Kashmir and Indo-Pak Relation

By -


The Indo–Pakistan dispute is a hindrance to socio-economic cooperation and development in South Asia. Core of the conflict is Kashmir, which each country claims in full but rules only in part.
Imagine trade of Indian goods to Afghanistan via Pakistan.

Over the past sixty years, there have been three wars, along with:

  • The Siachen Glacier (World’s Highest Altitude Conflict)

  • Kargil conflict

  • Armed conflict in Kashmir

  • Semi-wars along the Line of Control in Kashmir and Siachen Glacier

Check the defence-to-GDP ratio for a developing country — it’s sad.
Whenever there is a war threat, social spending is the first to receive cuts. Both countries have epidemic corruption, and during times of military tension, it only gets worse.

Leave Pakistan and the conflict out of the equation for a minute — there is social unrest in China simply due to rising urban–rural income disparity.
This is considered a major challenge for China.

But the situation in Kashmir is deeper and more complex than income disparity in China.
How can the prosperity of India be delinked from peace and harmony in the region?
How can the consequences of this conflict be expected to resolve in isolation without addressing the cause?

A Missed Moment for Peace?

I think there was a reasonable possibility of sorting the issue of Kashmir once and for all when Musharraf visited India back in 2001.
He was one man with real decision-making power — and certainly had a peculiar advantage.

However, democracy delayed the matter, leaving it to be solved another day.
Vajpayee couldn’t get his cabinet to agree.

Then came extreme tension throughout 2002.
There was a rare moment at the SAARC Summit in Nepal when Musharraf made a symbolic handshake gesture towards Vajpayee.

For the next SAARC Summit in 2004, Vajpayee visited Pakistan.
The Islamabad Declaration was signed to start a composite dialogue.
But then the BJP lost the election.

The Line Between Freedom and Terror

Pakistan’s position becomes more difficult to sustain when the Mujahideen fighting for freedom in Indian-held Kashmir are also guilty of involvement in terrorist activities elsewhere in India and around the world.

It’s not just a case of "one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter."
Sometimes, a man can be a legitimate freedom fighter in one context — and a terrorist in another, depending on what he does.

What Will It Really Take?

So I think it’s going to take more than just democracy or a dictator to resolve this issue.
It will not stop unless the people of both countries stop taking Kashmir as a blow to national ego.

They need to start looking at it as what it really is —
A place where living creatures called humans live.
People who are capable of making their own decisions and should be facilitated in doing so.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Escalation Dominance Backfires: A Personal Account of the 2025 India-Pakistan Conflict

By -
Image
On May 6, 2025, India initiated Operation Sindoor , targeting nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. This was presented as a measured response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 lives. India emphasized the precision and non-escalatory nature of these strikes. However, the reality on the ground told a different story. The Human Cost: A Personal Account Among the targeted areas was Bahawalpur , where a missile strike near a mosque resulted in the death of a child and injuries to two others. The attack caused widespread emergency, prompting Bahawal Victoria Hospital to call in all available medical personnel. However, knowing people, quite a few were in a casual mood; there wasn't any panic. This tragedy hit close to home. My mother-in-law resides in Bahawalpur, and the proximity of the missile strike caused immense distress. My wife, living with me in Adelaide, was deeply upset, worrying about relatives back home. Due to the fluidity of th...
Read more

The Flawed Question of the “Right to Exist”

By -
Image
Before anything else, let’s be clear: When you ask, “Does Israel have a right to exist?” we must first unpack what you mean by “Israel.” Are you asking about: The Jewish people — a religious and cultural community that has lived across the world for thousands of years, long before 1948, and will continue to exist long after? The State of Israel — a political nation-state established 75 years ago on the land of historic Palestine? Or Zionism — the nationalist ideology that fueled the creation of that state? Each of these is distinct. Each demands a different conversation. As far as people are concerned — particularly the Jewish people — they have existed across the world for thousands of years. Their continuity, whether viewed through theological, historical, cultural, or archaeological lenses, is a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion. Like many peoples — the Aztecs, the Sub-Saharan African civilizations, the Chinese, and countless others — their existence ...
Read more

Family and Faith: The Shield Against a Shattered (Post-modernist) World

By -
Image
The first true institution a child ever belongs to is not the state, not the school, not even society — but the mother and father. It is within their embrace that the earliest lessons are planted: trust, loyalty, discipline, and belonging. These roots are not taught through slogans or systems; they are absorbed in the silences, the glances, the thousand daily acts of sacrifice and patience. As a boy grows into a man, he carries these early lessons — whether he realizes it or not. And when the time comes to build his own family, he is given the chance to renew and fortify that shield: through his faith, through his wife, and through the family they nurture together. In a world that often seems intent on tearing apart everything solid, this shield matters more than ever. Today, almost everything is seen through the language of power — who controls, who resists, who defines. Identities are no longer anchors of meaning but endless categories, fragmented and multiplied until belonging itse...
Read more