Our Kashmir gimmicks

Hon Mr Chidambaram had just made one of the most atrocious statements in our foreign affairs history when he said ‘Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made the policy of the government clear on many occasions. We are not afraid of dialogue…we are not shying away from talks. There will be a dialogue with every section of political opinion on the Kashmir problem’.

Is this a f***ing policy?

Dear Sir, I am not a lawyer, neither am I a certified expert on strategic affairs, but I have enough common sense to understand & judge how absurd your remark is. Your statement only reflects what should typically be called a part of the policy framework. i.e: who are the main players to engage if we are to resolve the crisis. Obviously, the Pakistan govt is one. The other could be the pro-terrorist, pro-Pakistani, anti-India separatists aka the Hurriyat Conference (all factions). I’d say that the people of J&K should not be a party to the dialogue since they have voted for & elected a state Govt which would represent them, hence justifying that they want to be a part of India. However, if we are open to their right of self-determination crap, then they too could be included in the process. Thankfully, the Govt is at least clear on one aspect, that it does not seek third party mediation for resolution of the dispute.

Now, let me define what could be our actual Kashmir policy:

• Giving up J&K to whoever wants it. If the people of the state want it, organise a plebiscite (as per the UN resolution), grant it independence and declare it a free state; or give it off to Pakistan since it is the only prospective buyer. I doubt if the Chinese would be interested in the purchase deal.
• Going to War with Pakistan in the event that it does not stop the proxy war in the state & elsewhere in our country (give them a deadline). To start the assault, launch covert military strikes at terrorist camps across the border which would then lead to a full scale conventional war and eventually provoke Pakistan to launch nuclear warheads at us, before which, we must strike at them with full force & eliminate Pakistan from the world’s political map (I fully trust our Military forces. They have the capability to inflict maximum damage & crush any adversary). If we want to deter Pakistan from launching nuclear weapons at us in the first place, we must abolish the ‘No first use’ policy of our nuclear doctrine. I clearly remember the former Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf explicitly stating in an interview that in terms of conventional warfare since India had a definitive edge over them & in order to protect the territorial integrity & sanctity of the state, they would not blink an eyelid before launching nuclear weapons against us. Hence for us to save our a**, we need to mend our Nuclear Doctrine.
• Converting the Line of Control into the International Border. This means that we would have to let go of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
• Recognising the International Border by reclaiming PoK. This can be done by using option 2 above. The only difference could be that by the time we take control of PoK (and before the war escalates to a nuclear level), Uncle Sam or some other useless entities like the UN call for a ceasefire & the conflict ends.

If the government is serious to resolve this imbroglio, it must first set its own house in order. We have to be crystal clear in our minds about what we want, our expectations, the extent to which we are willing to compromise & the repercussions of the probable solution. This approach of firing shots in the dark, hoping that it would hit some target, will not work, at least not in this case.