Salim, I am not certain whether you misunderstood my post or simply critiqued for he sake of critiquing, since the majority of the points you made are reinstating what I said, and the rest is taken out of context.
I'll attempt to clarify.
Already such a thing is in place. The Ballot over the Bullet! And it is working.
It may not be palatable or acceptable to Pakistanis, but then more than half my life I have been in Kashmir and I can say that the Kashmiris per se are the most non violent people of India or Pakistan. They are basically Sufis and actually they couldn't care less what is happening so long as they are left alone to their ways. And their ways is accepting the think with the thin. At the same time, I will state that with this pan Islamic wave that has seized the world, they are also changing, more so with the influx of the Afghan terrorists coming within their midst. Yet, the Kashmiryat still rules supreme!
There are personalities jockeying for power amongst themselves and the issue of ambition amongst homo sapiens overpower them in the same way it does in Balochistan and elsewhere. They fan the embers and helped by the new awakening of pan Islamic world, it seizes the popular imagination and the TV helps!
Nothing will change. The status quo will reign supreme.
Your first line seems to be agreeing with this particular approach of India, of essentially beating the Kashmiris into submission militarily. I on the other hand suggested that India's approach was more akin to the second one I mentioned, which you seem to disagree with, calling it a "misconception". So perhaps you should clear this muddle up...
Again a popular misconception. If the military was indeed released, then there would be carnage and things would have been different. In fact, the it is the military which is organising the development of the villages, the govt officials being the most corrupt! For village development, the Kashmiris come to the Army and not the bureaucracy!
It is only during the Governorship of Mr Jagmohan that Kashmir bureaucracy was shaken up to deliver, but then the bureaucracy won and Jagmohan had to go!
There are about 15 families of Kashmir who actually decide the fate of Kashmir!
A misconception? You are disagreeing with the presence of 500,000 Indian Security Forces in IK? What does that represent to you, if not a "military measure". Whether the military itself is undertaking the "development measures" or the Central Government through the Kashmiri administration, my point was that military, political and economic measures are being undertaken by India to deal with the situation. Why you consider this a "misconception", I am not sure.
You are a civilian and so you won't understand that it is impossible for India or Pakistan to "wrest" anything. The terrain is formidable and impossible for such day dreams.
What are you on about here Salim? Did you miss this extremely pertinent line in my post?
"That would result in a stalemate as history has shown."
What does that indicate to you, of my views? I would say that it indicates quite clearly that I do not see a military "wresting of control" as being feasible.
Of course, I shot down the earlier one myself, which you apparently missed.
I have seen Olthingthang in Pakistan's Norther Territories. They don't even have electricity! They are opposite Kargil and Kargil has all the facilities! I agree that on either side they are Shias, but unless Pakistan gets its act together, it will be difficult to convince!
Many developing nations have regions that are left behind. Unfortunately Zia's legacy has meant that particular region has lagged much farther behind than it should. But Musharraf started making amends by passing the NA bill last year, that allowed for greater autonomy in utilizing funds and Judicial Access.
Much work remains to be done, however the precedent set by Musharraf, and the majority won by the PPP (a party that understands the grievances of the NA, and won overwhelmingly there) should bode well for continued development - political and economic.
The Reconstruction Opportunity Zones currently in front of Congress that would allow for Duty Free Access to the US market for a large number of products manufactured in Pakistan. The idea was originally floated as a way to allow the area to recover from the Earthquake, now it is apparently being extended to the FATA, as well.
Allow me to put the earlier post in context further. It was a response to Icecold suggesting that India was "securing its position in Kashmir", while we struggled with violence allegedly sponsored by India.
My argument was that regardless of which approach India used in Kashmir, beating them into submission or using a mix of military, political and economic measures, the Kashmiris were themselves the final arbiters of whether they would accept Indian sovereignty or not, and in such a situation, the existence, or lack of, "sponsored violence" in Baluchistan and FATA made very little difference to what Pakistan could do to prevent this "securing of position", bar military intervention, which I then pointed out had failed in the past.
Therefore, the only option left for Pakistan was to continue development in AK, and link it with the rest of the country, even while maintaining the "cover" of Azad Kashmir, so that we can ensure we have the hearts and minds of Kashmiris.
