-Caveat Lector-
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000006D90D.htm
Why are India and Pakistan still rattling sabres and missiles at one another
over Kashmir?
After all, as far back as January 2002, UK prime minister Tony Blair went to
the trouble of flying out to the sub-continent to tell them both to 'calm
down'. This was part of his 'I will heal the world' mission, post-11
September. Yet for some extraordinary reason those naughty schoolboys in New
Delhi and Islamabad appear to have ignored Mr Blair's instructions.
The conclusion that self-important British politicians seem to have drawn is
that the Indians and Pakistanis don't understand English. So other statesmen
are now queuing up to reiterate Blair's imperial message, presumably
speaking slowly and loudly for the benefit of Johnny Hindu and Johnny
Muslim.
Euro commissioner and failed Tory minister Chris Patten has already been out
there to poke his nose in. UK foreign secretary Jack Straw is now flying to
South Asia, warning both sides that 'a nuclear conflict of a kind we have
never seen before' could bring 'death, destruction, disease and economic
collapse' to the sub-continent (no doubt this information has come as a
considerable shock to the naive natives).
Straw's junior minister, Ben Bradshaw, has just told the Pakistani president
General Pervez Musharraf that 'we expect a great deal more to be done' to
stop terrorist attacks on Kashmir. Now that Bradshaw has made his position
clear, the outbreak of peace must surely be imminent.
This kind of interference by the UK, EU and USA is not just self-delusional.
It is highly dangerous. The interference of outside powers has done more
than anything to inflame the conflict over Kashmir. Many have commented on
how the lasting divisions on the sub-continent are partly a legacy of
British colonialism. Far fewer seem to have grasped the extent to which the
current tensions are a side effect of the USA's international 'war on
terrorism'.
On 11 September, hours after the terrorist attacks on America, Bush told his
foreign policy aides that they now had a 'great opportunity'. Ever since,
Washington has been trying to reorganise the world around its war on
terrorism. As Bush has stoked up the 'with us or against us' rhetoric, other
states have sought to improve relations with the world's only superpower by
demonstrating their commitment to his cause.
There is a risk that every regional conflict could now be blown up into an
international affair
Like other states from Israel to Russia, both India and Pakistan have tried
to recast their local conflict as part of the global war on terrorism. India
has asked for international support against Pakistani-backed guerrilla
attacks in Kashmir. For its part, Pakistan has cut its links with the
Taliban and forged a new alliance with the USA. President Musharraf has now
accused India of backing Hindu terrorism in Kashmir. He wants international
intervention to resolve the dispute over Kashmir.
The latest escalation of the Kashmir crisis has been caused, less by new
developments on the ground than by the internationalisation of the conflict.
It is obvious that both governments are striking postures for the benefit of
their domestic audiences. But what we are witnessing is also a piece of
military-diplomatic theatre, played out for the benefit of an international
audience, with both the Indians and the Pakistanis trying to catch the eye
of the USA and its allies. The trouble is that it is being acted out with
real armies and missiles.
If the rising tensions in the region are a symptom of the post-11 September
world, so too is the panicky Western reaction. The doom-laden prophecies of
nuclear catastrophe emanating from Western capitals, complete with US
predictions of up to 12 million casualties ('and that's just the start.'),
stand in contrast to the more measured analysis of many Asian commentators.
These exaggerated reactions are a consequence of the culture of fear and
loathing that grips Western societies today, rather than of events in the
Indian sub-continent. But as outside intervention continues to raise the
stakes in the region, there is always a chance that the predictions of
disaster could turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.
As the USA signs a nuclear missile reduction deal with Russia, we are told
once more that the Bush-Blair diplomatic offensive after 11 September is
'making the world a safer place'. Events around Kashmir, however, suggest
that the opposite is true.
There is a risk that every regional conflict could now be blown up into an
international affair. It seems some will not be satisfied until every
disputed area from Palestine to Kashmir is a kind of international
protectorate, perhaps run by failed Western politicians (Patten? Straw?) in
the same way that forgotten former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has
been appointed UN High Representative (ie, colonial governor general) in
charge of Bosnia.
Mick Hume is editor of spiked.
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