When Two Neighboring Nuclear Power Escalate Mutual Hatred

It’s a distant land – Jammu and Kashmir – astride the Pakistani-Indian border. A beautiful land of cool mountain air, a massive lake (Dal) filled with magical and legendary houseboats (pictured above), where nature has bestowed an air of tranquility and a link with nature. When India was formed in 1947, Kashmir had a choice: India or Pakistan. Mostly Muslim, the only such state in India, politicians promised relative autonomy with their own local constitution. Based on these pledges, Kashmir voted to stay with the larger nation to the south. Today, that peaceful tranquility is a lie. Islamist separatists, violent bands of hateful youth, have mounted terrorist attacks against India and Indian nationals. India has struck back with a crushing hand.

Why? Because India has tried to reverse Kashmiri autonomy. Land in Kashmir could only be bought by locals… to keep India from diluting the local political constituency. Indian forces are planted everywhere and govern with an iron fist. The Indian ruling BJP Party, a pronounced pro-Hindu political force, has looked at Kashmir as a rogue state that must be brought to heel. Locals in Jammu and Kashmir have felt betrayed for years, wanting either to unit with their fellow Muslim state – Pakistan – or at least to be granted independence from a dramatically anti-Muslim BJP mandate. The original grant of relative autonomy has become a cruel joke. The violent tension in Kashmir has continuously escalated since 1989.

With a Trump-like “double down,” in early August, the Indian government did what PM Modi pledged to do in his catering to his base by repealing the region’s statehood and special status, including the right to its own constitution. The last vestiges of autonomy were vaporized. Indians could now officially buy property in Kashmir, and the BJP Party hoped that such land purchases would finally and slowly dilute Muslim control; Jammu and Kashmir would just become an ordinary political unit in a Hindu-dominated, anti-Muslim nation.

“The political crisis over the disputed territory of Kashmir escalated Wednesday [8/7] when Pakistan said it would downgrade its diplomatic ties with India, expel the Indian ambassador and suspend trade with its regional rival… A security lockdown by Indian troops continued for a third day in Muslim-majority Kashmir… Hundreds of migrant workers began the long trek back to their villages in northern and eastern India…

“The Indian government has shut off most communications, including internet, cellphone and landline networks, with Kashmir. Thousands of additional troops were sent to the already heavily militarized region out of fear the government’s steps could spark unrest.

“In response to India’s action, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told parliament that it would expel the Indian ambassador, and the Foreign Ministry later said India had been instructed to withdraw the envoy. The decision came at a meeting of Pakistan’s National Security Committee led by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by the heads of the armed forces and senior government officials.

“Khan said at the meeting that his administration would use all diplomatic channels ‘to expose the brutal Indian racist regime’ and human rights violations in Kashmir, according to a government statement… Khan also directed Pakistan’s armed forces to remain on maximum alert.

“Islamabad also said it would review other aspects of its relations with India. It said it would ask the U.N. to pressure India to reverse its decision to downgrade Kashmir from a state to two territories. The region also lost its right to fly its own flag and make many of its own decisions.

“Pakistan said it would continue extending diplomatic, political and moral support for people living in Kashmir and their ‘right of self-determination.’ Pakistan has long called for people in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir to be allowed to vote on whether they want to sever ties with India.” Los Angeles Times, August 8^th.

In addition to many military skirmishes, India and Pakistan have fought full-on wars with each other in 1947, 1966, 1971 and 1999. India did what it could to destabilized Pakistan, so when East Pakistan – now Bangladesh – fought successfully to break away from their larger component to the west, India was delighted. “Pakistan's nuclear weapons development was in response to the loss of East Pakistan in 1971's Bangladesh Liberation War. [President Benazir Ali] Bhutto called a meeting of senior scientists and engineers on 20 January 1972, in Multan, which came to known as ‘Multan meeting.’ Bhutto was the main architect of this programme, and it was here that Bhutto orchestrated the nuclear weapons programme and rallied Pakistan's academic scientists to build an atomic bomb in three years for national survival.” Wikipedia.

While India was able to test a primitive nuclear device by 1974, the two nations didn’t get into serious nuclear testing for two decades. Today, they are thoroughly capable nuclear powers, staring menacingly at each other across a malevolent border. Tensions are escalating. Where this goes could easily become the first full-on nuclear war on earth. Think about it. Seriously.

              I’m Peter Dekom, and as unstable as the world already is, an unfortunate and unanticipated event can alter the course of history everywhere.