All this quibbling over maps and resolutions and technicalities cannot change what is on the ground. Kashmir is a region that has historically been fragmented with three countries holding parts of it. All three countries have strong armies. All three countries are nuclear armed. All three countries neighbour each other. All three countries have major cities and a large chunk of humanity within range of each other's nuclear missiles. That is the situation on the ground. Its called a stalemate. The Kashmiri people who still harbor dreams of a unified entity, either independent or unilaterally aligned, will just simply have to understand that. They have no other viable option. To put it bluntly, in the larger scheme of things, they simply are not important enough to risk the annhilation of nearly half of mankind. There is no scope of moving forward beyond the last moves made. A long time ago. There is no scope for moving laterally either, unless there is equal barter. Territory for territory. Like any corporate turf war with negotiation, concession, and trade, with clear understandings on territorial rights, exclusivity, and common competitive ground. These three countries are for all intents and purposes on top of the military food chain as far as the neighbourhood is considered. Territorially, they have no natural predators except for themselves. Now that we recognise the ground reality, let us talk about solutions. The obvious solution of course would be for all three nations to accept the status quo as legally binding moving forward for all time. Written in stone, erasable only by atomised blood. And a lot of it.
There should of course be due counselling for the Kashmiri people, with a window period and the shared might and resources and logistics of the three nations coming together as one to help and protect and rehabilitate those who wish to relocate. No questions asked. A peaceful partition. Make your decision. Say your goodbyes. And do not look back after that. You may come back as guests, but legally, and through the due process of Visas and official channels, which can be worked out between the three countries in terms of modalities, security requirements, intel sharing, and cooperation at the level of the state and the people. Ditto with trade and the movement of business and goods. Water is another issue that can be debated and settled on between the countries. Between Pakistan and India mainly. With give and take mutually beneficial for both countries. Limited not only to water, but also to oil, gas, power, trade routes and transits, as well as humanitarian cooperation in rebuilding Afghanistan. Its not so difficult to comprehend or wrap your mind around. A very similar analogy exists right on our doorsteps with the Baloch people, who have ties of common 'peoplehood' but mutually exclusive national identities of three different countries who are not exactly the best of friends. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. If that can work, why not the same for Kashmiris, who are not even as homogeneous as a single people entity, with Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists all sharing a common geographical location which they have called home in peace for centuries.
That is the Utopian solution. But while I am a die-hard optimist, I am also a pragmatist who recognises that this is probably not going to happen in my lifetime. So the other option for India today is to take the lead, and act unilaterally. Sometimes, one cannot wait forever for a solution, and one needs to be proactive and take a step after careful thought and weighing up of the pros and cons, and then standing by that decision as a single nation and people, regardless of which party or coalition or ideology is the incumbent ruler of the nation. We do not wait for Pakistan to dismatle its proxies and come to the table. We smile and hug and do business with China as usual, but do not have any illusions about their sights on bit by bit territorial erosion into our Ladakh regions either. We turn the world on its head and use the nuclear card to our advantage, by looking at it as an opportunity rather than a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads for perpetuity. We come forward on the world stage and make clear our stand moving forward as a country, on the Kashmir issue, and how we as India plan to treat it. No strings from the past attached. No scope of future strings either, from friends and allies or traditional foes alike. And here is where I see the point of a soldier like Xeric. Why put the burden of half a million forces to hold an area that is ours? Internal law and order can and should be handled by the police, with as many armed forces on the borders, as at any other international boundary of our country. No more, no less.
We fence off once and for all the entire LOC. Any resistance to that should be treated as an overt act of war by a neighbouring country and interference in our internal issues as a sovereign nation. We build bunkers and air bases. We build infrastructure and our road and rail network to facilitate movement of manpower, goods, and machinery. And we declare unilaterally a imporatant rider to our stated 'No first Use' nuclear policy, stating very clearly to all responsible countries worldwide that any act of incursion by the armed forces of either China or Pakistan into the sovereign Indian soil of Jammu and Kashmir will invite a nuclear first strike by India. No negotiations. No hotlines. No chance of a grab and hold till ceasefire for eternity. No scope for any ambiguity as to the strength of our response. Period. Otherwise there is simply no sense in having these weapons if they are going to remain in their silos, their trigger in the hands of a nation which never plans to use it, even when it comes to our own soil and the lives of our own people. What is the sense of building conventional warfare capability superiority, when we are in a nuclear stalemate and have passed the threhold of credible deterrence a long time ago? Let us send the message across to the world. We do not want what belongs to others. But we will not tolerate others trying to take what is ours. These are the only two possible solutions I see to the Kashmir issue. Black and white. Try as other well meaning people might, there are never going to be shades of mutually peaceful grey here.
), here there's a map which tried to prove your fantasy of NA being part of india (now who is stupid, let the readers decide):
