India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (R)shakes hands with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf after making a joint statement in New Delhi April 18, 2005. Declaring their peace process irreversible, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan agreed on Monday to open up the heavily militarised frontier dividing Kashmir, capping a successful visit by Musharraf. [Reuters] (Photo from China Daily)Secret India-Pakistan Talks Cited -- Washington Post
Journalist's Account Says Three-Year Kashmir Initiative Failed
India and Pakistan engaged in nearly three years of secret, high-level talks that narrowly missed achieving a historic breakthrough in the countries' decades-old conflict over Kashmir, according to an account set for publication today.
The negotiations, which began in 2004, produced the outlines of an accord that would have allowed a gradual demilitarization of the disputed Himalayan province, a flash point in relations between the rivals since 1947. The effort stalled in 2007, and the prospects for a settlement were further undermined by deadly terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November, the report said.
Read more ...
My Comment: The money quote in this article is the following:
The attempt ultimately failed, not because of substantive differences, Coll writes, but because declining political fortunes left Pakistan's then-president, Pervez Musharraf, without the clout he needed to sell the agreement at home.
From my experience with Pakistan this makes sense. The culture and society is vehemently anti-Indian. The education system, the media .... all the components that shapes how a society thinks and reacts .... all of them have made it impossible for any Pakistani leader to approach the idea of peace with India.
Until the culture/education/and news media altitudes towards Indians and non-Muslims changes in Pakistan, peace with India will not be possible.