General Musharraf has proposed demilitarization as a final solution. He also suggests "Joint Management." The Line of Control (LOC) is maintained by the armed forces of India and Pakistan. In addition, para-military units and the police are deployed in the countryside, along with Army units in some areas. This is in accordance with the requirement of internal security. The 'cease-fire' has persisted and demilitarization is a laudable idea. However, the acceptance of the LOC as the constitutional boundary can only be implemented if the possibility of continuing hostilities can be ruled out. Balanced and proportionate demilitarization can then be implemented over a period of time.

The return of the military and para-military units to the barracks from their deployment in towns and the countryside is dependant on the cessation of incidents of violence in the countryside. Unfortunately, the situation in this regard couldn't be any worse. One day it is the killing of Hindus in Doda and, on another, it is an attack on Amarnath pilgrims. Bus loads of Gujarati and Bengali tourists have also been attacked. These attacks were intended to discourage tourism, which is an important source of income for the locals of the Valley. After these attacks, thousands of tourists left Srinagar. This violence is inspired, and supported, from across the border and is on the increase. Commentators observe that Indo-Pak political developments point towards an acceptance of a status quo viz-a-viz the territorial divide of the erstwhile State of J&K. This has provoked the Lashkar-e-Tayeba and Jaishe-e-Mohammad to engage in acts of terrorism in order to highlight the Hindu-Muslim divide and sabotage the Indo-Pak peace process. Notwithstanding the fact that there are still people in both India and Pakistan who nurture feelings of ill-will towards their neighbour, the majority realize that normalization of relations is a pre-requisite for the development of both countries to their full potential. There is, therefore, satisfaction over the measures taken to increase people to people contact. Following the start of the Delhi-Amritsar-Lahore bus services, the Uri-Muzafarabad service has been operative for sometime and there is the likelihood of another Muzafarabad-Srinagar trade route. The Poonch-Rawalakot bus service has recently become operative as has the Munabao-Khokrapar rail link. The opening up of these cross border rail-road routes needs to be followed by the further easing of the visa regime. While these developments will help, it is only Pakistan's acceptance of the need to eliminate terrorist organizations, as well as agree upon the LOC as the constitutional international boundary, that will create the necessary conditions for the demilitarization of Kashmir.

The proposal of joint management in J&K is unimaginable. The present state of the relationship between the two countries is such that any joint venture is not workable. The commendable course is to promote democratic institutions in both parts of Kashmir, hold fair elections and strengthen administration from the grassroots' level. These steps are required for self governance. As for relations between the 'State' and the 'Centre', India and Pakistan have to evolve this individually with the part of the State under their control. On 3 July 2006 India announced the setting up of working group under A.M Ahmudi, former Chief Justice of India, to look into the Centre-State relationship with regard to J&K.