Engaging a wider world

Worldwide there are a number of intractable problems. They are decades old, frequently involve disputed borders across which firing takes place with casualties both civilian and military on either side, and no credible prospect of resolution. Two of the most intractable — Palestine and Kashmir — have their origins at the end of the colonial era and World War II. The Palestinians periodically engage the interest of the wider world, the Kashmir issue rarely makes it past local headlines unless there is the prospect of major conflict. Our representatives to the UN and other bodies strive their hardest to keep the issue on the table, often with scant success beyond a polite hearing and the world moves on to the next agenda item, nothing advanced and nothing resolved.

This sense of circular stasis suits India well as it does not want to see the issue internationalised, and in particular does not welcome external scrutiny of the innumerable human rights violations made by its military and paramilitary forces. Thus it is that we welcome visit by the former prime minister of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik. He was visiting Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday 31^st March and reiterated the need for a political resolution in line with the long-existing UN resolutions. He was briefed by senior local political figures who urged him to use his political influence as the founder president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights.

The Nordic and Scandinavian countries have a long history of discreet brokerage in connection with international conflict and dispute. The regional geopolitical churn is creating as many opportunities as it is identifying a different set of threats. America is still a force but other forces, strategic and economic, are overtaking it as the arbiter of power and influence. With China and Russia closely engaged, and both seeing a resolution in Kashmir as aligned with their wider long-term goals and interests, the time may be opportune for figures such as Mr Bondevik to work their arcane diplomancy. The dispute cannot be allowed immortality, a fact seemingly poorly understood within Indian corridors of nationalist power.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2017.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.