Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
grown up in a stone-throwing culture where baiting and attacking security forces, and be-
ing viciously attacked and even killed in return, had become part of regular life from the
age of nine or ten. This led to a declining work culture with poor job opportunities because
there was no significant private sector investment.
There has been little improvement since then and some facets of the insurgency continue,
with Pakistan continuing to allow and facilitate militants to cross its border into Kashmir.
Despite poor performance in the official economy, however, Srinagar shows signs of grow-
ing consumerism. The city is thriving both on black money that circulates widely, much of
it flowing across the LoC from Pakistan. There is also widespread corruption involving the
security forces as well as the state government. This means there are strong vested interests
that see no need to bring normalcy to the state.
Peace Talks
Politicians, businessmen and many others in both India and Pakistan increasingly want to
move ahead and normalize relations, and to put aside the primary issue of Kashmir and the
LoC that they know will not be settled in the foreseeable future. India's two prime ministers
since 1998 - Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh - both pursued the cause of peace
with Pakistan, even though their efforts were disrupted by terror attacks and cross-border
incidents triggered by Pakistan. Manmohan Singh spelt out the reasons for his initiatives
in May 2010 at one of his rare formal press conferences in Delhi, when he stated that In-
dia 'cannot realize its full development potential unless we have the best possible relations
with our neighbours - and Pakistan happens to be our largest neighbour'.
He missed an opportunity here to give shape and logic to his often criticized determin-
ation to have talks with Pakistan. Imagine the headlines if he had done, such as 'Pakistan
peace will boost India, to 12 per cent growth', or 'Singh adds econ logic to Pak peace
Pakistan stunts India's economy', but the positive message would have won through, and
Singh might have been mocked less for his (unrealizable) wish to be written into the his-
tory books as the prime minister who made peace with Pakistan. People would have begun
to understand why he - and Vajpayee before him - were so keen on mounting seemingly
futile bids with India's increasingly dangerous neighbour. Peace, however, is not essential
for economic success - there was strong growth in the 1990s and 2000s when there were
extensive conflicts with Pakistan and cross-border terrorism.
Shivshankar Menon picked up the theme in his August 2011 lecture, saying: 'We need
to work for a peaceful periphery. We have an interest in the peace and prosperity of our
neighbours, removing extremism and threats from their soil, as we are doing successfully
