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Kashmir: A Continuing Perennial Regional Problem of South Asia

AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) updated 8/2/2010 3:20:37 PM ET

India and Pakistan after separation have been contesting each other’s claim as to the region of Kashmir causing the region to become a perennial problem of South Asia. The regional Kashmir problem, we have been facing since 1947, has never been viewed in a historical perspective in South Asia. That is why it has defied solution so far, and its end is not in sight in the near future. Politicians at the helm of affairs during this nearly half a century have been living from hand to mouth and are waiting for Pakistan to face them with a fait accompli. Once again they are out to hand over Kashmir and its people to be butchers who have devastated this fair land and destroyed its rich culture. Sixty years on, the tragedy of Kashmir still lingers and is most visibly embodied today in the Valley by the presence of one of the highest concentration of military personnel in the world.

Kashmir belongs to whom?

The reality is that it is an orphan territory to be occupied by whosoever carries a gun? But it also is an integral part of an ancient country and the extension of a great culture? Those who regard themselves as sons and daughters of that ancient country and as inheritors of that great culture they are the ones that been enslaved and brutalized and alienated from their ancestral society and culture by a terrorist and totalitarian cult. To whom does Kashmir belong? Does it belong to the country and the culture which has suffered and survived brutal assaults by the terrorists and totalitarian cult? Or does it belong to the imperialist enclave which has been torn away by force from an organic whole and which is being used as a launching pad for further assaults on what has survived of the ancient country and the great culture?

Humanistic solution in Kashmir

This is the question which should be posed and answered by all those who are concerned with what is called the Kashmir problem but what, in fact, is the problem presented by terrorist and totalitarian ideologies operating under religious cloaks. And it must be admitted that none of these questions can be answered except with the help of history. A humanistic solution is one based on removing hatred from the minds of people. And what creates the hatred in the minds of the majority community in Kashmir? The Quran does it by calling for the conversion or slaughter of all non-Muslims. The restoration of democracy is also a viable solution to this problem.

Effects of the Days of Partition

Although the nature of aggression from the days of Partition may have changed, violence continues on an almost daily basis with the deaths of civilians, but also armed forces and resistance fighters. This has far reaching implications for the society as a whole. If the Kashmir debacle, 60 years ago was complex, today it has become embroiled in an array of issues which add to the chaos and confusion further prolonging the tragedy. To bring the problem to a close all involve must confront its roots.

References:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/02/2970366.htm?section=justin

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gwfOJCB_u0Qyvqbv4W7_cwv6E3SQ

August 9, 2010 - Posted by windowmelodies | News | days of Partition, Kashmir, non-Muslims, Quran, South Asia