Gordian knots

The Kashmir conflict was born of colonial downsizing in a bloody division that is still within living memory for some

There are conflicts that seem immutable, untouched by modern science, impervious to logic or reason, and fly in the face of all that is rational. There are two that stand out: the one between Palestinians and the Israelis, and the other between Indians and the Pakistanis. Much has been made of the brief interaction between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Saarc summit, but the balloon has been pricked by Sartaj Aziz, the senior foreign policy adviser to the prime minister. On December 2, he said that there was little or no chance of constructive dialogue with India in the foreseeable future. He blamed India directly for this sorry state of affairs. It seems that neither can ever get out of the starting blocks, or if they do, it is only to step back into them again as ripples appear on the path ahead.

Fishermen from both sides are detained — and occasionally later released — and those who stray across the border, no matter how innocent their mistake, face a very uncertain future indeed. The pot is kept simmering by small events such as the refusal of visas by the Indian authorities to seven members of the Pakistani Sachal Jazz Orchestra that was due to play before 1,000 people in Mumbai. The performance was cancelled. Attempts to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN have consistently failed over the last 40 years, the border is ‘hot’ and fire is exchanged most days to no great effect or military gain. A few civilians die. A lot more have to flee their homes. The exercise in futility is then looped to play again in future. Neither country is about to invade the other and the nuclear arsenals on both sides sit on the sidelines. This conflict is one of the great tragedies of the modern era. It was born of colonial downsizing in a bloody division that is still within living memory for some. The Gordian Knot was cut by Alexander — but there are no Alexanders today and India and Pakistan remain trapped in a sterile marriage of inconvenience. Expect no early change.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2014.

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