Splitting Kashmir along the current Line
of Control is the only real option.
Recently
both India and Pakistan announced a thawing of relationship
that had been put into deep freeze ever since a bloody
attack on India’s parliament in 2001. The two countries
have agreed to restore diplomatic ties, travel links
and sports meets.
Pakistan’s prime Minister Zafar ullah Zamali initiated
the latest peace track with a call to his Indian counterpart
Atal Behari Vajpayee. A few days later, the 78-year-old
Vajpayee, who has felt betrayed by two previous failed
summits with Pakistan’s leaders in 1999 and 2001, promised
one last peace effort at peace with pakistan: “The third
attempt will be decisive and will be the last in my
lifetime.”
At the core of the India-Pakistan dispute is the issue
of Kashmir. Sports and travel exchanges can improve
the climate for discussions about Kashmir, but they
cannot resolve it. For any comprehensive solution, the
Kashmir problem has to be addressed.
For all the passion and ire that Kashmir evokes, there
is only one realistic solution. For to generations now,
Kashmir has been split, two-thirds in India, one-third
in Pakistan. That’s the way it has been since 1948 and
that is the way it is destined to stay till hell freezes
over.
Whatever the validity of each country’s historical claim
and burden, that’s the inescapable political reality.
It would be politically suicidal for any government,
in either India or Pakistan, to hand over any new territory
to the other. It’s untenable enough for both leaders
to even acept the existing status quo.
There can be no other way.
The existing 1,000-mile long- Line of Control should
be designated the new border of India and Pakistan and
we should put the subject permanently to rest.
The energies and resources of both countries can then
be better directed at social, economic and cultural
development and exchanges for future generations.
