Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Other paired minority conflicts have been moderated; others appear to be on the
road to resolution, or at least management. The Indian debate on Kashmir and
relations with Pakistan is particularly wide-ranging (far more so than that in
Pakistan) and no future can be absolutely ruled out.
41
One arrangement
unofficially supported by many Indians is to draw the international boundary
along the cease-fire line, although with minor adjustments.
42
This is rejected out
of hand by Pakistan, although it keeps cropping up in Indian discussions and has
been proposed by third parties.
At one end of the spectrum it is possible to envision a peace process for India
and Pakistan that could resolve or ameliorate the core conflicts. Drawing upon the
experience of other regions, as well as South Asia's own history, such a process
would require major changes in policy on the part of India, Pakistan, and the
most likely outside 'facilitator' of such a process, the United States.
43
A regional peace process now seems improbable, given the difficulty of
getting political acceptance in both countries at the same time on a problem so
closely identified with their respective national identities. From India's
perspective any such process cannot go very far without running foul of India's
hostility towards the two-nation theory—a theory that Indians claim is Pakistan's
sole reason for existence. Indians point out that this concept is an incitement to
revolt for India's large Muslim population, and encourages other separatist
groups, such as the Sikhs, Nagas, and Mizos. If we take the Indian argument at
face value, then there can be no real peace process between India and Pakistan as
long as either retains its identity. Any peace process is bound to fail if it does not
recognize these core differences, yet no peace process that does address them
will get very far.
Second, such a peace process would eventually require a change in India's
policies towards Kashmir itself. Indians are deeply divided on this question.
44
Some favor absolutely no change in the Delhi-Srinagar relationship, others urge
a degree of autonomy for Kashmir, and a few are willing to see the state
partitioned, perhaps along the Line of Control. One reason for Indian disarray is
the uncertainty over to the actual loyalty of Kashmiri Muslims—if a measure of
autonomy were granted to the state, or at least to its more discontented elements
—would that not lead to the slippery slope of a renewed movement for a separate
state? Given the profound alienation of many Kashmiris, and the growth of
extremist Madrassas in the state, some fear that Kashmir is irretrievably lost to a
secular India, and a few Hindu extremists have advocated the repopulation of the
state by Hindu settlers. The recent defeat of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in
Afghanistan gives new hope, however, that the extremist trend can be halted in
Kashmir, but Pakistan's cooperation may be necessary if Islamic extremism is to
be marginalized in Kashmir.
The obstacles to the inauguration of a peace process are even greater on the
Pakistani side. While the Indian strategic community has debated India-Pakistan
