Kashmir: the view from Kathmandu
Kashmir: the view from
Kathmandu
From Himal, June 2001
INDIA n PAKISTAN
A dramatic turn of events in
Subcontinental geopolitics has had Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
extending an invitation to Pakistan’s Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf to visit
New Delhi, and the general has accepted it. It was overdue for the two nuclear
powers of the most unstable place on earth to meet in summit, and now it is
happening. It was understandable that Vajpayee felt cheated after ‘Lahore’, for
it was Musharraf himself who had masterminded the Kargil mini-war that followed
the peace bus ride. But when you are at cliff-edge, responsible leaders know to
let bygones be bygones, which must be part of the reason why Delhi decided to extend
its invitation. Despite his Kargil history, Musharraf is probably the best
person in Pakistan to talk peace. As a military man, even though he is not
totally free from political pressure, he has more leeway to take initiatives as
well as risks than his political party predecessors, Benazir Bhutto and Mian
Nawaz Sharif, both currently in ingnominous exile. India may be a democracy but
for this very reason its leaders have less margin to function, given the
concretised mindset about Pakistan and Kashmir, especially among the middle
classes all worked up in the nationalist hype which followed both Pokharan II
and Kargil. But the fact is that the populace on both sides of Wagah/Atari is
ripe and ready for some movement, and we predict that a little bit of risk-taking
by the prime minister and the chief executive would actually deliver unexpected
dividends.
So, what should be the roadmap for the two, the
politician and the general, should they decide to take the leap together into
the South Asian future that beckons? One was provided five years ago in the
pages of Himal by the scholar and activist, and true ‘South Asian’, Eqbal
Ahmed. We reproduce sections from his article, "A Kashmiri solution for
Kashmir"(November/December 1996). Eqbal Ahmed died on 10 May 1999 in Islamabad.
If Mr. Vajpayee and Gen Musharraf are able to put the Kashmir problem behind
them and their respective people, they will have opened up possibilities for an
incredible social and economic advance in which 1.4 billion individuals can
participate. People have got the Nobel Peace Prize for less. —Editors.
ROADMAP TO THE SOUTH ASIAN CENTURY
- Eqbal Ahmed
THERE IS a conflict in South Asia, which has
outlasted most post-World War II disputes. This long-festering dispute is the
one in Kashmir, and it is the primary cause of hostility between India and
Pakistan and a source for endless misery for the people of Kashmir.
As far as the Kashmiri is concerned, the Delhi and Islamabad governments share
one key characteristic: both perceive Kashmir’s realities and interests as
subser vient to their own. This affinity between the Pakistani and Indian
positions is ironic in view of the fundamental contrast between the two in
relation to Kashmir. India is, in the language of political science, a "status
quo power". That is, it actually holds the area it covets, and its policies are
intended to preserve the