The international community is worried that a conventional war over Kashmir could break out if India and Pakistan do not return to the discussion table soon.
IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE INTERNATIONAL heads of state have offered to mediate on the Kashmir dispute during official visits to the country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan no doubt took New Delhi by surprise when he politely suggested in an interview the need for India and Pakistan to calm down the volatile situation in Kashmir and offered his good offices to mediate between them. Erdogan fancies himself as the pre-eminent leader of the Muslim world. He has been outspoken about the treatment of Muslim minorities in other countries. After the Israeli military attack on Gaza in 2016, Ankara chose to downgrade the close political and military relations it had with Tel Aviv.
After the violence in the Valley dramatically escalated in the middle of last year, the Kashmir issue once again cropped up on the international radar. The violence in Afghanistan and West Asia had virtually put the Kashmir issue on the back burner after the end of the Cold War. It was after the Narendra Modi government took charge and implemented its hard-line policies towards Pakistan that the issue rebounded into the international spotlight. Since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power, the Kashmir Valley has erupted in violence, and the border between the two countries has never been so volatile in decades as it is now. More Indian soldiers and civilians have been killed in the three years of NDA rule than in the previous United Progressive Alliance regime.
United States President Donald Trump had said on the campaign trail that if elected he would use his office to find a solution to the Kashmir problem. He reiterated this offer soon after moving into the White House. His Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, stated recently that the U.S. “would try and find its place” to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.
This story is from the May 26, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the May 26, 2017 edition of FRONTLINE.
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