No Respite on Kashmir

India’s new prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and his Cabinet ministers have issued suitably reassuring statements about continuing many of the foreign and domestic policies of the government they replaced. But the bus bombing that killed 33 people in Kashmir last week, one day after Singh took office, demonstrated that the problems that beset his predecessor aren’t going away.

The 15 years of violence in Kashmir have killed more than 60,000 people. It is the only majority Muslim state in India, a secular nation in which most citizens are Hindus. Pakistan controls a part of Kashmir and for years encouraged and helped Islamic radicals to cross into the state to kill government officials and police. Many civilians died in the crossfire.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf belatedly cracked down on the infiltration, but only after the two nuclear powers nearly went to war two years ago.

Singh’s predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee, tried several times to improve relations with Pakistan. He finally did get Musharraf to agree on resuming train and bus traffic between the two countries and on a “basic road map” to peace. Discussions on the thorniest issues, such as water and power projects, terrorism and, above all, Kashmir, were delayed until after the Indian elections.

The surprising win of Singh’s Congress Party over Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party brings new negotiators into the picture, but the goal should be the same. Musharraf and Singh have promised to continue trying to reduce tensions, a welcome development.

It is also important that Singh keep talking to the Kashmiris in India, who for too long have been ignored and treated as pawns in the duel between India and Pakistan.

Last January, Indian officials met with leaders of a moderate faction of a separatist group in the state for the first time in 15 years. New Delhi should determine how much autonomy it can grant Kashmir, while ruling out the independence that some want and the annexation to Pakistan that others desire.

The Kashmiri insurgent revolt that began in 1989 after India rigged state elections has been worsened by the brutal tactics of security forces dispatched by New Delhi. The jailings, beatings and torture have inflamed Islamic fundamentalists and escalated the violence. Last week’s bombing of a bus transporting Indian troops and their families on vacation was carried out by separatist Kashmiri militants; it was the worst single attack in the state in two years.

Singh, even while battling terrorism, needs to build on Vajpayee’s foundation to make Kashmiris feel an integral part of India. Another task is making Pakistani leaders understand that their neighbor is willing to search for a peaceful solution to their disputes.