Non-territorial Settlement: Towards a Second Partition

Mohan Krishen Teng

Engagement with Pakistan, which the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has commended to the Indian People as “a way forward” to establish a relationship of peace, is in real terms a prescription for the second Partition of India. The composite dialogue between the two countries and the long Track Two negotiations held behind the scenes for over a decade now, have centered round the quest for a settlement on Jammu & Kashmir, which is acceptable to the Muslims of Pakistan and the Muslims of Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian Prime Minister’s claim to have formulated proposals envisaging a non-territorial solution on Jammu & Kashmir, which does not involve any territorial adjustments and which would be acceptable to Pakistan and the Muslims of Jammu & Kashmir, is deceptively simple. A Muslim sphere of interest In essence, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s approach underlines the recognition of Jammu & Kashmir as a separate sphere of Muslim interest in the Republic of India. The proposed non-territorial settlement seems to essentially envisage the inclusion of Jammu & Kashmir in the territories of India, but at the same time exclude it from the secular political organization of India. The approach further envisages the exclusion the state of Jammu & Kashmir from the territories of Pakistan, while at the same time including it in the political organization of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The methods and means of balancing the act of the inclusion of Jammu & Kashmir in the territories of India and its exclusion from the Indian political organization and the exclusion of the state from the territories of Pakistan with its inclusion into the political organization of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, are spelt out in the proposals made by General Musharraf, the then President of Pakistan. Gen. Musharraf, by no means a friend of India, had the opportunity of a lifetime, perhaps one he never expected to come his way, to accept the formula of a non-territorial settlement on Jammu & Kashmir which virtually opens the way for the Second Partition of India. Cabinet Mission Part II Musharraf accepted the formula of a non-territorial solution on Jammu & Kashmir exactly the way the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan. The principles underlying the non-territorial concept as envisaged by Manmohan Singh are identical with the principles which underlined the Cabinet Mission Plan. The Cabinet Mission Plan underlined the recognition of a separate sphere of influence with a separate political organization, constituted of the Muslim majority provinces of British India, within a broad structure of a future confederation of India. Ironically, British historians of the Partition of India later made the startling revelation that the Cabinet Mission Plan was originally conceived by the senior Muslim leadership of the Indian National Congress! When the Muslim League accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan, Jinnah exclaimed that he had accepted the Plan because it recognized the principle of Pakistan. History proved Jinnah right. The Cabinet Mission Plan led straight to the Partition of India in 1947. Musharraf had no reason to be dissatisfied with the non-territorial solution of Jammu & Kashmir. Like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, he was wise enough to understand where the recognition of Jammu & Kashmir into a separate Muslim sphere of interest in India would lead to. India, he must have felt, was the one country where History would repeat itself. The Cabinet Mission Plan was a prescription for the complete balkanization of India. The British officials and men, who were close witnesses of the events in India those days, wrote later that had the Cabinet Mission Plan been implemented, India would have broken into several fragments. The Government of Pakistan must be fully aware that the de jure recognition of Jammu & Kashmir into a separate Muslim sphere of influence in India would disrupt the Sanskrit content of the northern frontier of India, and shift the battlefront from the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir to the Shivalik plains situated to the east of river Ravi. Incomplete final settlement Neither the Prime Minister of India, nor the Indian Foreign Office, have provided the people of India a clear exposition on the content and contours of the non-territorial settlement on Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian Prime Minister has publicly only stressed the necessity to render the Line of Control irrelevant as the basis of their perspective. The Indian Prime Minister has also unambiguously stated that some sort of final settlement had already been arrived at between India and Pakistan during the rule of Pervez Musharraf, which could not be given a practical shape because of the internal instability in Pakistan. However, a clear exposition of the terms and conditionalities of the proposed settlement on Jammu & Kashmir was made by former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. The broad structure of the proposals he made underlined: – Demarcation of the Muslim majority regions of the state including those situated to the west of river Chenab from the Hindu majority areas situated mainly to the east of river Chenab. – Dissolution of the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. – The demilitarization of the State. – Self-rule. – Joint management of the State by India and Pakistan. Gen. Musharraf left no one in doubt about the fact that the proposals he made formed the broad framework of the negotiations which took place between the two countries, almost up to the time Musharraf was forced to step down from office. Whether the new successor Government in Pakistan accepted to continue negotiations with the Indian Government on the basis of the Musharraf Plan, is not yet clear. It is, however, clear that the Indian Government did not abandon its commitment to implement the proposals Musharraf had made. Integration with Pakistan in 10 years An overall assessment of Musharraf Plan leaves no one in doubt about its import. The plan is an ingenious road map to bring about the unification of Jammu & Kashmir with Pakistan within a period of ten years. Musharraf Plan has specified ten years, after which the whole process would be subject to review. The demarcation of the Muslim majority regions of the state and their reorganization into five Muslim majority zones, and the reorganization of the two and a half districts of Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur into a Hindu majority zone, is aimed to confine the Hindu and Sikh population of the State, nearly four million, towards the east of river Chenab. The dissolution of the Line of Control through the stratagem of creating a porous border and joint management is actually aimed to integrate the five Muslim majority zones of the State with the occupied territories of POK. These occupied territories have been used by Pakistan as a springboard of Jihad against India The demilitarization of the State, which forms the most prominent part of the Musharraf Plan, is aimed at the withdrawal of the Indian security forces from the Muslim majority zones of the state, and their replacement by the militarized separatist forces which have been fighting against India for the last two decades. Deceptive self-rule The most deceptive of the conditionalities envisaged by the Musharraf Plan is the implementation of self-rule in the State. Self-rule underlines the transfer of power in the state to Muslim separatist regimes through the instrumentalities of multiple legislative bodies constituted to fortify Muslim demographic domains. The last, and in fact the least conspicuous part of the Musharraf Plan underlines the transfer of the de facto control over the State to the Government of Pakistan, which after the period of ten years, would be followed by the transfer of de jure control over the State. When the army of the Sikh monarch, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, chased the Durrani Afghans across the river Attock in the north-west of India and fought its way up to Daulat Beg Ouldi in the north of Ladakh, the Sikhs closed the routes of invasion into India from the north. The dissolution of the Line of Control will only shift the battlefront with Pakistan to the Shivalik plains of Jammu situated to the east of river Ravi.

Prof MK Teng is a retired Professor and Head of the Political Science Department of Kashmir University; he has authored many books, including a seminal work on Article 370

A zealous landscape,
a dynamic psyche,
where heavens and earth rendezvous,
and angels cast spell,
a rush of blood to the head,
and an escapade to the ever-curious soul,
Play, seek and unearth my entity
and you will find your destiny.

Angelic music lies in my spirit,
I dance to the beats of the universe,
Such are my evangelical denizens,
They always follow my path.
Sculpting a new tomorrow in the making,
Splashing vividness across my texture,
they seek inspiration,
and I give them their tabula rasa.

The exquisite home to many strangers,
a gracious host to the occassion,
For beauty lies in my bosom,
where creatures and nature blend in perfect harmony,
come hither and lay beneath my shadows.

I am the heavenly abode,
where great saints prayed and meditated.
I am the holy shrine,
where people find solace and salvation.
Lay beneath this tough exterior,
a ray of hope, a release from suffering,
For I am the immortal supreme being,
and a conduit to the kingdom come.

For full video, please click on this news video: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-11-16/938984040099.html

On 15th November, 2009: This lucky black bear in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India is extremely lucky to be alive today, for it survived the mob, ran into the Kalai river from the village it had accidentally strayed into and was rescued…(strange way of rescuing a bear though, see the video).

I have heard of  many bears being killed to death by mobs, last such incident happened in Assam where a 40,000 strong mob pelted stones on a black bear that strayed near a village till it succumbed to death due to concussions and haemorrhage..

Have humans lost their compassion? We need to understand that this earth was just not meant for us alone..and learn that we have to share it.

“Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.”

— Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

‘Shameful Flight’ relates the history of the final years of the British Raj in India, including the partition of India into both Pakistan (West and East) and India, and the early hostility of the two new nations destined for perpetual warfare in such regions as the Kashmir.The history of this era of political instability on the subcontinent includes all the main players from Great Britain, India and Pakistan.These main players include Winston Churchill, Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah. There is not a single figure in this history of India’s partition who comes out of it in a good light, though several seem to have had very well-intentioned aims and motivations. It is the true story of lost opportunity and the devastating consequences of human pride and selfishness that have reverberated down through the decades to the present day and remain visible in the continuing clashes between India and Pakistan, as well as in the extremism expressed in both the Islamic and Hindu communities throughout the sub-continent. It is a story of perpetual tragedy and human suffering with no end in sight.

This book is extremely easy to read, passes on a wealth of historical information and whets the appetite for further research on the India/Pakistan situation. It provides enlightenment, by bringing understanding to the current political instability in both India and Pakistan, by clearly revealing the root of the problem – the manner of the birth of both nations out of British imperialism and that nation’s final haphazard departure aptly described as a ‘Shameful Flight.’ This is a great book for understanding the sub-continent and the wounds it still carries to this day.

This book was provided to me for review by Oxford University Press – www.oup.com

What does climate change have to do with Kashmiri carpets? A lot, as it turns out. Here’s why.

A few days ago I met Firdaus Ahmad, who with his brother manages two handicrafts shops in the hill station of Panchgani, in the hills of western Maharashtra. You can find shops like those of the Ahmad brothers in most hill stations and tourist spots in India, for domestic tourists are very likely to wander in and buy a few of the items on display to take home as gifts or keepsakes.

Firdaus Ahmad and his carpets

The Ahmads stock carpets too and these tend to be the highest priced goods in the shops. The most common size is 5×3 feet (left picture) which currently costs around Rs 2,300 (you can bargain, naturally). There is a larger size and a couple of smaller sizes.

“It is getting more difficult to find new stock, that’s why we have to keep what we have carefully so that it doesn’t get spoilt,” said Firdaus. Why more difficult, I asked.

“The younger generation doesn’t like to do this work much any more,” he said. “They want education.” Surely they could have education and learn a traditional skill at the same time, I suggested.

“Yes, but there’s also less snow now.” What did that have to do with carpet weaving, I wanted to know.

Papier-mâché boxes and decorations

“There is less snow because the winters are less cold. In earlier years, there was so much snow we would stay indoors most of the day in the winter months. That’s when the families and all family members would sit down to do carpet weaving and other handicrafts all day.”

Firdaus said that the handicrafts work done through the three coldest winter months – when the snow outside had piled high and movement was limited – was often enough to sustain the families for the rest of the year. Smaller works are made out of papier-mâché, the distinctive lacquered boxes and balls, leather and wood (right picture).

“Less snow now means the younger ones want to be out more and spend less time at home working on these,” he said, gesturing at his stock of carpets. “It is climate change, this less snowfall. It is bad for our handicrafts.”

Yo!
Another update for you lovely people
Me, myself kashmir leese was offered the position of associate artist to Bright Space based in The Custard Factory Birmingham. This offered me the opportunity to work on the production ” Verdi’s Othello” as an associate artist/choreographer of Bright Space. Working alongside Ron Howell (Choreographer) and Jen Irons (Assistant Choreographer) with the people dancing project.
I started working with Birmingham Opera Company at around the end of october this year. And so far I have learned loads going around to several different groups of dancers/none dancers, which includes my own group The Smash Bro’z, creating the ballet section of the opera and working alongside these two amazing people and I would advise people to come and watch this production as it will be a thing of beauty! lol Plus myself and The Smash Bro’z will be performing in the Opera.
The link is below that will take you to the flyer of the production and how to order tickets

http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=e0884a94b5223f3dba20f0e84&id=901c282b7c&e=32890de90c

Peace and love
Kashmir aka Dancegeek

By: RupeeNews | Moin Ansari

There is a parable in South Asia, mainly Bharat (aka India) which loosely translated goes something like this “All night long, we told you the lengthly and long-winded story of Ramayan–and in the morning you asks was ‘Sita’ one of the main characters–a man or a woman”. Obviously one who has ever read or heard the story of Sita, will never forget the fact that Sita was a woman. In Western terms it would be like reading Shakespeare and then asking whether Juliette was a woman or a man. This is exactly what happened in Washington. Even before Prime Minister arrived in Delhi, everyone know what the agenda would be—Bharati gripes against Pakistan on terror.

Mr. Manmohan didn’t realise that each time he mentioned Mumbai and terror in the same breath, it took millions of Dollars away from business in the commercial capital of Bharat. However he along with Sancho Panza in Delhi persisted in the old story of terror and why Pakistan should be sanctioned, blah blah blah.

After the long discussion, the congratulatory interview paid advertisement (interview) with Pakistanphobe Farid Zakaria and others, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with President Obama, he wanted to hear mr. Obama threaten, castigate, and scold Pakistan–to Bharati chagrin, the exact opposite happened.

After patiently listening to Bharati whining for the years, Washington essentially ignored Bharat, tripled aid to Pakistan, increase military supplies to Islamabad, and is working on construction a Reconstruction Opportunity Zone (ROZ), and a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bharat’s arch-enemy.

Obviously Mr. Singh knew all this before he came to Washington. The Bharati lobby had essentially failed to derail the Biden/Kerry-Lugar bill and the amendment letter attached to it watered down or eliminated the Bharati inspired language in the bill.

This picture is very descriptive and worth a thousand words—as Mr. Singh “stood rapt withal”, his stone faced silence, drooping face and stoic demeanour was unable to hide the disappointment–when he heard President Obama snubbed the Bharati Prime Minister by loudly proclaiming that Pakistan was a very important ally of the United States and that it was doing a lot in fighting terror.

Mr. Singh will have a lot to answer for when he returns to Delhi–the opposition will tear him apart on why he was unsuccessful in his mission–maligning Pakistan

In a press conference with the Indian PM, the US president emphasised that Pakistan was progressing against extremism. —Photo by AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday re-emphasised Pakistan’s key position in the American strategy for South Asia, telling a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Islamabad had an enormously important role in the security of that region.

His statement, in response to a question about US military assistance to Pakistan, was a calculated departure from the tributes he had paid to India earlier.

In remarks delivered before the news conference, Mr Obama described India as ‘indispensable’ for his visions for the future of the world, ‘a leader in Asia and around the world,’ and a ‘nuclear power’ with which the United States would like to work ‘in preventing the spread of the world’s most deadly weapons, securing loose nuclear materials from terrorists, and pursuing our shared vision of a world without nuclear weapons.’

While Mr Obama continued this eulogy in the press conference as well, he paused to stress Pakistan’s importance in the South Asian region when an Indian journalist spoke about the perception that US military aid to Pakistan was misused against India.

‘Obviously, Pakistan has an enormously important role in the security of the region,’ said Mr Obama, adding that Islamabad could fulfil this role ‘by making sure that the extremist organisations that often operate out of its territories are dealt with effectively.’

I have gained confidence that there’s not an important question out there that has not been asked that we haven’t answered to the best of our abilities, the US president said. —Photo by AFP

While acknowledging that Pakistan faced the problem of terrorism, Mr Obama said he also had ‘seen some progress’ in Islamabad’s efforts to fight the militancy.

While Prime Minister Singh was bush playing victim in Washington, his Chief of Staff General Kapoor, suffering from Foot-in-mouth-disease was busy displaying his incompetence by threatening war to its nuclear armed neighbors.

Stephen Cohen a known Indophile who created the now debunked “Cold Start Strategy” has clearly said that the India and the US are strategically moving apart. This assessment comes in the wake of the reality that America’s new banker is not New York—it is Beijing. Prime Minister Manamohan Singh sheepishly mentioned this anomaly during his various conversations in Washington and elsewhere. While the chest thumping on democracy fell on deaf ears, what chagrined the prime minister and Bharati media was the fact that the US has ignored Delhi’s whining on Mumbai. Contrary to the lobbying efforts of Delhi, the US Congress tripled aid to Pakistan, and then some—it is also working on ROZ and a FTA with Pakistan. Unbeknownst to Delhi, the US Army has helped the generals in Islamabad with weapons that are under the radar or press and or media scrutiny.

‘The work that the Pakistan military is doing in the Swat Valley and in South Waziristan all indicates the degree to which they are beginning to recognise that extremism, even if initially directed to the outside, can ultimately also have an adverse impact on their security internally,’ he said.

‘So my hope is that over time what we’re going to see is further clarity and further cooperation between all the parties and all peoples of goodwill in the region to eradicate terrorist activity, to eradicate the kind of violent extremism that we’ve seen.’

Such cooperation, he said, would benefit the peoples of Pakistan and India, and the world community as well.

Mr Obama conceded that in the past the US-Pakistan relationship was ‘single-mindedly focussed just on military assistance’ and that the United States didn’t think more broadly about how to encourage and develop the kinds of civil society in Pakistan that would make a difference in the lives of people day-to-day.

His administration, Mr Obama added, had tried to change this approach by re-focussing its attention on helping the Pakistani people.

Showing more diplomatic skill than some of his senior diplomats, President Obama also nudged India and Pakistan to resume their dialogue without appearing intrusive.

‘One of the things I admire most about Prime Minister Singh is that I think at his core he is a man of peace,’ said Mr Obama before stressing the need for a peaceful resolution of India-Pakistan disputes.

‘Obviously, there are historic conflicts between India and Pakistan. It is not the place of the United States to try to, from the outside, resolve all those conflicts,’ he said.

Pakistan has important role in S. Asia: Obama

Return of Migrants : Kashmir is under the control of India………………… Daya Sagar Sharma

A Look Through the Mist

The upper reaches of areas of Doda, {Bhaderwa/ Kishtwar/ Ramban } Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Kathua too are affected by militancy as are areas like Baramulla, Kupwara , Anantnag, The muslim population in these areas too is reasonable large. The people are poor and good number is Hindu in these areas. So far the official data as is available does not indicate appreciable displacement / migration from areas outside Kashmir valley though there have been many brutal killing and rape cases there. Under the circumstances all Kashmiri { Valley }Muslims are being misunderstood by the other world as being fully involved in pushing out Kashmiri Hindus from valley. Where as the truth is not so. Delay is causing a great damage to the good will of Kashmiri Muslims as well as the ties between Hindu & Muslim could weaken more out of ignorance. Though the number of Kashmiri Migrant families that actually migrated from 1989 to 1991 { majority being Kashmiri Hindu …Pundits } from Kashmir valley is not known , the Kashmiri Pundit families who have got them selves registered as Kashmiri migrants { some also call their self as internally displaced } may be over 50000. The number of muslims / Sikhs / non Kashmiri speaking Hindu may be hardly 2 to 3 percent of this number. So when we refer to the return of Kashmir Migrants to Kashmir valley , it is taken as with reference to return of Kashmiri Hindu to Kashmir Valley { that too particularly Kashmiri pundits }. Local Hindu from Kashmir Valley is out for over 20 years. It makes the out side world think convincingly that India has some serious problem in J&K. The question that more disturbs is that when 500000 to 600000 Indian tourists { nearly 90 percent non muslims } can visit Kashmir Valley for leisure and vacations { including honeymooning } every year over a period of 4 months , why can not the safe return of Kashmiri migrants be made possible ?. In case some one contests that since the majority community { muslims } of Kashmir is not for India the Kashmiri Pundits so are not safe in valley. In case for argument sake it is accepted then the another question that rises is that how are 500000 to 600000 Indian tourists { nearly over 90 percent non muslims } are visiting Kashmir Valley for leisure and vacations { including honeymooning } every year over a period of 4 months ? Some KP migrants do argue that the tourist Indians visit Kashmir forgetting their identity ? This way one would even conclude that 100 crore “Indians are migrants” as regards Kashmir Valley . This is not a convincing plea. Rather it more questions the seriousness of New Delhi in cooling down the turmoil in JK. The foreign countries under the circumstances are getting the impressions that {i} it is only Kashmir valley that is disturbed and Kashmiri majority { muslims } had not accepted 1947 accession {ii} it is only Kashmiri Hindu { Pundits } who express rights over the land of Kashmir valley and oppose the separatist movement {iii}Jammu and Kashmir State { Particularly Kashmir region }is under the influence of separatist and externally sponsored terrorist activities {iv} the GOI has no control worth providing socio economic security to the Kashmiri Hindu or those who dare profess Indian nationality in Kashmir. Where as the facts are surely not like this. Yes one could say that New Delhi has not so far set the return of Kashmiri Hindu to valley as its first priority. No doubt as regards the economic and social support to Kashmiri Migrants Government of India has been reasonably considerate in sensing the miseries of those Kashmiri Pandits who had to run away from Kashmir Province in 1989/1990. Some of them still staying in the tents and one room tentaments provided by the J&K Government at Nagrota, Muthi, Mishriwala and Roopnagar near Jammu. POJK is under the control of Pakistan but Kashmir is under the control of India. POJK Displaced persons were displaced in 1947 from Pakistan Controlled parts of Kashmir { Jammu and Kashmir }.Sensitizing the conditions for socio economic return of POK Displaced Persons does have international compulsion . But Kashmiri migrants are away from their own homes in Indian controlled territories of the day. Government of India proposed { 2004/2005 } to add one more pacca room to the one room accommodation already provided to migrants and laying foundations of multi storey pucca apartments in 2007 for Kashmiri Migrants outside Valley have surely been wrong signals { indirectly strengthening terrorist / separatist cause signaling that GOI is not hopeful for ensuring the safe return of Kashmiri Hindu to the Valley even after 20 years } to the World community. Kashmiri kids who were in primary class in 1989 are now { 2009 } the thinking youth force of Kashmir valley. The way time has been lost has made many of them to start thinking of some dispute regarding their Nationality. Non Hindu Kashmiri is regularly so mis informed after 1989 about the intentions of Bharat Sarkar that they do not much believe in confidence building efforts of the government officials as well as the security forces . They doubt the trueness of government loyalists. The local Kashmiries are getting more and more confused ; more and more misinformed. Those who are staying back in Kashmir valley and are in teens / twenties this day have very less positive information about Kashmir being India. Enough rearing grounds have emerged for anti India forces ( Pakistan, foreign mercenaries and local insurgent/ Pakistan loyalists) to win confidence/ sympathies against India. The socio political environment in J&K is deteriorating. Any more delay for return of Hindu migrants would dismantle the communal matrix beyond normal reconstruction. The Kashmiri Hindu migrant kids of 1989/90 too are the youth of the day. They too carry horrifying memories of 1989/1990 when their parents had to run away carrying what ever they could pick. All these years it is the Kashmiri Pundit who has conducted more of the seminars, workshops, conventions on the subject of Migration from Kashmir valley . Surely Pundits were forced by the circumstances to paint the secularism of Kashmiri muslims that rough {may be were under compulsions to speak not good about the secular credentials Kashmiri Muslims }. Under the present circumstances they will not find it easy to live with the post 1990 Muslim Community. Unless assured of ultimate social security and economic benefits .Some migrant leadership may not feel the prevailing security conditions worth taking risk of losing the benefits in education, business , jobs and sympathies they are presently getting as migrants. The response the Prime Ministers package for the Kashmiri Migrants has got could make some to even infer that the Kashmiri Migrants too do not appear to be that much interested for return to Kashmir. Migration has not taken place due to economic reasons and hence government of India should not hope possible return in economic packages only. There fore some hard decision will have to be taken. Government of India must set return of migrants to Kashmir Valley as priority number one. Delay in their return is causing more and more damage to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as a whole..

 ( * Daya Sagar is a social activist and senior coloumnist on Kashmir affairs dayasagr at yahoo.co.uk }

PKKH

By Shahid R. Siddiqi. Axis of Logic

When the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets President Obama during his visit to the US this week, the two leaders will discuss the framework for strategic dialogue between the two countries.

Singh seeks to solidify a relationship, transformed under the Bush administration from distant friendship to that of a ‘key ally’. That transformation led to a nuclear cooperation deal, increasing trade and investment, educational exchanges and unprecedented security collaboration. He is keen to finalize the civilian nuclear deal and seek Obama’s support for his bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Singh may also seek reassurance that the Indo-US relationship will not be overshadowed by the increasing Sino-US collaboration.

After the collapse of Soviet Union, India’s former mentor and ally, India sought an alliance with the United States who also had interest in wooing it. In the US containment-of-China policy under Bush, India could prove extremely useful to advance U.S. interests, particularly because of strained Sino-Indian relations over regional ambitions and border disputes which led it into a war with China in 1962, though with a humiliating outcome.

But this created a paradox for the US. Pakistan was once a key ally of the U.S., an important link in their strategy to contain communism during the cold war era and a member of the U.S.-sponsored, but now defunct military pacts – SEATO & CENTO. Pakistan became highly suspicious of this U.S. ‘tilt’ towards India. Pakistan had an acrimonious relationship with India mainly over the Kashmir and water and India’s blatant role in the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971.

The consistent Indian threat to Pakistan’s security led Pakistan to develop a nuclear response to Indian acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1974 to maintain the balance of power and ward off Indian hegemonic designs. Despite Pakistan’s efforts and calls by the international community, India refused negotiated settlements of disputes. This has kept the pot simmering, maintaining an uneasy peace in the region. In the absence of progress in resolving the root causes of tensions, recent assurances by Obama and Singh, that India poses no threat to Pakistan – were rejected outright in Pakistan.

The US has used Pakistan for its own geopolitical objectives in the past during the cold war, to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan in the 1980s and then for its war on terror in Afghanistan after 9/11. While it aided and equipped Pakistan for the role it wanted Pakistan to play, Pakistan’s relationship with the US has swung from being the ‘most allied ally’ to being the “most neglected ally” and then to being the ‘most sanctioned ally’, depending upon how much the US needed Pakistan’s services at any given time. In Pakistan, the US has come to be perceived as most unreliable and is viewed with deep suspicion.

Presently, the deepening U.S. relations with India result from the changing American perspective of the region. India could prove to be a huge market for American high tech goods and weapon systems in the future. Also its growing nuclear and military strength coupled with regional ambitions could be useful to the US as its proxy for policing the region.

Realizing that he cannot maintain a military presence in Afghanistan for long, Obama needs to install a proxy power there too when he decides to pull out, most likely by 2011. India fits the bill. The US expects India to keep the government in Kabul under check, keep peace among warring factions and protect American interests.

India has its own interests too. The nuclear deterrence will not allow India to launch military aggression against Pakistan, but it can work for the dismemberment of Pakistan by promoting an Eastern Pakistan style insurgency in Balochistan and by continuing to squeeze Pakistan on the western border using rogue elements from the tribal belt. It has already begun to position its troops there under cover of “development work”.

The belief that India can hold the fort for the US is a fallacy. If the Afghans, who fiercely oppose foreign occupiers whom they have thrown out unceremoniously in the past and if the U.S. is also on the verge of withdrawal, what makes anyone think that Indian forces would be welcome to stay? Besides, the Taliban, who are bound to gain political influence in Kabul sooner or later, will reject Indian military presence on their soil, as it will represent American interests.

This Indo-US partnership, which seeks to serve divergent geopolitical objectives and is based on taking advantage of one and other, will neither be smooth nor lasting. Above all, it will seriously jeopardize peace in South Asia by alienating Pakistan and adding to its existing tensions with India. This will also ring alarm bells in Tehran and Beijing.

As of now in the current US matrix, cordial Sino-US relations are very important for a variety of reasons, mainly owing to U.S. reliance on Chinese economic support and that will not end any time soon. It is clearly not feasible for Obama to promote relations with India at the cost of its relations with China.

But this will not sit well with a sensitive India, given the history of Sino-Indian rivalry. Only recently the Indian officials, says a Washington Post report, in an outburst of Brahmanic self importance expressed concern that New Delhi has suddenly been relegated to the second tier of U.S.-Asian relations because Obama did not mention India in his speech on US relations in Asia recently. The speech was delivered in Tokyo and focused on the Asia-Pacific region and not South Asia. This, the Indians believe, is Obama’s failure to recognize India’s broader regional aspirations, something that the Bush administration had encouraged. The Indians were upset that “Washington was leaning too closely to China”.

Then to India’s chagrin came a call made through the joint statement on conclusion of Obama’s visit to China, in which Obama suggested that Beijing mediate between India and Pakistan. The statement said,

“China and the United States are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region.”

“A third-country role cannot be envisaged nor is it necessary” to solve disputes between India and Pakistan, was the retort by Indian Foreign Ministry. The influential Times of India headline read “Obama’s China [credit] card casts shadow on PM’s US visit,” referring to the $800 billion in U.S. Treasury securities held by China.

Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment said he detected in India “a sense of exclusion that’s been gnawing at them since the Tokyo speech.” He added: “The joint statement prompted new fears that somehow the United States and China would collude to manage events in South Asia.”

Tellis said this has caused particular neuralgia in India because tensions between Beijing and New Delhi have risen recently over competing border claims. India is also upset over Chinese plans to divert waters of Brahmaputra River that originates in Tibet and flows into Northeastern India, without whose water its plains would lay waste. In addition, Indians are concerned that the Obama administration, unlike the Bush administration, views India as part of the South Asian problem, which includes the instability in Pakistan.

China’s interest in South Asia, a natural outcome of its regional security concerns in its sensitive underbelly and its very close relations with Pakistan, is unpalatable for India which considers South Asia as its exclusive domain.

These Indian sensitivities will keep the US on the edge. To assure them that India was in its own league in South Asia and of America’s growing closeness, Secretary Clinton spent four days in India in July but refrained from a stopover in neighboring Pakistan.

In a geopolitically sensitive region, where the US has to cater to important bilateral interests with China, even handedly deal with a Pakistan whose cooperation in Afghanistan is key to its success and which is increasingly angry over repeated American betrayals, and to keep the Taliban and Pashtun sensitivities in mind while negotiating a exit deal with them, the tendency to throw tantrums on the part of Indian leadership could make the new partnership difficult to sustain.

Therefore, before rushing into a collaborative arrangement with India and offering highly sensitive nuclear technologies, the US will be well-advised to first test out the prickly world of relations with New Delhi.

Despite tall claims about being the biggest democracy, India remains high on the list of human rights violations and has a long way to go in ensuring equal social status to Dalits (also called the untouchables) who form 20 percent of the population. It has been repeatedly accused of ethnic and religious cleansing of minorities.

If the US could make a political issue out of Tiananmen Square and Obama could refer to human rights issues during his China visit, why should not India be held to the same standard during Singh’s visit.

As for the Indian request for a permanent seat on the Security Council, it is important to bear in mind that India itself is involved in Kashmir dispute pending before the Security Council and whose Resolutions it has refused to implement. At the bottom of the dispute is the issue of exercise of the people’s will in determining Kashmir’s final dispensation. The dispute has led India to fight three wars with Pakistan and one with China. India has stationed several army divisions in Kashmir to subjugate the people and independent sources have confirmed killings of thousands of unarmed Kashmiris and sexual abuse perpetrated on thousands of women by these security forces.

In response to a similar bid earlier, India was advised to first settle the Kashmir dispute. Then the U.S.-India relationship had just begun to take shape with limited US influence over India. But now that the US enjoys greater clout, it could more effectively pressure India for a negotiated settlement, which is in every one’s interest, as well as in the interest of peace.

© Copyright 2009 by AxisofLogic.com

Why Is India So Scared?

Since 14th of August 1947 India is playing every of its card to somehow come up as a Regional Power either by proving that it is much more powerful than Pakistan, the sole Nuclear Islamic Power, or boosting about its defence and economic capabilities to shoulder itself with China. However in its overall propaganda against Islamabad and its weak campaign  to deter Beijing and confine its influence in South Asia and Fareast every move that India had made had propagated a message of hatred, power hunger, and its fear of the past experiences of failures and self intoxication. All this can be seen not only in the speeches of Indian Prime Ministers and other public figures but has also been woven in its electronic media, entertainment and film industry financed and supported by Hindu radical organisations. Been scared India on the front shows its deterrence capabilities but behind the scene is mourning the interstate war on resources, liberation movements, and freedom movements which are further worsen by the level of poverty and ignorance prevailing across most of the country.

The article will be published in detail soon. Thanks for reading.

 further read ”Pakistan thus won the war without firing a single shot. Now Bharat is going to put more emphasis on covert actions–stuff that RAW is already doing in Baluchistan and FATA” by  Moin Ansari

PYF

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit Tuesday urged the world community to take notice of remarks passed by the Indian Army Chief, saying India is setting the stage for a limited war against Pakistan since long.

The FO spokesman said in its statement that the remarks of Indian Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor reflect the hazardous and aggressive nuclear theory propagated by India.

The spokesman said Deepak’s statement endorses Indian’s aggression-based ambitions regarding nuclear hegemony, adding it is incumbent upon the big world powers to keep intact the power balance in the region.

Abdul Basit said Pakistan is a responsible country and will continue working for the upkeep of peace in the South Asia on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

What is spirituality concretely in your life? 

It’s really been a search for understanding. 

On my father’s side I come from the Sikh tradition. The Bedis are descendants of Guru Nanak so there always was a strong Sikh influence in my life. My mother on the other hand became a Buddhist and spent the last fifteen years of her life ordained as a Buddhist nun. My earliest and most formative years were spent in Kashmir with many Muslim friends and families. My schools were Christian — Sherwood and St Stephens. And of course the whole ethos in which I lived has been Hindu. So there have been a number of religious influences in my life.  

Through my growing up years I simply was like a sponge, absorbing everything. Then in my first college years I started listening to J. Krishnamurti. Then in Bombay I got familiar with the teachings of Osho. And I always was interested in philosophical questions. How did this all begin? How did we all come here? Is there a God, is there rebirth, is there karma? What’s the truth of it all because everyone is saying different things and not everyone can be right.

I was very heavily influenced by Buddhism because of my mother, and also as a child, I had gone with her to Burma. There, I was ordained as a Buddhist monk with the whole attire — shaven head, orange robe, begging bowl.  

What kind of an experience was it? 

It was a very pleasant though hard experience. It’s completely different from what you are used to doing. We would wake up at four, meditate, have a cup of tea then take a begging bowl and walk through the streets of Rangoon in a file of monks. People would be standing there at five o’clock in the morning to give us food, one handful for every family. All of the monks’ begging bowls would thus get filled. Once back, we would meditate some more before the midday meal — the only meal of the day; then do some studies, then a little time off, then some tea and more meditation, then back to bed. It was very difficult to get used to it initially.

It may surprise many, but the area of highest concern in Bharat is not Kashmir, but the rising tide of communalism, Anti-Christian, Anti-Dalit, and Anti-Muslim. The Naxalite insurrection led by Dalits and Maoists that comprises more than 40% of the landmass of the country. Amnesty International (AI) 2008 report on issues within India: http://rupeenews.com/2008/05/29/amnesty-int-2008-report-excoriates-horrid-india.

Three major groups – Maoist Communist Centre, People’s War Group and CPI (ML) – have merged to form a united outfit called CPI (Maoist). It affirmed: The revolution will be carried out and completed through armed agrarian revolutionary war; that is, protracted people’s war with the armed seizure of power remaining as its central and principal task, encircling the cities from the countryside and thereby finally capturing them.” 

Kashmir was concerned as the biggest threat to the country’s unity but in recent years, many in New Delhi thought that they had swallowed Srinagar. Kashmir is in fever pitch. This year’s insurrection caught them by surprise. the Divide between Jammu and Kashmir now is irreparable and even the puppet Farooq Abdullah who sold his soul to Delhi for a few Dollars and a title, says “Kashmir will go on a platter to Pakistan.” Paper Tigers: Indian tenuous “hold” on Kashmir is slipping fast

The third area of security concern for New Delhi is open rebellion in the Northeast. These insurrections do not make it to the daily headlines on CNN, but the fact is the New Delhi has very little control of Assam and the seven sisters that lie East of Bangadesh. Even Chinese occupied territory mislabeled “Aranchal Pradesh” has a huge body of rebels that want nothing to do with Delhi.

Communalism is a big threat to the so called “secular” country. Brahmans in Jammu in 2008 led a boycott of Kashmir forcing the Kashmiristo strive to trade directly with Pakistan. Church burning in Orissa are problem exacerbated by the separatists who strive for freedom from Delhi. The Gujarits Hinduvata massacred 3000 Muslims and hundreds of thousands are scared to go back to their homes.

پاکستان لڈجر| PAKISTAN LEDGER | پاکستاني کھاتا | September 7th, 2008  | Moin Ansari | معین آنصآرّی |  | RUPEE NEWS | Moin Ansari | September 7th, 2008 | معین آنصآرّی | اخبار روپیہ |   This artilce has been submitted by our Bangladeshi columnist Dr. Isha Khan. India’s security establishment has identified the four major areas of instability in the country.

The land of Gandhi, the secular state is falling apart.  

For the insurrection in Kashmir, New Delhi blames Pakistan. For the insurrection in the seven sisters, New Delhi blames Bangladesh. For the Naxalite insurrection, Delhi blames China. Bad priorities and an inflated ego keeps Delhi in perpetual war (andborder disputes) with all her neighbors, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, and Pakistan. India is spending $3 Billion on an Aircraft carrier, and $126 Billion on purchase of fighter aircraft–while low tech weapons used by the Naxalites are keeping the Indian army at bay. Stones and slogans keep 800,000 Indian soldiers occupied in Kashmir. So much for the “largest democracy” in the world. Behold a “democracy” where more than 60% of the country is in the hands of the rebels.

40% of the Indian land mass is not in the hands of the Central government, but in the hands of Naxalites.

India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”

Why is Urine drinking popular in India? From Mohandas Gandhi to PM Desai to common man. India at bottom of world’s hungriest countries: Scores worse than Barkino Faso in the list of the hungriest nations on the planet Reality of Slumdog’s extreme poverty irks Indians living in Bollywood dreams

Is India a failed state? Yes. India is not a state. If India is poor. How long to end poverty in “Bharat” Affluence in Bharat. The status of India has to be looked at. India as world power! Part 1. We broke this article into two parts. World power India: Part 2. Isha Khan   bdmailer@gmail.com

India a Failed state? The Singh Doctrine for Akhand Bharat Fails India’s Security nightmares: Naxalites, Mioram, Tamilland, Khalistan, 7 sisters of Northeast, 450 million Untouchable Dalits, Kashmiris, 150 million Muslims
Women harassed in “Incredible India”: Female genocide-Persistent ogling, heckling by Indian men. GENDER MURDER:-10 million baby girls killed before & after birth: Female gender genocide is destroying male female ratio in India

Hunger in India worse than Bukino Faso. Bottom in Asia. Worst in South Asia How Buddhism was exterminated from South Asia? 600BC-400AD Replacing Hinduism in Buddhist lands: The Hindu extremists use the Safron Swastika flag instead of the tri-colored flag of India. (see Hindu unity dot org) Extremist Hindus show power using the Swastika in triple entendre–as an ancient Hindu symbol, reverence for Hitler & sign of Anti-Western Indian hatred. Many want to use the Swastika as the Indian flag.
Indian penury: The reality vs. Bollywood’s (Pornywood) marketing gloss
How long to extripate penury from india? 300 years!
Khumb Mela: India’s 60 million filthy naked Hindu males India’s budget– fit for a superpower Indian Cracks visible: Naxalite insurgency exposes deep cavities in India India Balkanizing: Naxal insurgency widening cracks into deep cavities
Murder of 10 million Indian girl babies: Before & right after birth. Why is the media silent? Sino-Indian feuds: Arunchal Pradesh is Chinese territory occupied by Delhi India Balkanizing? Naxalite insurrection widening cracks in deep cavities
The 2nd world revolution (after Buddhism) from Nepal: Another threat to India Red Nepal: Clear and present danger to India

Washington, D.C. November 23, 2009. “Kashmir dispute is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. It was supported without any dissent by the United Nations Security Council and prominently championed by the United States and other democratic states. Until now, this assurance has not been honored,” said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American Council/Kashmir Center on the occasion of Prime Minister India’s visit to Washington.

Dr. Fai said that the Kashmir dispute primarily involves the life and future of the people of the land. Because of its impact on relations between India and Pakistan, however, it directly affects the peace and stability of the South Asian subcontinent. This is a region which contains one-fifth of total human race.

He warned that two wars have been the harvest reaped from the dispute. The possibility of a third, bloodier, probably nuclear and more extensive one has by no means been eliminated.

The Executive Director reiterated that the dispute is not insoluble through peaceful procedures. It appears to be so only because the obduracy of one of the parties is encouraged by the apathy of the world outside.

Dr. Fai hoped that the Obama Administration can, and should, lead the effort to achieve a fair and lasting settlement of the dispute, fair to the people most immediately involved and fair to its own commitments to democracy and human rights. By doing so, the United States can strengthen the principles of a just world order. It will also earn the gratitude of generations in Kashmir, in Pakistan and even in India itself.

Dr. Fai underscored that the importance of the peace initiatives between India and Pakistan cannot be overstated, particularly when considering the link between stability and American socioeconomic and geopolitical interests in the region. Sadly, the potential for violence is ever-present which could catapult South Asia towards uncontrollable destabilization.

Dr. Fai underlined that in order to save the region from descending into the chaos, experts on South Asia have all rightly analyzed that the resolution of Kashmir issue is necessary for peace in the entire region. The extremist elements in the region have hijacked what is essentially a political issue and have used it as a convenient alibi for realizing their sinister agenda. This fringe element has mastered the art of brining the two neighbors to the brink of war. At present, the unpredictability of the Afghan rebellion and it’s ever widening encroachment on governmental control directly threatens both regional and international stability. Nothing would be as catastrophic of Pakistan collapsing under the weight of militant tyranny. As a candidate President Obama mentioned on October 30, 2008, “We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation

with those militants.”

Dr. Fai said that now is the time that President Obama tells Indian Prime Minister that the past sixty years history bears testimony that arm-twisting methods have not helped in containing or defeating the political dissent. This simplistic strategy has proven dangerously counterproductive and augmented regional instability. It may be reiterated that suppressing the political dissent and suffocating the public opinion is like laying of a minefield that has the potential of blowing up on the slightest touch.

“The United States paved the way for freedom around the world and it can help the people of Kashmir achieve peace, freedom and self-determination. Indeed, the appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir would hasten the progress of peace and reconciliation in the region, particularly India, Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan,” Dr. Fai emphasized.

For more information, please call: gnfai2003@yahoo.com

Received via email

Srinagar, November 24 (KMS): The APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq briefed a European Union delegation, today, about the gross human rights violations by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. The delegation comprising New Delhi based diplomats, Mr Olof Lindgren, Ms Daniele, Mr. Lon Dela Riva, Mr Jean M Debouller and Mr Oscar Schlyter, met the APHC Chairman in Srinagar.

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