OBAMA & KASHMIR - RESPONSE FROM A "VERY IMPORTANT "US" SOURCE"

I bring the response from one of the foremost US analyst and policy maker (who chooses to remain anonymous). He knows India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian republics better than all of us and he advises both the US government and military. I will call him " Very Important US Source".

My question to "Very Important US Source":

"Holbroke takes charge of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and I am pretty sure the Obama administration will try to bring in Kashmir somewhere along the way as did David Miliband.



Before you jump in too - and it is not my part to tell you anything other than to give you facts - do keep this in mind:

In 1900, there were a million Kashmiri Hindus living in Kashmir valley, today there are just a few hundreds.

So how does this work?

You have Kashmir valley where 1 million Kashmiri Hindus lived. Then over the years, the Muslims start infiltrating and start driving out the Hindus and destroy over 1200 temples (all documented and true facts). Then, through naked terrorism formented by Pakistan (note: right after Pakistan gets the nuclear bomb - the timing could not be more "kosher") - the Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) were given an ultimatum and driven out. If that is not genocide, what is?

Concurrently, Pakistan's ISI built Laskhar e Taiba (all documented facts and well known to you) - for fighting in Kashmir. But these were all Punjabi speaking Pakistanis - what is their interest in Kashmir? It is another thing that outfits like JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front et al) wholly formed of Kashmiris fighting for their rights - yes that can be understood - but LeT fighting for Kashmir - please... That is nothing more than unconventional warfare by Pakistan on India. Yes, Pakistan needs waters that originate in this region.

But to attribute that Kashmir should be solved (meaning - India to give up claim on Kashmir) - is rewarding a thief (Pakistan) with a medal who has stolen it in the first place.


Please keep that in mind when you write/ advise about Kashmir or form policies on Kashmir. Remember there were a million happy Hindus in Kashmir valley. You cannot throw them away and then ask that Kashmir be given away."

REPLY FROM VERY IMPORTANT US SOURCE:


Especially after Mumbai, it would be wrong to start with the Kashmir issue. That is well understood. If the US ever does try to get involved, it will do so only after discussions with India on acceptable ways to do so and in support of efforts by the parties themselves. Also such involvement could be considered only after serious counter-terrorism efforts by Pakistan, not in response to terrorism. I do not yet see such efforts in response to Mumbai. This is my opinion, not a policy.

By the way, there is a serious misunderstanding in your note. I have never heard anyone here equate resolving the Kashmir issue with forcing India to give up its claim. Resolution means agreement by all parties, not forcing one side to surrender. Anyway everyone knows India is a rising great power, so it is out of the question.

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HOUSEBOAT ON DAL LAKE - KASHMIR VALLEY


KASHMIR VALLEY

On Kashmir and India : written by Francois Gaultier

I am born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).

I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa.

Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror.

Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj.

They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.

So sometimes, enough is enough.

At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat. It happened in Jammu, then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon. It may happen again elsewhere.

What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.

BuA end note: The capital of J&K is Srinagar (Shree Nagar) and will never ever become "Ahmed Nagar" or "Ahmed a bad".....