Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Kashmir marks 20 years of conflict, peace still distant

One of the world’s longest-running separatist insurgencies, one that has killed tens of thousands of people in Kashmir, completed two decades last month.
clipped from blogs.reuters.com

With diplomatic limbo between India and Pakistan and stalled peace talks between New Delhi and region’s separatists, peace seems a distant dream.

After two decades of campaign, little headway is visible for resolution of Kashmir which New Delhi calls the crown of India, while for Islamabad it is Pakistan’s jugular vein.

It’s again an uneasy time in Kashmir, stunningly beautiful but one of the world’s most militarized regions.

Increase in rebel incursions into Kashmir from Pakistan, near daily gun battles, anti-India protests and rights violations allegedly by security forces: is this a re-run of 1989?

Is Kashmir, a near-forgotten conflict, spinning off into another 20 years of violence?

A policeman walks behind a razor wire fence near the venue of India's Republic Day celebrations in Srinagar January 25, 2010. REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli

The strife-torn region witnessed a period of relative calm, but a recent spate of rebel attacks is a grim reminder of the tensions in Kashmir at the heart of enmity between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan.

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