Defiant Musharraf refuses to back down over Kashmiris' 'fight for liberation'

A very different Pervez Musharraf appeared on the world's television screens last night. This was not the pliable, obliging figure who dumped the Taliban at a word from President George Bush, who claimed to have sealed Pakistan's border against fleeing al-Qa'ida forces and who, when that proved untrue, allowed American forces to go into action in Pakistan.

This time, in the face of India's recent threats to fight "a decisive battle", General Musharraf, Pakistan's President, gave no ground and made none of the concessions that had been expected. Instead he nailed his colours to the mast of Kashmiri liberation.

His speech was preceded by a recitation from the Koran that called on Muslims to prepare themselves for war but to embrace peace if the enemy was also ready for peace. He spoke of "atrocities" being committed by "Hindu extremists and terrorists" against Muslims in Kashmir and in the state of Gujarat, combining that with an appeal for dialogue.

In the speech he made on 12 January he promised not to allow Pakistan or territory for which Pakistan was responsible – code for the Pakistan- controlled sector of Kashmir – to be used for terrorist attacks against India. But since then, according to American intelligence reports, he has allowed 50 to 60 training camps in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to start up again, harbouring some 3,000 fighters training for the anti-Indian jihad. He has enabled them, with the help of Pakistani security forces, to infiltrate Indian Kashmir.

One such mission resulted in the Jammu massacre of 14 May in which 34 died, mostly Indian soldiers' families, and which provoked the crisis. But last night General Musharraf gave bland reassurances no infiltration was taking place across the Line of Control, Kashmir's ceasefire line, and went out of his way to endorse the cause of the fighter. "A liberation struggle is going on in Kashmir," he said, "and Pakistan cannot be held responsible for any action taken against Indian oppression."

Increasingly the West sees the Islamic jihad as in indivisible menace: if it is to be checked anywhere it must be checked everywhere. But for General Musharraf, as for the mass of Pakistanis, there is a world of difference between support for the Taliban and for militants in Kashmir.

The Kashmir dispute is nearly as old as the Pakistani state; the two came into existence only months apart, and Kashmir's illegal (in Pakistani eyes) accession to India was the original sin of the postcolonial dispensation.

In the "two nation" theory of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, all the Muslim-majority states of imperial India belonged in Pakistan. Kashmir was stolen by India through fraud. The Kashmiris were never consulted; and when, in 1949, the United Nations mandated a plebiscite to settle the question, India ignored it and ignores it still.

Kashmir, as Pakistan sees it, is the nation's righteous cause; the "poor Kashmiris" are the Muslims who must be rescued from the tyranny of the Hindu infidel. During the past 50 years, Kashmir has been the one cause that has brought Pakistanis together. And Pakistani leaders forsake the cause at their peril.

President Bill Clinton bullied Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister, into ordering Pakistani troops back from Kashmir in the summer of 1999, to defuse the Kargil crisis. From then on, Mr Sharif was a marked man. The day after General Musharraf seized power in October that year, the streets of Islamabad were eerily quiet. The only indication there had been a change of guard was the banner on the locked gate of parliament, exhorting "Liberate Kashmir".

General Musharraf has tried to be tough on sectarian terrorism, and had few qualms about ditching the Taliban. But the Kashmir struggle is his badge of honour. Himself an immigrant to Pakistan from India, his patriotism is open to doubt; loyalty to Kashmir is the infallible way to demonstrate it.

Additionally, Kashmir has long been a safety valve for the Pakistani militants who could give infinite trouble if bottled up at home. It has given Pakistan's swollen military a permanent raison d'etre, and a permanent pretext for demanding ever larger budgets.

By allowing American troops into Pakistan, by throwing his weight behind the war on terrorism, General Musharraf has made powerful enemies. Selling out Kashmir would be a betrayal too far.