Fresh Blood From an Old Wound
By Pankaj Mishra, the author of Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 02/12/08):
Midway through last week’s murderous rampage in Mumbai, one of the suspected gunmen at the besieged Jewish center called a popular Indian TV channel. Speaking in Urdu (the primary language of Pakistan and many Indian Muslims), he ranted against the recent visit of an Israeli general to the Indian-ruled section of the Kashmir Valley. Referring to the Pakistan-backed insurgency in the valley, and the Indian military response to it, he asked, “Are you aware how many people…
We must not lose sight of the real enemy
By Bronwen Maddox (THE TIMES, 01/12/08):
Yesterday a Pakistani security official said that if India now put more forces on to the disputed Kashmir border, the Pakistani Army would do likewise. By the way, that would mean that Pakistan put less effort into fighting the Taleban on its western border, he added, in an unsubtle warning to the US and Britain. Pakistan understands only too well that for the West its border with Afghanistan represents the frontline in the war on terror.
On the Pakistani side priorities are different. As the calls go up for a clampdown on terrorists, Islamabad’s most urgent desire…
A Jihad Grows in Kashmir
By Pankaj Mishra, the author, most recently, of Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2/08/08):
For more than a week now, hundreds of thousands of Muslims have filled the streets of Srinagar, the capital of Indian-ruled Kashmir, shouting “azadi” (freedom) and raising the green flag of Islam. These demonstrations, the largest in nearly two decades, remind many of us why in 2000 President Bill Clinton described Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan, as “the most dangerous place on earth.”
Mr. Clinton sounded a bit hyperbolic back then.…
The danger for India in Pakistan’s weasel words
By Nirpal Dhaliwal (THE TIMES, 08/12/06):
The Times made a glib and reckless analogy when it urged India to listen to the overtures of General Musharraf and adopt the “Andorra solution” for the troubled border region of Kashmir. The President of Pakistan said this week that he was willing to drop his country’s demand for an independent Kashmir if the disputed region was given autonomy, with Delhi and Islamabad sharing sovereignty.
But France and Spain’s dual sovereignty over the tiny statelet of Andorra only works because both nations are responsible democracies that can be trusted to act in good faith. The same cannot be said of…
¿Convivencia o conflicto?
Por Josep M. Romero, escritor (EL PERIÓDICO, 17/07/06):
No hace tanto tiempo estaba con Aroki, catedrático de lengua tamil, devorando parathas en un restaurante cercano a su casa, en Multhialpet, al sur de la India. La paratha es un pan plano de trigo que se come caliente y mojado en salsa de especias que me encanta, y Aroki me llevó allí aquel día porque aseguraba que hacían las mejores parathas de la región. Al salir me dijo, sobre la gente del restaurante: “Son musulmanes”. El comentario no tenía ninguna malicia. Mi amigo, que es cristiano, lo emitía con intención meramente informativa o, como mucho, anecdótica. En…
