The Musharraf Formula (Back Channel Formula) and the Resolution of the Kashmir Conflict

The Musharraf formula refers to the resolution formula of the Kashmir conflict which was reportedly agreed upon during the one-to-one backchannel dialogue between Mr. Tariq Aziz, the former civil servant and close aide of the then President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf and Mr. Satinder Lambah, a special envoy of the Prime Minister of India. We now know some of the details of this formula from the article of the American journalist, Steve Coll which he had published in New Yorker in March 2009 and the book of Mr. Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri, Neither a Hawk, Now a Dove which was published in 2015. Prior to this Mr. Musharraf and Mr. Kasuri had already claimed in their TV interviews and press talks that by March 2007 India and Pakistan were very close to resolving the Kashmir conflict. This paper takes the details of that non-paper agreement and tries to study what exactly that agreement holds for the future resolution of the Kashmir conflict. The basic understanding is whenever the Pakistani and the Indian governments will take up the negotiations on the Kashmir conflict in future, this agreement is bound to come up in the talks as a starting reference point. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully look at this agreement and discuss what it entails for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.

Role of Alpha Tocopherol Application in Drought Stress Tolerance of Mungbean Vigna Radiata L.

Considering the significant role of alpha tocopherol (α-Toc) under different environmental cues, experiments were conducted on mungbean plants under varying water regimes. First experiment was planted in plastic pots in order to check the influence of foliage spray of α-Tocopherol in terms of growth, gas exchange and different physio-biochemical characteristics in mungbean plants under water deficit stress. After three weeks of seed germination, both mungbean cultivars (Cyclone 7008 and Cyclone 8009) were subjected to drought treatment (60% and 100% field capacity). The 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg L-1 were the alpha tocopherol levels treated as foliage spray after 30 days of water stress treatment. Water deficit conditions retard morphological parameters, photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a and b levels, relative water contents (RWC), gas exchange characteristics and total soluble proteins (TSP), yield per plant, while an increase was observed in the relative membrane permeability (RMP), glycinebetaine (GB), proline, sugars, H2O2, AsA, phenolics, MDA, TFAA and the actions of antioxidants in both mungbean lines. Foliarly appliedα-Toc significantly improved plant growth, plant height, chlorophyll b, RWC, GB, non-reducing sugars, E, gs, Ci, Ci/Ca, AsA, TSP, TFAA and catalytic actions of peroxides and catalase enzymes. The inconsistent behavior was depicted by both mungbean cultivars to externally used tocopherol and drought stress to relative water contents and different gas exchange characteristics. The cv. Cyclone 7008 was significantly showed improved reducing, non-reducing sugars, Hydrogen peroxide and total soluble protein while cv. Cyclone 8009 in leaf proline and total phenolics. Overall, externally applied Toc particularly 300 mg L-1 was effective in developing plant growth of both mungbean cultivars. In case of green pods different biochemical analyses, as a whole, the external application of 200 and 300 mg L-1 of α-Toc significantly increased the chlorophyll a & b, proline and total phenolics concentrations and actions of SOD, POD and CAT enzymes in used mungbean varieties. In field experiment, under normal and withheld irrigations, the exogenous treatment of α-Toc effectively increased growth parameters, chlorophylls, total soluble phenolics, free proline, glycine betaine, TSG, sugars, TSP, TFAA, antioxidants and invivo Toc and harvest attributes but significantly decreased MDA and H2O2 levels. In short, of various used different concentrations of α-Toc levels, last two concentrations were better convenient for both mungbean cultivars under applied field conditions.