It is hard to pay heed to the Prime Ministers remark about the glad tidings that the nation would soon be hearing about Kashmir. There are two reasons for being sceptical: poor record of the government to come clean before the public; and Indias reiteration of its known position and its hectic efforts at calming down the Kashmiris frayed sentiments through a solution within its Constitution. While PM Gilani was making the statement, Indian Foreign Minister Krishna was talking about the Occupied state being an indissoluble part of India. It is quite obvious that as yet the Indians have not realised that any settlement within their countrys Constitution would neither be acceptable, nor result in peace. To be fair to Mr Gilani, he had based his remark on a briefing he received from AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan, who had just returned from attending a meeting on Kashmir at Brussels. Sardar Attique is reported to have told Mr Gilani about Pakistan governments 'great achievement in foreign affairs that after 63 years the EU Parliament accepted Kashmir as an international issue and held a hearing but the fact of the matter is that the EU Parliament has been looking at Kashmir since 1996 and had even appointed a rapporteur at the time Baroness Nicholson who produced a very biased report on Kashmir. The present hearings were only on the part of the Lib-Dem Alliance of the EU Parliament. There is also an unedifying side of the story that reinforces the above pessimistic assumption. It is the Pakistan governments lackadaisical attitude towards the cause in the face of heightened Kashmiri sufferings. Indias newly appointed 3-member committee to act as interlocuteurs with the Kashmiris includes Radha Kumar, who has been actively lobbying within the EU on settling Kashmir wiithin the Indian Union. Influential powers, enamoured by the prospects the Indian economic success holds for them, have at best adopted an attitude of indifference and at worst are siding with New Delhis position. In this murky scenario, when the Kashmiris are virtually left alone to fight for their rights, the only silver lining is their determined bid to free themselves of the Indian yoke. Hats off to the indefatigable Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani who, for all the oppressive treatment he bears at the hands of the Indian security forces, has turned down the eight-point initiative package of New Delhi primarily aimed at finding a way out of the present turmoil and ultimately present a final settlement within the Indian Constitution. He rightly insists on the five-point Kashmiris demand to India: accept Kashmir as a dispute; release all political prisoners and those held during the protests; withdraw occupation forces; end the human rights abuses; and put on trial all those responsible for these abuses. Pakistan must gear itself up and decisively and openly work for a solution under relevant UN resolutions. The leadership would have to pay heavily if it tries to whittle down Pakistans principled position.