Solving issue of Kashmir key to peace in the region

December 4, 2009

NICHOLAS BURNS’S timely and sensitive Nov. 24 op-ed “Ways Obama can tend bonds with India’’ needs to be supplemented by some observations about the issue of Kashmir. The Kashmir dispute is simply this: The people of a large territory that is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote. This was prominently championed by the United States.

This assurance has not been honored. In order to save the region from descending into the chaos, experts on South Asia have all rightly concluded that the resolution of the Kashmir issue is necessary for peace in the region. The extremist elements in the region have hijacked what is essentially a political issue.

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said, “We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants.’’ Now is the time for President Obama to listen to candidate Obama on Kashmir.

Ghulam Nabi Fai
Executive director
Kashmiri American Council
Washington

The Boston Globe