India-Pakistan detente

Washington Times ^ | Thursday, May 8, 2003 | House Editorial

[JohnHuang2]

The incremental peace overtures that India and Pakistan have been making recently are gaining momentum, just in time for a visit by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. To their credit, the leaders of both countries have succumbed to a fit of good faith, which, one hopes, will become infectious. Washington also deserves some recognition for helping to end the two-year diplomatic stalemate between the countries. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri acknowledged recently that the detente was given a push by "friendly countries."

[JohnHuang2]

Thursday, May 8, 2003

Quote of the Day by dave23

[akash]

Ping !!!

[akash]

Factual inaccuracies

1)India never agreed to a plebiscite. The UN did however try to force it down India's throat after India had taken the Kashmir issue to the UN, at the prodding of the UK and US.

Comments

1)Not conducting a plebiscite is no excuse to spawn jihad. This article seems to full of that moral equivalency BS.

2)India is secular democracy. There is no reason why Kashmir, a muslim majority region cannot be part of India. The ruler of Kashmir signed an instrument of accession with India and Kashmir is legally a part of India.

3)I do not understand what is the US interest in "getting Kashmir solved". "Settlement" for Pakistan means giving the whole of Kashmir to Pakistan.

4)Resolution of the Kashmir issue and compromise with India will only result in the balkanization of Pakistan. The "raison d'etre" of Pakistan's existence is hate of India. It will only lead to a putsch against the generals by the jihadis and very soon there will be a islamonazi govt in Pakistan.

[neither-nor]

Thanks for the ping. Here we go agaaaaaaaaaain with another round of good cheer, optimism and hope. Dont hold your breath, though. Pakistan cannot, or will not rein in its terrorists. And whatever noises he may make now, Musharraf ( He IS making all the right noises on Pakistan TV) was the perpetrator of the Kargil war. I, for one, will not forget that.

[Pro-Bush]

[neither-nor]

Just an off the subject point: I'm not sure if that caption is correct for that Photo by AFP, primarily because from what I can make out this isn't Kashmir. My reasons:

I'm not a military guy but that looks like a float in a military parade. Such parades do not happen in Kashmir- Indian Kashmir that is.

The flags in the background looks like the Indian tricolour.

Behind the flags I think I can see a row of tiered benches very similar to the ones they put up in New Delhi on our Republic Day parades. I've been there.

My conclusion: This is a pix of an Indian parade in New Delhi ( which is perhaps 500 kilometres south of Kashmir). The people you see in the foreground are (IMHO) are not a part of a poignant picture that suggests guns and missiles in the bacground and poor, deprived, mistreated, in the foreground. I think these are people from rural India who come to New Delhi, whole extended familiers together,, in their hundreds of thousands during our Republic Day/Independance day celebrations. BTW I think I an see the woman smiling- just a little.

Just a thought :)

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[keri]

Kargil... why I don't trust Musharraf to tell us the truth, either.

Thanks for the post.

[IndianChief]

Thanks for the ping.

[swarthyguy]

Nawaz Sharif tried to make peace with India and was overthrown in a coup d'etat by Musharraf.

What will the the generals of the militarymullah complex do now? Can they do anything? Will the Pakistani elites swing towards jihadism or stay the mildly secular course they're on?

[neither-nor]

"Thanks for the post.:

Actually it was JohnHuang2 who posted this news.Thanks John!

[mikeIII]

a squirmish over Kashmir could turn nuclear.

A skirmish to squirm about?