[Reader-list] Kashmir...

[Rahul Asthana]

Hi Junaid,
The points about landlockedness and size etc are to be
taken as part of the whole picture.I agree that taking
each point in isolation you will find examples that
will contradict my points.
The biggest point is that India can unilaterally
maintain the status quo.Lets just argue about that.
If you  want to know my opinion,I would want such a
solution in which there is no police state;no army
occupation.I do not care if Kashmir stays with India
or not.I did not want to bring my values into this
debate because they do not matter in the long run.
But if your argument is on the lines of "Hum honge
kaamyaab ek din"..no matter how many people die,then
there is nothing to argue.
A very sincere all the best to you.
regards
Rahul

--- 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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