'India to offer LoC adjustment'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed India's willingness to find solutions "rooted in ground realities" to all outstanding issues with Pakistan including Jammu and Kashmir, says Time magazine,  which quotes an unnamed senior Indian official as saying that New Delhi was willing to "adjust" the Line of Control "by a matter of miles".

The leading American weekly which has put the new Indian Prime Minister on its cover in its latest issue, quotes him as saying about his meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday in New York that "getting to know each other is important. But we are willing to discuss all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, and find solutions rooted in ground realities".

Softer LoC:  How feasible is it?

It quoted the unnamed Indian official as saying that

in New York Singh will make an offer to help defuse the situation in Kashmir. A part of this offer involves adjusting the LoC "by a matter of miles" eastwards, the official was quoted as saying.

The official told Time that its formal presentation in New York is a result of Singh's "instruction" that his foreign affairs team think "out of the box" on Kashmir "to get a solution, and soon."

The Neelam Plan  

According to the magazine a senior Musharraf aide confirmed that "territorial adjustment...is one idea being broached" and that it was an idea in which "in the past, as in the present, we have shown interest". It quoted a senior Pakistan foreign affairs official as saying "we want implementable ideas. We have spoken to the Indians on this score and hopefully the meeting will break new ground in Kashmiri diplomacy".