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Bad for Business: India’s White Elephant Kashmir – Part 2
Ultimately the referendum in Scotland was held in a peaceful manner, and the people decided according to their own free will not to be an independent nation. This was undoubtedly a victory for democratic principles and universal values. The people of Kashmir do not want anything more than that. They want the same principle to be equally applicable to Kashmir. Let the people decide.The Kashmir Dispute and The Role of the United Nations
When the Kashmir dispute erupted in 1947-1948, the world powers championed the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be ascertained in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of…
Kashmir Beyond Platitudes: The Responsibility to Protect
Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream / I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been / To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen / They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed…. –lyrics by Jimmy Page from the song Kashmir, performed by Led Zeppelin
Why, after 67 years of dispute, is the question of Kashmir, land of the “gentle race,” still lurking in the shadows of international relations, still unresolved, despite its seemingly relative unimportance to global interests in matters of resources and international trade?
Self-Determination and the Issue of Kashmir
The evolution of the right of self-determination has been one of the great normative narratives of the twentieth century. It was part of the visionary contributions of President Woodrow Wilson, who despite a deep-seated conservatism, seemed to have an uncontrollable tendency to give credibility to normative ideas that contained implications that carried far, far beyond his intentions. Ever since the words of self-determination left the lips of President Woodrow Wilson, the wider meaning of the words has excited the moral, political and legal imagination of oppressed peoples around the world. Although, self-determination even now, decades later, still seems to be a Pandora’s Box that no one knows how to close, and despite concerted efforts there is little likelihood that the box will be closed anytime soon.
Kashmir Dispute: A Way Forward
The dispute over the status of Kashmir can be settled only in accordance with the will of the people which can be ascertained through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite, internationally supervised. This was the common ground taken by all the three parties to the dispute – viz.: the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan. It was supported without any dissent by the United Nations Security Council – and prominently championed by the United States, Britain and France.
Impartial Investigation Needed in Sopore Killings
While the international community looks the other way when targeted assassinations occur elsewhere around the globe, it is hardly surprising that we should see this going on in a country so highly disputed as Kashmir. Even more so, where there has been continued resistance to occupation and to many years of disappearances, killings, rapes and terrorism, it is almost a cliché to take note of repeat performances of this insidious war upon the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Certainly we could not expect such a low standard that disrespects human rights and national sovereignty to escape notice by actors who have long had a habit of engaging in such terror.
