NEW YORK: Indian ambassador to the United Nations C R Gharekhan has stressed that Kashmir is a part of India and not a separate country.

Gharekhan’s remarks came after former United States ambassador to India Daniel Moynihan said that Kashmir was in effect. a separate country.

Appearing in the “Crossfire” program of Cable News Network Gharekhan said “I am surprised that a person who knows India so well should make a statement like that. Kashmir is not a foreign country. It is a part of India and the Senator (Moynihan) lam sure knows as well as I do how Kashmir acceded to India through a legal adjustment of accession”.

In the program Tuesday Moynihan had said in the aftermath of the cold war “we’re going to see more of this breaking up of frequently artificial conglomerates of peoples who under pressure from the cold war somehow held together.”

Asked who might want Congress (I) president Rajiv Gandhi dead Moynihan said about a third of India today is in effective revolt and secession Kashmir is out Punjab is in turmoil Nagaland places like that there are awful troubles. He also referred to Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka.

Stephan Solarz of the foreign affairs committee who also participated in the discussion did not agree with the assessment that India is an “artificial” country held together by the cold war and Kashmir and other parts must be separated to prevent warfare from absolutely destroying the country.

“I think the survival of India for over 40 years as a democracy and as a continental country is one of the greatest political achievements of the 20th century” he said.

Solarz said there are obvious problems in parts of the country but most Indians are committed to preservation of the territorial integrity.

He said people needed a greater measure of political decentralization and devolution of authority from the center to states to give the very diverse nation and people a sense of control over their immediate destiny.

(It is during this show that Solarz made an unfortunate comment that in the assassination of Gandhi the hand of Sikh militants could not be ruled out. WSN has received a flood of protest calls. Said one Sikh Solarz is a Jew How can he endorses what is happening to the Sikhs in India. This is as good as the Jews giving a posthumous bravery award to Adolf Hitler.)

Gharekhan said the question of decentralization and devolution of power had been engaging the attention of all political parties and people.

He agreed that in a vast country like India decentralization was needed. But at the time the country needed a strong center with all the authority at its command to preserve the territorial integrity. “so it’s a difficult mix to bring about.

The Indian ambassador did not agree with the statement that India and particularly the Congress has no leadership at the top level with the death of Rajiv Gandhi.

The congress he said is a long established party and has many leaders Rajiv Gandhi’s departure undoubtedly is a tremendous loss to the party and to the country. But it has deep rooted democracy.” It is a country with deep roots in history and we will survive this crisis as we have survived many other crises in history” he said.

Gharekhan strongly disagreed with the contention that India is not a viable country as many different ethnic groups exist in it.

India he said has existed since ages and will no doubt continue to exist. The sense of Indianess among the people predates the formal independence in 1947 and democracy has taken “such deep roots that nothing at all can shake the confidence that faith of the Indian people in democratic traditions” he said.

So India is not going to break up he added.

Solarz also said he did not believe that India is an “artificial” creation. “I don’t think it is going to break up and I hope it doesn’t break up” he said.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 31, 1991