Posted on 12/09/2011 1:39:47 PM PST by bananaman22
Every now and again, one reads an editorial that stops the reader in his tracks.
On 8 December, with the headline "War Inevitable To Tackle Indian Water Aggression," Pakistan’s Urdu-language Nawa-e Waqt, issued such a screed.
Nawa-e Waqt bluntly commented on India’s Kashmiri water polices and Islamabad’s failure up to now to stop New Delhi’s efforts to construct hydroelectric dams in Kashmir, “India should be forcibly prevented from constructing these dams. If it fails to constrain itself, we should not hesitate in launching nuclear war because there is no solution except this.”
Potential nuclear war over water rights – such sentiments ought to light up switchboards from New Delhi to Washington.
Needless to say, the fact that both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers is cause for concern.
Nawa-e Waqt is a privately owned, widely read conservative Pakistani Islamic daily with a circulation around 125,000 and is heavily critical of the U.S. and India. To put Nawa-e Waqt’s circulation in context, consider that the conservative Washington Times has a current estimated circulation of 50,000.
So, what has the editorial board of the Nawa-e Waqt so excited?
Indian dam building in the disputed area of Kashmir. Compared with much of South Asia, Kashmir has many rivers and relatively few people.
Bashir Ahmad, a geologist in Srinagar, Kashmir commented grimly about the Indians’ future intentions, “They will switch the Indus off to make Pakistan solely dependent on India. It’s going to be a water bomb.” A more dispassionate report by America’s Senate last February offered still a similar assessment, noting, “The cumulative effect of (the dam) projects could give India the ability to store enough water to limit the supply to Pakistan at crucial moments in the growing season” before concluding that dams are a source of “significant bilateral tension.”
How many dams and hydroelectric reports? The Senate report counted 33 hydroelectric projects in the border area, a number that Pakistani analysts nearly double to 60, which according to the state’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, will add an extra 3,000 megawatts to the national power grid by 2019.
Pakistan’s vulnerability is underwritten by the fact that, like Egypt it exists around a single great river, although the Indus is nearly twice the Nile’s size Full article at: Pakistani Editorial Says Nuclear War with India “Inevitable” as Water Dispute Continues
If it is “Inevitable” might as well just get start now.
If it is “Inevitable” might as well just get started now.
Even when Israel and South Africa joined the club, nothing really changed. South Africa eventually relinquished their weapons.
Now Pakistan and North Korea have no problem rattling sabres and threatening their neighbors. Iran can't wait to use nukes to destroy Israel. I have no doubt that regimes like these will use nuclear weapons against their neighbors. Additionally they will put those weapons into the hands of surrogates. This will, of course, result in their own destruction.
That might actually solve many of our problems with Af-Pak.
How about if they hold it in Iran?
An idiotic apples and oranges comparison.
A "conservative" Muslim is one that espouses Islamic extremism.
A "conservative" American is one that advocates adherence to the Constitution.
And the Washington Times is hardly a mainstream publication
Nuclear conflict. Yeah, that’ll solve the water problem.
Mutually assured destruction, indeed.
Won’t the fallout contaminate all that water?
True. Paah-Kee-Stahn has about 2/3 the population of the U.S. and a 50% literacy rate meaning the paper is much more influential than the Washington Times.
Supporting suspicion that the authors may be insane:
Hydroelectric dams still require that he water actually run through the turbines and through the dam don’t they?
This seems to fly in the face of claims that the water will be cut off doesn’t it?
Pakistan has newspapers? Really, who new?
Pakistan has newspapers? Really, who new?
Let them blow each other to hell then those left can drink atomic water.
(And call me cynical but I have a hard time believing that South Africa relinquished all their weapons.)
Pakistan's Urdu-language Nawa-e Waqt... "India should be forcibly prevented from constructing these dams. If it fails to constrain itself, we should not hesitate in launching nuclear war because there is no solution except this." ... Nawa-e Waqt is a privately owned, widely read conservative Pakistani Islamic daily... the conservative Washington Times has a current estimated circulation of 50,000.... Compared with much of South Asia, Kashmir has many rivers and relatively few people.
You are cynical, but cynicism has its place. I don't believe the slave/citizens of North Korea deserve an atomic apocalypse. The leadership does. As for Pakistan, the gene pool needs cleaning once in a while.
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