The Indo-Pak Summit, Kashmir and the Taj Mahal

During the 17th Century Shah Jahan, the Muslim Emperor of India, ordered the building of a monument to parallel the beauty of the woman he loved (and lost). Thus came into existence the white marble structure at the city of Agra that millions today have come to admire as the Taj Mahal, a monument of great beauty. And when one speaks of beauty in South Asia, the other place that comes to mind is Kashmir, the “Switzerland of the East” where God has intervened in a number of wonderful ways. To tie the two together here, India and Pakistan are to hold a summit at the highest level around mid-July at Agra, in the backdrop of the Taj Mahal to discuss various issues including (one hopes) Kashmir.

The blood soaked legacy of the partition of British-India on the basis of religion into India and a Muslim Pakistan in the year 1947, Kashmir a princely state had the misfortune of having a Muslim majority and a Hindu ruler. The Princely states were given a choice. Join either India or Pakistan (and in a couple of cases, possibly vague assurances of independence by the British that are difficult to confirm).

Pakistan naturally expected Kashmir to fall on its side of the border due to its predominantly Muslim population. When it saw that things were not going its way due to a variety of reasons, it encouraged the influx of its “tribals” to help in its acquisition of the area. India countered by sending in its armed forces after it had received an “Instrument of Accession” signed by the Maharajah to join India. After all was said and done Pakistan got roughly 35% of the State (it agreed to turn some of it over to China that had a “different map” of the boundary), India got roughly 65% (but it lost a part to China during a war in 1962 (on the same issue of maps) and currently holds 45% of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir. And that is roughly where things stand today (plus or minus a few percent).

In the 1947-48 period, either to gain time to win over the Kashmiri Muslims or to test the newly formed United Nations, the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Nehru (of Kashmiri Hindu descent) took the problem of Kashmir to the UN which under certain conditions recommended a plebiscite (vote), to ask the Kashmiri population who they wanted to join. Thus the United Nations gave the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri population that none of the other states had in response to a request from India. India gave its assurance that it would bide by the wishes of the Kashmiri people. And if this was not complicated enough, the Kashmiris had their own mercurial leader of the time by the name of Shaikh Abdullah, who (possibly against the long term interests of his own people) ended up trying to play the two countries against one another. That in a nutshell brings us to the problem that we have today.

According to the logic of partition, being a Muslim majority area, Kashmir should have gone to Pakistan. And for the past 11 years a horrible LIC (Low Intensity Conflict) has been going on in the “Indian Occupied” side of Kashmir. Some of it is being assisted from the “Pakistani Occupied” side of Kashmir (just to be fair) and nobody seems to be winning. Add to that the fact that both India and Pakistan now possess nuclear weapons, and that the power Capitals of the world, especially Washington have finally woken up to the fact that things could really get out of hand. The “Kargil War” of 1999 was stopped by the intervention of then President Bill Clinton. He put full pressure on the Pakistanis and their supporters to withdraw from the heights that they had captured on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir currently separating the Indians and the Pakistanis.

The Muslim majority in Kashmir forms the bulk of the population on the Indian side but does not inhabit a large land area. The Muslims are an absolute majority in the Kashmir Valley, parts of Ladakh and a couple of districts in Jammu (the three main areas that make up the Indian Occupied side of the former princely state. The Hindus are the majority in Jammu and the Budhists in most parts of Ladakh. The Kashmiri-Hindu (Pandit) minority has been forced out of the Kashmir Valley by the violence and is currently living as a refugee community in Jammu and in the rest of India. Their voice also needs to be heard.

That brings us back to the July summit in Agra between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf and whether Kashmir as a topic will be discussed between them? Many Kashmiris, both Hindu and Muslim sure hope so, as do the Pakistanis who are pinning their hopes once again on outside help to find a lasting solution. India, the strongest power in this complex scenario is currently hopeful of an outcome that will maintain the territorial status quo (therein may lie the problem). But it is also interested in a natural gas pipeline from Iran that will feed its growing energy needs. That this pipeline can only run through Pakistan or at the very least within its area of influence is a thought not lost to India. India has aspirations of being a world power. But can it get there with an unfriendly Pakistan as its neighbor?

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf was quoted on June 15th as saying that he would try for a new beginning with India at the summit and “change history”. The Indian PM has made no such positive statements. But both must be aware that though Washington is not mediating this meet, it is certainly looking over their shoulders.

So what can one expect or is a fair and just solution to the Kashmir problem today?

In the 17th century the emperor Shah Jehan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned (they say) in a tower from where he could see the Taj Mahal till he died. Almost similarly, today the Kashmiri Hindus are separated from and homeless in what they believe is their own country while the majority Muslims are without a country in their own homes.

One cannot expect a solution from just one summit on the complex Kashmir problem. But let us all agree that Kashmir is beautiful and should remain so. And just maybe all we need to do now to find a lasting solution is show a little humanity.