it necessary to do so.