Let's move on.

Byline: Irfan Husain

I HOPE regular readers will forgive me for sounding like a broken record: this must be the umpteenth time I'm writing about a normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.

Obviously, this must seem like a bad time to suggest that the two countries should live like well-behaved neighbours, and not like adolescent hooligans throwing rocks to smash each other's windows. Of course, no time is the right time to advocate sanity in South Asia.

Each time I have written on this subject, I have been subjected to a barrage from both sides of the border. Indian readers immediately bring up the generals and the jihadists. Pakistanis recall Indian perfidy and the refusal to hold a UN-mandated plebiscite in Kashmir.

Now Modi and his Hindutva have pre-empted the debate by a constitutional change revoking India-held Kashmir's autonomous status. And as they calculated, after token international criticism, the world has moved on, its brief attention span diverted by other crises, principally the Covid-19 pandemic.

No time is the right time to advocate sanity in South Asia.

At the risk of more brickbats, let me say that while I admire the courage and resilience shown by Kashmiris in their fight for freedom, some priorities should be questioned. Should the rights of around 15 million supersede those of over 1.5 billion living in South Asia? The stand-off over Kashmir has rendered Saarc, the regional bloc, completely redundant. Tourism and trade are virtually non-existent, and in the Pakistan-India context, even cultural visits are met with hostility.

Let me repeat: Pakistan should certainly support the Kashmiri cause diplomatically and morally. But it has gained nothing through its previous interventions. While many blame Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the 1965 and 1971 wars, the fact is that generals were in charge in both conflicts.

There are two broad strands within the Kashmir movement. One, which is supported by the Pakistani establishment, wants the Valley to become part of Pakistan. The other one, consisting mostly of young Kashmiris who are dying as they face the vast Indian security apparatus, want independence. They argue that it makes little sense to go from subjugation under India to living under Pakistani rule.

We are not in a position to force a diplomatic solution. India is just too big and powerful for other countries to antagonise. Its credentials - even under Narendra Modi - make it easy for it to counter the diplomatic efforts of an...