I will let Karan take care of his part....For now let me try and show some flaws in your assesment....
The matter of China-India relations is a whole other subject and, despite initial misgivings, I am convinced that Pakistan has absolutely nothing to worry about. The China-India relationship will never achieve the kind of quality that permeates the China-Pakistan relationship.
And i never said that India-China relationship has anything to do with Pakistan...What i am trying to convey is that we(read india and china) are not selling out on our border dispute by improving relationship....Apart from minor bickerings here and there both the countires give enough respect to each other sensitivites and ignore things which can easily be consider very provocative...This is not sell out, right???
I don't think India is in the mood for friendship, but rather dada giri. Not saying Pakistan is innocent either, but I don't see friendship on the cards in the near future.
No offence but if you closely monitor events in the last decade there are many instances where you find GOI going out of the way for friendship..this is certainly not dada-giri. Anyways as said it doesn't look friendship is on the cards..
This is precisely why I am against legitimizing the status quo. It gives the win to India and turns the Kashmiri separatists into refugees. They have to leave their land and their possessions and flee to Pakistan. They can do that now anyway, what do they gain by such a 'solution'?
Then you have not understood the solution well....There is a reason border is soft and more autonomy is proposed for Kashmir...In other words Kashmiris who are not happy with either GOI or GOP can use these soft borders on their will(a sense of Azaadi) and with more autonomy there is no reason to feel like refugee....In short it do not give clear win to any body yet everyone can feel being a winner.
- GOI won because LOC has been converted to IB and bickering issue of Kashmir is resolved
- GOP won because even though LOC has been converted to IB yet it is soft/invisible and with greater autonomy to Kashmir GOI doesn't have direct control over it.
- Kashmiris won because all those who want to be part of current regime will find them alligned to same govt, those who are not happy will find greater sense of Azaadi because borders are invisible and they have larger say because of Autonomy provided to them
Now i can see this is not an ideal solution from any single party POV however one has to be realistic and understand that only peaceful solution would be when we cater to sensitivities of all parties....I don't mind if there is any other solution on board as long as it caters to all parties...If you are not happy with this one, do you have any suggestions???
Not ignoring. That is why I prefixed my comment with "As India opens up to the world". India cannot sustain itself long term purely on a domestic market. It has to enmesh itself into the global economy at some point. You feel it doesn't need to for decades. I don't know if it can, or want to, remain insulated for so long.
See, i said decades because a domestic driven economy cannot suddenly become a export oriented market...That's why we could sustain the recent recession...Obviously we cannot be totally insulated but were able to bear the shock because of domestic market. Anyways i even said if i take your argument on face value even then it will be of no/little problem. Just think why China who is an export economy was able to grow even when west was collapsing in recession???? Reason is pure and simple....China is a cost effective solution and more people will cater to cost effective solution especially during recession, no??? The biggest gaines in US during recession was companies like Walmart....
India is a democracy. Will the voting businessman in Gujarat or Kerala care about Kashmir if he loses a global business deal because the international client didn't want to alienate their (important) Pakistani customers? What is more important to him: Kashmir or his business?
Pakistan has fought 4 wars with India and three of them were purely for Kashmir. 71 war also had it roots in Kashmir because it's kashmir which has pitted us against each other....Even now when Pakistan is devastated with flood your foreign minister is busy talking about Kashmir in UN......The whole pakistan society is suffering from radical islam which again has its roots in Kashmir problem yet people of Pakistan are supporting Kashmir cause, no??? I hope i have answered your query...if not then please let me know....
They wouldn't do it out of love for Pakistan but for themselves. Right now, for many countries, the choice between India and Pakistan is a no-brainer. One is growing in power, while the other is mired in problems so they support the Indian position on Kashmir, just to stay on India's good side. There is no penalty for alienating Pakistan.
You cannot be more wrong on this...Let me show you how
- India started opening up her markets in 1991-92 era...Today is 2010(almost two decades) and Pakistan is still fighting WOT, suffering from terrorism and devastated with floods. Now don't you think we are atleast talking about couple of decades before Pakistan can become self-sufficient and become an alternative investment for west, no??? Are you fine for this issue to carry on for couple of more decades and hope that Pakistan will end up winner thus reject something proposed above which can end suffering right now???
- Let's say pakistan did become a strong economy but there is no way you can surpass India in any way. India is huge and so is the resources as compared to pak...We have twice more youths then your whole population, how on this earth you can surpass us and become our competitor??? In short India will still be a preferred destination for west. Yes they might not like to allineate Pak but will not allineate India either, in short status quo will not change and Kashmir will still be considered as internal issue...so now my friends what's the gain???
An economically powerful Pakistan would change all that. It would make countries think twice before supporting India blindly.All the more reason for Pakistan to develop its economy so the economic contrast doesn't become stark.
Explained above...Economically strong Pakistan is good for Pakistani's and i wish you best of luck. However it will not have any leverage on Kashmir issue...period.