Discarded Lies has a detailed analysis of the whole India, China, Kashmir, Pakistan, Osama scene and wonders why the United States treats a democratic India so badly.

Are we insane? Why are we now the only Security Council member refusing to support an Indian seat? It may be that China is manipulating us very skilfully, by having Pakistan escalate its demands so that we’ll continue to appease them and anger our more natural ally, India-while simultaneously buttering India up and patching over old tensions. Why is China suddenly India’s new best friend? Could it be that they realize Pakistan is a booby prize, to be used to harm our interests and then to be jettisoned?

Maybe it’s time to start treating Pakistan like a nonentity. Not like an enemy, we can’t afford that. But like the Palestinian Authority: a formless, largely fictional entity that is actually in the control of other forces, and not a real partner but the facade of one, deliberately designed to fool us into wasting large amounts of energy on irrelevant sideshows while malevolent forces gather. Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority are to sovereign government what shell corporations are to business. We appear to be taking Musharraf at face value, and it doesn’t seem very wise to me. [Discarded Lies: Pakistani Kashmir Escalation: China Playing Us For Patsies?]

Taking Musharraf at face value is never wise as he has been lying about everything and can betray anyone anytime. Even when it comes to America’s biggest enemy, he has been lying. But then people like Colin Powell are falling over for Musharraf and treating India insensitively. For America, dictators are always more charming than democracies.

For those of you who wonder why Arundhati Roy does not condemn Islamic Terrorists here is the answer

Sandip Roy: People say you are not just anti-American, you are also anti-Indian. You complain about Muslims being killed in Gujarat but are mum on Hindu Pandits being killed in Kashmir.

Arundhati Roy: This is the standard Hindutva line:

Oct 27 is celebrated as Infantry Day to mark the accomplishment of the Indian Army in its first ever engagement just two months after independence. On Oct 21/22, Pakistanis invaded the independent state of Jammu and Kashmir with the aim of annexing it, even though the Maharajah had signed a standstill agreement with them.

From New Delhi the Dakotas flew 30 more sorties carrying further reinforcements of 1 SIKH. The 161 brigade was constituted at the Srinagar airfield on October 29, 1947. The brigade fought in the most adverse of conditions against the raiders pushing them back inch-by-inch without any outside help since the only land route_ the Banihal pass_ was closed with heavy snow. During the campaign, the army lost 76 officers, 31 JCOs and 996 other ranks. The wounded totaled 3152 ranks including 81 officers and 107 JCOs. The J&K states

Looks like Tajikistan is becoming the outsourcing capital for military bases. They have now granted a base for Russia, which will be Russia’s largest base on foreign soil.
India too has a military base in Tajikistan and will be operational by the end of this year.

Although Indian officials are not willing to discuss the importance of the Farkhor military base, foreign analysts have noted that the acquisition of the military base in Tajikistan would certainly give the Indian armed forces a longer strategic reach.

Defence sources describe it as a “modern” military base where 95 per cent of the infrastructure is in place. The runway, the blast pans and the control tower are ready. The Army is also into this exercise, having operated a military hospital there, basically to nurse the Northern Alliance soldiers who fought the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan between 1997 and 2001.

It was to this hospital that Ahmed Shah Massoud, the last of the anti-Taliban resistance leader, was brought dead after Al-Qaida’s emissaries, posing as TV journalists, killed him in an explosion three years ago.

The base is the outcome of considerable behind-the-scene work by the MEA, clinched after the US, which marked a big military presence in Central Asia in the wake of 9/11, preferred not to establish a base.

Now with Indians active in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the policy of encircling Pakistan is going on.

It was few days back that Salman Khurshid suggested a serious study of the Irish peace process to see if that can be applied to solve the Kashmir problem. Now the moderates in Hurriyat have suggested the same too.

Talking to the Daily Times, the former chairman of a moderate faction of the APHC said there was no harm in seeing the Irish model as a viable option, claiming also that it was an idea once supported by former US President Bill Clinton and it was now being backed by a couple of Indian leaders.
“We feel that among other options it can become the basis for talks aimed at resolving the Kashmir dispute,” the paper quoted him as saying.
“Kashmiris are the main party to the dispute,” he added. But Ansari said any model for the resolution of the dispute must be adopted after considering the pros and cons of that idea. No idea can work if we pick the plus points and ignore the minus,” he said. He said the Irish model must be adopted as a whole and that Pakistan-occupied Kahsmir should not be excluded from the solution to the dispute.[Hurriyat favours Irish model for Kashmir]

Earlier they had come up with the Andorra model solution for the problem. I don’t think the General will be happy with this as his solution is much more simpler

This is the season of proposing solutions to the Kashmir Problem. There was a solution to adjust the LoC so that India would give some land to Pakistan. Then there was the Andorra proposal. Now a Congress leader Salman Khurshid has suggested looking at the Northern Ireland model for solving this problem.

Pointing out to the emergence of the European Union, which obliterated the issue of territorial boundary in Northern Ireland, Khurshid said: “If that (emergence of a Union) happens here, then the intensity of the conflict will also go away,” he said. Referring to the resolution of the diplomatic and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland through a referendum that led to the formation of a Northern Irish parliament, Khurshid suggested a serious study of the Irish peace model in South Asia. “The Irish model is very complicated and deep rooted like (the problem) that we share with Pakistan,” he said.[Khurshid suggests Irish peace model for India, Pak]

Sumantra Bose has a discussion of the North Ireland type solution for Kashmir in his book Kashmir : Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace. But that requires a giant leap of faith and trust between the two nations which is currently lacking.

The decision to make the ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda a public memorial was taken in 1962. After almost 40 years it has happened.

During Swamiji

Robi Sen and Nitin Pai have put the subcontinent briefing at windsofchange.net. This week they cover the killing of amjad farooqi, India’s bid for the UN Security Council Seat, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the shifting alliances, and AQ Khan.

Yes, the Indian Prime Minister talked to the Pakistani Dictator. There are journalists visiting India from Pakistan. Pakistan has volunteered not to take over Siachen. Does all this mean that life is going to be great from now ? Unlikely, if according to this Times of India report.

Pakistan wants to bring a bit of Gaza to Srinagar. While publicly waving an olive leaf, Pakistani foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri and foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar privately met Kashmiri separatist leaders during their New Delhi visit and suggested that an Intifada was Islamabad’s new strategy to keep Kashmir on the boil.

Recognising that cross-border terrorism no longer delivers, Islamabad believes generating an Intifada is the new means to both bleed Indian security forces and keep alive the claim that India is suppressing people’s aspirations. As Islamabad sees it, an Intifada has multiple plus points. The phrase will evoke global sympathy because of its association with Palestinian children throwing stones at Israeli tanks, an effective imagery of Davids pitted against a Goliath. [Pak plots Intifada to keep J&K on the boil]

The only problem is that there is no Yasser Arafat in the Kashmir valley. So who will motivate people to give up their lives ?

Ok, so after the adjusting the LoC proposal, we have another one, this time from the Hurriyat.

The Hurriyat has been propounding the ‘Andorra Proposal’, under which Kashmir becomes an independent principality with foreign policy, defence and financial support shared by India and Pakistan. Sources say the proposal would result in the Kashmir Valley – including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir – dominated by Muslims, being carved out into a principality with its own Parliament. However, India and Pakistan would have nominated representatives.

India and Pakistan would also share the responsibility of defending a demilitarised Kashmir, which would only have a police force. According to the proposal, the Line of Control (LoC) could be recognised as International Border (IB) by both India and Pakistan but would on ground remain a soft border across which Kashmiris would move freely.[Hurriyat opens Andorra’s box on Kashmir crisis]

Even though the previous Indian Govt. had considered adjusting the LoC, now they are suggesting that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir should be merged with India. I wonder if this proposal will get approval from Pakistan as they would be giving up the land they grabbed in the 1948 war. But since the puppet masters of the Hurriyat are the Pakistanis, wonder who came up with this idea.