[Reader-list] Kashmir...

[Shivam Vij]

Dear Junaid,

Your arguments are well taken. The excuses that you list often do sound
excuses to deny Kashmiris their right to self-determination and the
parallels with British India are noteworthy. However, the experience of
small countries within south asia - bangladesh, sri lanka, nepal and
particularly bhutan - find it impossible to be neutral. that seems to me to
be idealism inspired by the valley's beauty!

Secondly, how do I know how many in Kashmir want statehood. And I am even
more curious about the political aspirations of those in Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir. I know nothing of them, certainly not from non-partisan sources.

Best
shivam

On 16 Sep 2007 11:58:19 -0000, junaid <justjunaid at rediffmail.com> wrote:
>
> I wonder how the mainstream Indian discourse on Kashmir has been
> internalized, so much that independence for Kashmir as a non-possibility is
> seen as natural and obvious. What is it that makes even the Indian
> Kashmir-sympathizers take anything-short-of-independence as axiomatic? Why
> can't anyone here make a reasonable, educated argument about why this should
> be the case?
>
> Do not speak of size, for Kashmir (valley) is definitely larger than many
> countries in the world. If you speak of its land-lockedness, then I can
> count you a number of European and Asian countries that are small and
> land-locked. If you speak of three Asian bullies—India, Pakistan and
> China—surrounding it, then I must say international treaties, bilateral
> non-aggression pacts, and Kashmir's neutrality will be Kashmir's best
> defense. Aren't so many small countries surviving, and actually doing well,
> with really no defense in place, but just goodwill and international norms?
> If you say, lack of economic self-reliance, then I will just point to the
> great natural and human resources in Kashmir.
>
> And if it is a unique case, then let it be a unique country in the world.
> Weak, Poor, and Defenceless. But a country whose people are the masters of
> their fate.
>
> If you are still stuck up on "anything-short-of..." argument then I must
> tell you Kashmiris really don't give a damn. They fight for freedom, and
> they will surely learn how to handle it. Before British left Indian
> subcontinent, they used to make a similar argument. The Indian visionaries
> made the counter argument that you can't learn to love freedom and democracy
> unless you taste it. Although Indians have not come up to the expectations,
> and its elite--Brahmanical as well as corporate--have cozened and defrauded
> the lower castes and the poor, yet India is not doing that badly. Since
> Kashmir is not beset with so many contradictions like post-independence
> India, I guess it will outdo India in preserving freedom.
>
> Kashmir is too beautiful to stay occupied.
>
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-- 
------------------------------------------------------
Shivam Vij
9871845627
www.shivamvij.com
mail at shivamvij.com

Correspondent, Tehelka
M-76, 2nd Floor, M-Block Market
Greater Kailash II, New Delhi 110048
Tel/Fax: 91-11-41638750-55
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shivam at tehelka.com