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"Kashmir Valley Proposal could kill two birds"

 

A powerful bomb ripped through "Zaveri Bazaar" of Bombay a few days ago that

killed more than 50 people and injured over 150. Security officials have

confirmed the use of lethal RDX in the bomb, while India's Deputy Prime Minister

Lal Krishna Advani put the blame on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a pro-Pakistan Kashmiri

militant group. Pakistan denied the accusation.

 

Despite this and other atrocities, relations between India and Pakistan have

been improving in recent months. Even though the peace process, which

dissipated when the two nuclear-armed nations nearly went to war over an attack

on the

Indian Parliament in late 2001, inches forward at snail's pace, there is new

hope for the Kashmir valley solution. Diplomatic ties have been restored,

buses are crossing the border and officials are talking about resuming air

links.

What caught my imagination is the metaphorical aspect of the word "valley" to

cobble this witty solution that is more of a pipe dream since it kills two

birds with one stone.

 

Having lived in all four regions of the United States during the last thirty

plus years, I find both the natural and the man-made valleys of this country

to be equally beautiful. Whether it is Silicon Valley in the west or Tennessee

Valley in the south and others throughout this great country, these valleys

are not only gorgeous to look at, but more importantly, powerful engines of

wealth. In contrast, the conflict over the Kashmir valley is not only destroying

the valley itself but is also thwarting both nations' progress by shying away

foreign investors. Both countries direly need such foreign investment to make fu

rther progress.

 

One could argue that this simplistic view is flawed since the citizens of

those two nations only see the problem from the inside with eyes that have seen

hundreds of years of cultural and religious clashes. Still, their leaders do

have an external view that is not very pretty considering the rampant poverty,

illiteracy, backwardness and intolerance in both countries. After all, both

India and Pakistan have plenty of land to build dream valleys away from the

Kashmir valley if they were to expand their economies with the same flair as

they

do their animosities.

 

Considering the enormity of the situation due to its nuclear war threat,

should this Kashmir conflict be allowed to stay in abeyance? Three possible

scenarios come to my mind as a way out of this predicament.

 

In the first scenario, India and Pakistan must work out a new border

understanding with America as the arbiter. Since the older, region specific

strategies

have changed drastically, I believe both India and Pakistan can be convinced

of a fair arbitration by America to reach a lasting Kashmir agreement in clear

view of the river waters as much as the juicy aid-plums that are the hallmark

of America's foreign policy. One can envision joint patrolling and monitoring

of Line of Control (LoC) between the two countries by Pakistani, Indian and

American Forces.

 

My challenge and purpose for writing this piece is in the articulation of the

next two scenarios. These second and third options could put either country

under great stress but they also have a windfall in store for the nation that

shows the needful courage. Either India or Pakistan may choose to give up the

entire Kashmir region to the other country in return for substantial aid from

America to build its Silicon/Tennessee style dream-valleys to offset the loss

of the Kashmir valley.

 

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that whichever country

chooses to give up the Kashmir valley could very easily end up on the fast track

to progress. In the case of India, it should expect to lift its more than

500-million poor from their sufferings as a result. For Pakistan, the progress

should dry up the cesspool of Muslim militancy that its President Pervez

Musharraf

rightly observed to have "undermined Islam to a level that people of the

world associate it with illiteracy, backwardness, and intolerance."

 

If we were to use the yardstick of political and religious sentiments, one

may find India to be the country with a demeanor more prone to detaching itself

from Kashmir than Pakistan. This is so because the guiding philosophy for most

Indians - the Bhagavad Gita, delves at length into detachment as a way to

Nirvana. But I have a funny feeling that given the choice of a Silicon/Tennessee

Valley-like substitution, both India and Pakistan may opt to give up the

Kashmir Valley - a political situation that one could never imagine considering

the

hatred filled histories of these two countries.

 

Now, that can pose another funny situation: if not Pakistan or India, which

country would take hold of the entire Kashmir valley? I don't believe China or

America would have much interest - perhaps we could make Palestine out of it

and solve that burning issue at the same time. Hopefully, PLO will embrace it

with additional American-aid and I am sure Israel will pitch in if need be.

 

As a super-power, America has a unique position and the important role of

peacemaker. Only its "aid-carrot" is needed to do the initial trick for the

"big-stick" is well in sight of the entire world, to see and admire (and fear as

well!).

 

Dave Anand

For my eBook, please visit:

 

<A

HREF="http://www.peoplesuperhighway.com/">http://www.PeopleSuperHighway.com</A>

 

 

 

 

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