In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
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Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#2Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#3Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#4Despite autonomy granted by Pakistan to mountainous region of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, they have allowed settlement of Pakistanis from other parts of the country diluting the native population. Though revenue and governance is legally kept aloof from Islamabad, the overarching influence of the occupiers cannot be understated. Pakistani administered Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, for all intents and purposes, is a fully integrated territory. The Pakistani constitution doesn't allot right to independence and pro-independence political parties aren't allowed to contest elections. 'Azad Kashmir', as Pakistani administered Kashmir is commonly known, is a misnomer.
India, in comparison, had afforded more political and legal leeway to the Jammu and Kashmir apparatus. They curbed down on it heavily after the insurgency of millitants in 1990s by slapping the territory with a god awful special powers military act viz. AFSPA. Since things aren't going to change in the short term, it completely makes sense for the Indian interests to begin to integrate Jammu and Kashmir along with adjoining buddhist regions of Leh and Ladakh into the constitution. The protests from Kashmiris are valid, justified, and correct; but I can't see India backing down from this. They need to stabilise the region than leave it in a perennial limbo flanked by oppressive and terrible military control on one side and the insurgent, violent struggle on the other.
It is sad that erstwhile Indian PM, Morarji Desai and the then Pakistani President, Zia ul Haq couldn't put this issue to bed in 1980s when they had the chance. It will take leaders of incredible will, power, audacity, and sway on both sides of the border to bring this issue to bed for once and for all: Allegories will be written, songs will be sung, statues will be built, and peace will return to this beautiful land. Someday. The Kashmiris deserve it.
Refs:
https://rediff.com/news/2001/jul/11spec.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_(Special_Powers)_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Kashmir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_mediation_of_the_Kashmir_di...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_and_Kashmir_(princely_st...
Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#5The Kashmir issue is an impasse. Neither will Pakistan relent its stake, nor will India relinquish its position any further and unfortunately the Kashmiris aren't going to get their freedom from either of these nuclear superpowers, at least not without a lot of pain (they have been subject to too much, already). The blood-shed and injustice is simply not fair, and it can't go on forever. Despite autonomy granted by P…
Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#6Will there be a time when in the modern world, no territory will be forcefully occupied? Or do homosapiens lack the mental maturity to reach that point in their evolution?
Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#7Will there be a time when in the modern world, no territory will be forcefully occupied? Or do homosapiens lack the mental maturity to reach that point in their evolution?
Homo Sapiens has evolved to the currently dominant species partly due to its tendency to conquer and subdue - others of the same species, other species or the landscape. If Homo Sapiens were to reach this "mental maturity" it would most likely stagnate and, eventually, make space for another species to rise in its place. War and strife may lead to suffering and loss but they also provide a huge impetus to innovate on…
Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Homo Sapiens has evolved to the currently dominant species partly due to its tendency to conquer and subdue - others of the same species, other species or the landscape. If Homo Sapiens were to reach this "mental maturity" it would most likely stagnate and, eventually, make space for another species to rise in its place. War and strife may lead to suffering and loss but they also provide a huge impetus to innovate on…
Are you suggesting we need to keep a balance between war and peace? That too much peace will lead to our extinction?
It's a coordination problem - as any subgroup of homo sapiens that unilaterally abstains from violent power risks simply being overtaken by another subgroup that doesn't; you can abstain from using violence, but you can't unilaterally abstain from participating in violence started by someone else. "Si vis pacem, para bellum" will be true while humans are built the way we are.
Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#9Re: In its struggle to subdue Kashmir, India is stripping it of liberties
#10The Kashmir issue is an impasse. Neither will Pakistan relent its stake, nor will India relinquish its position any further and unfortunately the Kashmiris aren't going to get their freedom from either of these nuclear superpowers, at least not without a lot of pain (they have been subject to too much, already). The blood-shed and injustice is simply not fair, and it can't go on forever. Despite autonomy granted by P…