Kashmir dispute

Sir, - Prof. Jean Dreze's article ``Kashmir: manufacturing ethnic conflict'' (TheHindu, March 29) serves to confuse rather than clarify the parameters of the Kashmir dispute and even makes certain simplistic statements. The issue has remained without a solution since the Partition.

It is not very fair on the part of Prof. Dreze to contend that ``the present stand of the Indian Government is a trifle contradictory''. India has always rejected third party mediation and focussed on resolving the issue bilaterally - as is evidenced in the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration. That Pakistan went back on the spirit of the Agreement and the Declaration is another matter.

Prof. Dreze seems to conveniently lose sight of the fact that Pakistan-trained terrorists and religious fundamentalists have, over the years, infiltrated into Kashmir to sow seeds of disaffection aiming at subversion. If our military and paramilitary forces are increasingly becoming visible all over Kashmir, it is only to meet the exigencies of the geo-political realities as they are today.

One joins issue with Prof. Dreze on his observation that Kashmir is treated like a colony by India. Is he not aware that elections are held there from time to time ensuring that they are always fair? Prof. Dreze observes that ``when Pakistan approaches India for talks it is told that Kashmir is an internal matter''. This is a distortion. What else does he expect India to state in a dispute situation? How does he look at the parameters of the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration?

Prof. Dreze states that India has attempted to entice the people of Kashmir. What India has attempted is to provide socio-economic development to a State with felt-needs and not to fool the people.

It is unfortunate that his tete-a-tete with some home-bound paramilitary personnel during a train journey and talks with residents of some far-flung areas of Kashmir should have led to his revising some of his perceptions relating to the politics and people of Kashmir in relation to the Kashmir strategy of the Government.

K. John Mammen,

Thiruvananthapuram

Sir, - Prof. Jean Dreze's article reveals the unimaginative stand of the Central Government and its over-reliance on security forces to bring about peace in Kashmir. The Centre would do better by engaging the various political outfits in an honest dialogue than by pumping muscle power into a State administration that is largely regarded as its stooge.

Finally, if Kashmir continues to be an intra-national and international mess too complex for simple solutions then it is time to allow ``new ideas to proliferate and not weapons'' as Mr. Clinton said in his recent visit to this country.

The bottom line is: If Kashmir means so much to us that we keep sacrificing so many of our soldiers there, then it is up to us to sell the Kashmiris a vision of Kashmir in India that would enthuse them about Indian Statehood. Who knows, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir too would clamour for it, if we can prove that our concern for preserving democratic traditions is real.

Mushtaqh Ali,

Chennai

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Opinion
Previous : Reservation and the OBCs
Next     : Beyond Pachmarhi