Indo-Pak: people need actions not promises

The international community expects India and Pakistan to show confidence in themselves and in each other, and to move forward, working together closely to resolve their issues as soon as possible. The question is: will this be possible?

But how can the governments of India and Pakistan control terrorist activities when in almost every government agency, in both the countries, there is high level corruption? Just paying a small amount of money to the person on duty will allow anyone to get through the security checks successfully.

Maintaining security, law and order and a safe environment for every citizen is a systemic process. The population growth of the subcontinent is reaching alarming levels and the people still go without the basic necessities of daily life. Law and order, health, and social security are below acceptable standards. But the funds to provide these basic facilities to the people, which in turn will help to eliminate corruption, are being spent developing nuclear weapons and long range missiles.

Let’s take for instance, the core issue of Kashmir which lies between India and Pakistan. Both countries have been disputing its sovereignty for the last 50 years and have fought three major wars over the territory. In the last few years both countries have claimed to be sincere about resolving the dispute, yet both the parties have failed to come up with any proposal to offer to the people of Kashmir.

The years-long process of talks and negotiation must now deliver the accord. The leadership of both India and Pakistan should show courage and ability to put forward the plan on the basis of “give and take” by the parties involved.

Options like:

• declare both Indian and Pakistani controlled Kashmir an independent state with no control over it by Pakistani and Indian administration but have international monitoring forces until the Kashmiri people themselves are able to establish their own security forces;
• declare the line of control as the official border between Pakistan and India with ban on all the freedom activities within Kashmir;
• both Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir should be provided real liberty to have their own governments with no interference from India and Pakistan. Both parts of Kashmir would have soft border easy transit and trade between two parts. The details on the settlement must be worked out by all three parties; Kashmiris, Pakistanis, and Indians; or
• hand over both parts of the Kashmir to joint Indo-Pak administration.

These are just some options: one can only hope the leaders of both the countries realise that time is running out and any delay in finding a resolution will only assist those elements who don’t want the people of both nations live in peace and harmony.

The international community and the people of India and Pakistan should not have to see more innocent lives taken by terrorists. Similarly, the process of reconciliation and negotiations should be now moved on to the next phase of declaring and implementing resolutions.