12/14/08

On the Issue of Pakistan and Kashmir

The entire mess that we are in right now with Pakistan and Kashmir is sickening, and to a great extent the fault of the British. The reason why Pakistan even exists as a state today is because of British divide and rule, so it becomes increasingly important to understand that Pakistan, although and autonomous state is and integral part of India and has always been India. Only bad politics has defined it otherwise. Fighting is useless and will only lead to hatred and I don't believe that we could ever solve this problem through coercion, of course, I was never one to believe that any solution can come appropriately through coercion. 

I would advise the Indian Government to let Kashmir govern itself and to police itself to the point where Kashmir is an autonomous state but still part of the Union of India. Separatism really announces the unhappiness and fear that the people have of an abusive central government. It is no lie that the central government is quite large and has hindered the whole of India for the first 60 years or so of it's reign. I understand why separatism may become a desire for many of communities of India. A proper solution is autonomy in all aspects of politics, so that the people of Kashmir can begin to govern themselves as they have been for the majority of their history. 

But as you can see, certain implications would arise. Wouldn't all other states have to been autonomous as well? In an ideal world: Yes. It would be a great idea for India to become much less centrally governed. I would advocate that the sate governments make all the decisions for its respective state, so that democracy can become more and more localized. I would further advocate that perhaps certain states relinquish all of it's power to further subcategories. 

This is how a Democracy of 1 billion + people can work. Otherwise it is just a joke. 

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