Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

110 Frontline Pakistan
Musharraf was firmly wedged between a rock and a hard place. He
sincerely wanted to prevent a war, but at the same time did not want
to be seen as the leader who gave up his country’s ‘sacred’ cause:
Kashmir. He badly needed a face-saving device if he was to take
further steps backward to meet the expectations of the international
community. Musharraf tried desperately to maintain his balancing act.
His ‘blow hot, blow cold’ posture accurately reflected the difficulties
he faced at home, where he was, once again, taking a controversial
position on a sensitive issue.
On 1 June, the USA, Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Australia and
some other countries, issued travel advisories asking their citizens
to leave India immediately and warning others against travelling to
the country. 22 Pakistan was already on the ‘travel advisory’ list after
9/11. The warning led to the exodus of thousands of businessmen,
visitors, tourists and diplomatic personnel from India. This threatened
the closure of foreign and multinational companies and caused much
annoyance in Delhi, which perceived the advisory as an attempt to
pressure it against launching an attack on Pakistan.
Once again, intensive US intervention was the key to walking both
sides back from the brink. On 6 June, the US Deputy Secretary of
State, Richard Armitage, arrived in Islamabad to build on Straw’s visit
and hammer out a deal between India and Pakistan. A former wrestler
and a veteran diplomat, Armitage was known for his blunt talking.
He had met Musharraf several times in the past and appeared to have
developed a good rapport with the Pakistani military leader.
Armitage had one critical objective when he arrived for talks at
the sprawling presidential secretariat at the Margala foothills on the
afternoon of 6 June: to extract an assurance from Musharraf that would
satisfy India and remove the threat of a potential nuclear war. 23 Musharraf
had previously pledged to stop the infiltration of Islamic militants into
Kashmir, but Armitage wanted him to go one step further. The talks
between the two men had stretched to two hours, when Armitage
put the critical question: ‘What can I tell the Indians?’ he asked. He
wanted to know whether Musharraf would agree to a ‘permanent end’
to the cross-border terrorist activity long accepted by Pakistan. ‘Yes,’
Musharraf replied. An elated Armitage flew to Delhi the next morning
to brief the Indian leaders on his talks with Musharraf. 24
Musharraf’s agreement to the word ‘permanent’, backed by US
assurances to India that he would keep his word, immediately led to
the easing of tension. It was a hugely significant foreign policy victory