Following opinion is written by Hassan Safvi from Chapel Hill. Mr Safvi is a member of Pakistani-American Association.
India, Pakistan must move beyond conflict http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/06/12/opinion04.html When the Asian subcontinent was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1947, it was decided that the areas with a majority Muslim population would become Pakistan and those with a majority Hindu population would remain with India. In Hyderabad, a province in the heart of India, the majority of the population was Hindu ruled by a Muslim, the Nizam of Hyderabad. Hyderabad is now part of India and, rightfully so, not withstanding the efforts of some Muslims at the time to see a different outcome. The reverse was the case for Kashmir. The majority of the population was Muslim, and the Ruler of Kashmir was a Hindu. According to the arrangement, Kashmir should have gone to Pakistan. However, he acceded to India. India at the time played by one set of rules in Hyderabad and a different set of rules in Kashmir. Thus began the dispute over Kashmir that has lasted for more than 50 years. The war that ensued resulted in the Line of Control that still exists today. In 1949, the United Nations ruled that the conflict be resolved by a plebiscite. The implementation of that resolution has always been the Pakistani demand, but India has never let that happen. Finally, in the mid 1980s, the populace of Kashmir rose up in revolt against the Indian government. Tens of thousands of people have died, and the conflict still continues. India has tried to paint this uprising as "Islamic terrorism" in an attempt to find sympathy and common cause with America. However, this problem is different from the one that America faces. This is a creation of the Indian right wing that has always been opposed to Pakistan since its inception. While India paints itself as the wounded party, its actions say otherwise. The number of Indian troops stationed in Kashmir to suppress this uprising is staggering. Its heavy-handed tactics in trying to quell the uprising have only caused more resentment and hatred among the Kashmiri people. Further, India was the first nation in the subcontinent to introduce nuclear weapons. Out of self-preservation, Pakistan had to follow suit. India has used force to settle border disputes frequently in Kashmir, Goa, China to name a few. India needs to analyze the decisions that have gotten them to this point. To just flatly state that Pakistan is the problem is ludicrous when a large part of the current situation could have been avoided if they had dealt fairly in Kashmir. Putting politics aside, the Indian and Pakistani people have a great affinity for each other. Many families are spread between the two countries. That is why a war between the two is not an option. Both India and Pakistan have to get past the current impasse and look outside of the subcontinent like Europe and North America to visualize the possibilities that await them if they can just work together as one large trading bloc. After all they have more in common than the differences that divide them. Hassan Safvi Chapel Hill
