Switzerland in Kashmir

More people and many people are writing in connection with the proposed Agra summit. Their writings fill the columns of daily newspapers and as a matter of fact it does not serve the purpose for which it is written and only finds the writers name in the media. General Pervez Musharraf does not need this at the moment. It not only wastes time but also creates confusion worse confounded.

So far as the history of the dispute is concerned the General is well aware of it, all he needs at the moment is complete confidence of the nation and an undaunted backing of 150 million Pakistanis, then and only then, he can land at Delhi with full confidence in himself, not only to create history but also to deliver the goods to Kashmiris, to Pakistanis and India. It was the Generals initiative primarily for a talk with India round the table any time any where in the world, which led the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to change his stand due to whatever circumstances as pointed out by other writers and extended his hand of negotiation. To say the least, let us keep our fingers crossed.

I do not want to make any suggestion regarding the details of the forthcoming talks but at the same time national interest demands that our staunch ally China should not be sacrificed at the alter of International expediency which may be proposed by the International diplomacy. General Pervez Musharraf has promised not to accept any solution which does not fulfil the aspirations of the Kashmiris, we have pointed out in these columns that let India and Pakistan withdraw our forces from Kashmir and let the people of Kashmir decide about their own future. The two warring elements should rise above patty politics and behave like statesmen, unless they are statesmen they can not deliver the goods. Let not Kashmir become another Palestine for International diplomacy, Let Kashmir be another Switzerland.

Probably this was the solution, which Shaikh Abdullah had brought from Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru to Field Marshal Mohammed Ayub Khan. Unfortunately Pundit Nehru died and the proposal went into the cold storage of history. Now the three main characters Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, Shaikh Mohammed Abdullah and Field Marshal Mohammed Ayub Khan are dead while Kashmir still bleeds, let us take Kashmir out of the blood bath, which is being done only to keep the rulers in India in power and for the hegemony of the super power.

Unless the Indian Prime Minister rises to the occasion to create a Switzerland he will always be bogged down in the internal problems of India. The fundamentalist support of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Soyem Sevek Sung will always reduce the rulers of India to be an Indian only. The secular character of the country will find its doom not only in fact but also in history. With the Indian army pitted in Kashmir can ill afford to diversify its strength in other areas of demanding separatism. It’s a fact history to which Dr. B. R. Ambitkar the great schedule caste leader has also pointed out in his book that India was never a Baharat Matta even in the days of Ashoka the Great. In order to retain the unity of India and peace in South Asia armed might is not the solution. No government, no country can survive with peace of the graveyard.

War without bloodshed is politics and politics with bloodshed is war. 21st Century is going to be the age of technological advancement and war without bloodshed. The available resources have to be utilized in a manner, which is not wasted in politics with bloodshed. Bloodshed would be abhorrent in the century of the third millennium and nuclear powers as they call themselves meeting at Agra should realize this grim fact and act like a statesman to bury the nuclear technology for all times to come without CTBT.

Mr. Ali Ashraf Khan is a Pakistani Businessman and Ex-Politician who bid good bye to politics in order to concentrate on more useful service benefit of the political intrigues prevalent in the National Political life of Pakistan. He frequently writes for English and Urdu newspapers in Pakistan.