Kashmir is the core issue of conflict between Pakistan and India and has led to war on more than one occasions. After the Pakistan-India war of 1971, there had been a long period with relatively few direct armed conflicts involving the military forces of the two neighbours - notwithstanding the efforts of both nations to defuse the situation.
Many times both the countries agreed for dialogues for Kashmir issue, but there was no implementation of these agreements. But now, there is some ambiguity about the status of Kashmir as Indian army chief General VK Singh has admitted the failures of the Indian army in occupied Kashmir. In first such statement given on 13 July, 2010, he said the 'basic reason' behind the flare-up in the Kashmir valley was the failure to build on the gains that had been made by the Indian security forces in the occupied state.
This statement degrades the Indian image at international level because India, for many decades, is trying to annex Kashmir, but now, all of a sudden, it concedes its mistakes. This change shows that there must be some rationale or strategy of India. Now it's time to analyse that why India is doing so and what will be the implication of the Indian army chief's statement.
Pakistan and India, both have interests in Kashmir, eg flow of water from Kashmir, that's why Pakistan wants amicable settlement of Kashmir issue. But now India talks about the Kashmir as an independent state, perhaps, for a few reasons. India's interest in Kashmir is obvious because it has already constructed dams and stored water for future use. Hence, India cannot afford to lose Kashmir.
Moreover, Pakistan will never agree with the independent status of Kashmir because if Pakistan accepts Kashmir as an independent state, then Pakistan will also have to lose its northern part, which will deprive Pakistan of trade route to China. Due to these interests, Pakistan will never allow India to annex Kashmir.
The statement by Indian army chief and his acceptance of mistakes regarding Kashmir issue shows that India has some new strategy against Pakistan. Similarly, the US also has its role in the formulation of this strategy, because of the same interests of Indo-US, ie to destabilise Pakistan by making Pakistan vulnerable regarding Kashmir dispute. Although Kashmir problem can be resolved through diplomatic channels and the US and UN both can resolve the Kashmir issue.
But behind every crisis, the US factor is always there. The US don't want Pakistan to come out of crises by using India as a tool, especially in Kashmir dispute. So it can be said that the statement by Indian army chief is a new strategy by Indo-US ploy against Pakistan.