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| Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
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Progress down road to peace for Kashmir in 2005 NEW DELHI, India, Saturday (AFP) The guns have been silent for over a year across the de facto frontier dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan and the two countries are playing cricket on each other's home turf. Step by step, the nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars - twice over the flashpoint of Kashmir - are trying to move towards a lasting peace, analysts say. "Both countries are now trying to tread a different path, shifting from paranoia and reflexive hostility to a more rational way of looking at each other," wrote columnist Ayaz Amir in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. Still, there is no quick fix to the problems bedevilling relations between the rivals in South Asia, which former US president Bill Clinton called "the most dangerous place on earth." "We shouldn't be surprised if it takes years for a settlement. After all this conflict is nearly 60 years old," said Indian analyst Mahesh Rangarajan, who teaches politics at Cornell University in the United States. Analysts expect progress to be stop-start in the Indo-Pakistan "comprehensive dialogue" launched in January which aims to resolve a range of disputes, including the bitter Kashmir row. New Delhi says it is ready to examine ideas put forward by Pakistan to resolve all issues as long as Islamabad honours its pledge to crack down on "cross-border terrorism." India accuses Pakistan of pushing militants across the border to join the 15-year-old revolt against New Delhi's rule over the Indian-held portion of Kashmir that has left over 40,000 dead. Mainly Hindu India and majority Muslim Pakistan were born in 1947 when British India was split along religious lines. Kashmir went to India but Pakistan has always said the region should belong to it. A war soon after 1947 left Kashmir divided but both countries claim it in full. India holds the core of Kashmir, the heart-stoppingly scenic Vale of Kashmir. It views Jammu and Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority state, as an integral part of the nation and a cornerstone of its secular identity. As part of its peace drive, India is seeking normalisation on economic, cultural and other fronts and has proposed 72 "confidence-building measures." Business leaders on both sides are enthusiastic about the potential for economic cooperation. India's foreign minister Natwar Singh says ties between the nations have always been "accident-prone" but the atmostphere "has considerably improved and it's our endeavuor to see it remains so." |
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