There is a strong case for USA to mediate in Kashmir Issue.

Before entrusting Richard Holbrook with a specific brief, it was widely speculated that he will also be authorised to mediate between India & Pakistan on Kashmir issue.However, after great hue & cry by the Indian lobby in USA and respecting the diplomatic niceties & Indian sensitivities, he was told to look after only Pak-Afghan region for the time being without touching K-issue. However, it must never be inferred from this that USA is no longer interested in Kashmir issue. In fact the recent obama policy on Pak-Afghan issue unveiled by president himself gives a subtle hint on it’s resolve to promote a dialogue between India & Pakistan on Kashmir Issue.

India is a known allergic to any third party mediation on Kashmir issue. But there is a strong case for any big power to mediate on this issue between India & Pakistan & settle the matter once for all. There are four chief reasons for this.

Reason No. one is that India & Pakistan have not been able to solve this problem between them selves for last more than sixty years. There are no indications that they will be able to do so in any foreseeable future. . This in spite of the fact that there are standing UN resolutions on the subject. Three wars have been fought by them on this issue and the solution is nowhere in sight.Therefore, it stands to reason that USA, as a super power, having a great stake in this region, should act as an honest mediator between these two countries to settle the matter.
Reason No. two is that during the last sixty years generally & last two decades particularly, People of Kashmir have been suffering tremendously at the hands of both the Countries. A lakh of people have been killed. Nearly four lakh people have been internally displaced.People are made to suffer under unrepresentative governments formed not by votes but by machinations of intelligence agencies. Human rights violations by so-called democratic secular India are on a scale never witnessed before. Therefore, USA as a champion of human rights & custodian of democratic values should intervene in the matter if it has to stick to that image.
Reason No. three is that both the disputing parties are nuclear armed. Their intelligence agencies are active in each other’s area busy to wreck havoc. A small spark anytime is going to activite a full scale war between them and God forbid if that goes nuclear it will be a devastation not only for this region but for the whole world. USA as a super power has an intrinsic interest in preventing that catastrophe which can be achieved only by mediating between the two nations. having Two nuclear armed nations
Reason No. 4 The last but not least is the reason of terrorism. It is now widely accepted that if terrorism has to be tackled fully & peace restored in the region, the key is through Kashmir. In order to allow Pakistan to deploy sufficient Military power to fight Al-Qaeda & Taliban, it must have a tension free border with India & that is only possible if Kashmir issue is solved first. Secondly it will also enhance the leverage of Pakistan in dealing with extremist elements once USA is perceived to do a bit for solving Kashmir problem.
By Abdul Majid Zargar.
( For feed back,the author can be contacted at
amzargar1@indiatimes.com)