India-Pakistan relations and Kashmir

The stunning terrorist attacks in Mumbai are bound to have serious and far-reaching repercussions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reaction has been rash and impulsive. He not only pointed an accusing finger at Pakistan but also administered a veiled threat to a neighbouring country. Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who is in India, these days holding talks with his counterpart Pranab Mukharji while expressing grief at the horrendous tragedy rightly cautioned India not to "jump to the conclusion" and avoid "knee-jerk" articulations. He cited the Samjhota Express case when too Pakistan was accused while the recent disclosure has revealed the involvement in the carnage of a serving officer of the Indian Army Lt Colonel P.S. Prohet.
The line taken by Shah Mahmood needs to be followed resolutely by the government of Pakistan. Messers Zardari and Gilani will be well advised to press for an international probe into the incident if New Delhi persists in heaping the blame on Islamabad.
Zardari, of late, has been going out of the way to please India. Somewhat ineptly, he is reported to have remarked that "India has never been a threat to Pakistan" that Kashmiris struggling for their right of self-determination and freedom were "terrorists" (later sought to be clarified by a foreign office spokesman that it was a misquotation). Most recently surprisingly enough, he glibly proposed the alteration of a part of our nuclear doctrine about its "first use". (When Prime Minister Gilani was asked by an anchor of a private TV channel in his show that whether Zardari had consulted him before making this important statement while talking to an Indian audience, Gilani hummed and hawed, failing to provide a straight answer.)
Again at Zardari's bidding, it appears, all three routes into Pakistan in Sindh, Punjab and even the Northern Areas (Kargil to Skardu) have been declared open to traffic from India. He further is talking about an unhindered trade regime with India and is in favour of South Asia economic union without even a ritualistic reference to Kashmir. In other words, he is willing to concede and present on a platter all that India has been asking for, for the last many years.
Much will be said and written about the culprits who perpetrated the horrible attacks in Mumbai, in the days to come. Three factors, inter alia may be considered relevant. One, the rising resentment amongst Indian Muslims for the way they (and the Kashmiris) have been and are being treated by the government and extremist Hindus. The demolition of the Babri Mosque and the slaughter of the Muslim community in Gujarat are examples of the insane and provocative behaviour of the majority community. Also one has only to read Justice Rajinder Sachar's Report to see how the Muslims as a whole have been marginalised and deprived of their legitimate share in the government services and other spheres, literally reducing them to the level of Dalits and the destitute. They also have been suffering grievously at the hands of the Indian intelligence agencies and the police.