Section A·Page 18
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 16, 1999
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Battle tensions in Kashmir rise, conflict is not a discussion topic
By Michael Terry
reporter@Kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The most recent evidence pointing toward the heightening of the battle for the northern state of Kashmir came last weekend, coinciding with the two countries' independence days. According to The Associated Press, at least seven people were killed and 17 were wounded in Kashmir and in the northeastern state of Assam after separatist militants fired at a police station and set off bombs.
Despite escalating tensions in India and Pakistan this summer, many students are not aware of the details of the conflict and are not concerned about the issue.
The continuation of violence in the area was sparked by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech in New Delhi yesterday urging Pakistan to stop training and arming militants waging war in Kashmir. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made
During the past 50 years, India and Pakistan, the world's newest nuclear powers, have fought two wars for Kashmir, India's only state with a Muslim majority. Although many students are aware that there is a conflict in the region, it does not seem to be the topic of Friday or Saturday night discussions.
similar charges toward India in his Independence Day speech Saturday.
Nathan Chang, Olathe sophomore, said that he knew India and Pakistan had been fighting for many years, but that he didn't know what the conflict was about.
"I think it would be interesting, but right now I'm really busy," he said.
Nick Spacek, Lansing junior, said that he had read about the conflict, but that he was not able to follow it on a regular basis because of a lack of coverage in local media sources. He said that he and his friends discussed the news, but that the Kashmiri conflict had not come up.
"There's not so much coverage. at
least in this area." Spacek said.
"That might be why there's so much apathy. It's hard to be interested in something that you haven't heard that much about."
Paul D'Aniert, associate professor of political science, said he didn't think India or Pakistan would want to start another war because a loss would be costly to either country. He said that when countries with poor economies lose wars, governments could and did get overthrown.
"Tensions over Kashmir have existed for over 50 years," D'Anieri said. "The recent escalation in the tensions between the two is due to Pakistan's domestic problems, and them wanting to draw attention away from those problems."
Deborah Gerner, associate professor of political science, said she agreed with D'Anier. But, she said, the spark for this summer's tensions was India's initial nuclear testing last May and Pakistan's subsequent reaction with its own round of tests.
"This latest conflict is like kindergarten politics with nuclear weapons," Gerner said. "It's ip prickling back and forth, and if both sides are not careful, it could escalate into a war that neither side can afford."
She said that most people weren't aware of the severity of the situation, evidenced by the fact that the U.S. military had been put on alert in both countries.
Saira Sufi, Topeka junior, said that she was close to the issue because her father was from Kashmir and because she visited Pakistan often. She said she thought Kashmir should be granted independence because most of its population was Muslim and deserved to make decisions for themselves.
"Both Pakistan and India are stubborn, and each side wants to show off their power to one another," she said. "Pakistan wants Kashmir for religious reasons while India feels that Kashmir is theirs since a religious leader said so."
Pakistani republic would push toward war in India
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Naim Noor puffs on a cigarette and speaks darkly of the possibility that an enraged Pakistani public will push its leaders toward war with India.
"There is real hatred," said Noor, a shopkeeper. "People are very enthusiastic. They want a war."
Experts say that Pakistani politicians are likely to harness that anger and ratchet up support for guerrilla fighters battling the Indian army in the disputed territory of Kashmir, while avoiding a full-scale war that could devastate the two countries.
—Edited by Katrina Hull
"It could spin out of control, but my own judgment is that it won't," said William Hopkinson of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "I see more pinpricks ... and provocations, not armored divisions."
But they warn that the situation following a series of confrontations between the world's newest nuclear powers is unstable and emotions are extremely high.
Pakistani newspapers have been filled with romanticized stories of rebels and soldiers, such as Karnal Sher Khan, a Pakistani captain who battled Indian soldiers on the remote mountaintops near Kargil, killing several
before he fell in battle.
Pakistan insists that he died a hero defending his country on home soil. India says he was killed assaulting a position on the Indian side of the border.
Tensions rose further this week when an Indian fighter destroyed a Pakistani naval patrol plane that India says violated its border.
To diffuse the anger and attempt to focus world attention on the Himalayan region, Pakistan is likely to boost its support for Islamic rebels fighting in Kashmir, the only majority Muslim state in India.
"Any minister who stood up and said 'We must seek peace. There is no need for a quarrel,' is likely to be howled down, given the way that tempers have built up," Hopkinson said.
can bring pressure on India to negotiate. India has said there will be no talks until Pakistan stops supporting the rebels.
That anger is putting pressure on a Pakistani government that is already seen as ineffective and unable to deal with crushing domestic problems such as rampant corruption and a faltering economy.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars about Kashmir since the subcontinent was divided in 1947. A sharp increase in guerrilla fighting on the border is likely to heighten international concern about the possibility of a war between the two nuclear powers.
"At the very least it says to people who are all steamed up and want war that we are doing something," Hopkinson said.
Kashmir's chief minister Farooq Abdullah has said more than 1,000 armed militants infiltrated into other areas in Kashmir from Pakistan while the army was busy battling guerrillas in Kargil.
Pakistan hopes that by galvanizing world attention it
The Pakistani army is likely to avoid any major clashes with the far larger Indian army.
"India and Pakistan happen to be two of the poorest countries in the world," said Lt. Gen. Sardar Ali of the Institute for Regional Studies. "If there is war they will become even poorer."
India, like Pakistan, has put its army on alert, but says it wants dialogue and not escalation. The United States and the United Nations are urging restraint.
At the Ayub market, a cluster of rundown shops in central isiamabad, Noor says the costs of the war are of little consequence to many people.
"I don't think things will escalate by design, but I think if India does not exercise restraint, things could go for the worse." Ali said.
Service honors bomb victims
The Associated Press
OMAGH, Northern Ireland — Shedding silent tears about unspeakable horrors, more than 10,000 Protestants and Catholics united in prayer yesterday — one year to the minute after Irish Republican Army dissidents committed Northern Ireland's worst-ever terrorist attack.
Residents filled the streets of central Omagh as far as the eye could see. They observed a minute's silence in solidarity with the 29 dead and the hundreds left broken in body and soul when a car bomb tore apart a crowd of weekend shoppers and tourists at 3:10 p.m. Aug. 15, 1998.
The residents offered prayers in English, Gaelic and Spanish for those slain, among them two infants, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, three schoolboys from the neighboring Irish Republic and a Spanish teacher and exchange student.
They also prayed that the 1998 peace accord the bombers hoped to destroy might yet be rescued from its current crisis.
Kevin Skelton predicted that if the Protestant Catholic government is formed, heland would be the greatest country in the world.
"But if the trouble just goes on, the. I'm off," he said, meaning he would move from Northern Ireland, "because I will not see my children put through what I went through. There'd be no future here for me."
In Londonderry, 30 miles north of Onamag,
authorities spent yesterday clearing away the
charred debris of vehicles and businesses
destroyed overnight by a Catholic mob.
It was the most serious rioting in Northern Ireland since the Omagh attack, and the latest expression of chronic tensions and hatreds in this divided society.
About 300 people threw about 100 gasoline bombs, hijacked vehicles and looted shops amid anger about a Protestant parade that British authorities permitted to pass through the city Saturday. The violence marked the 30th anniversary of Britain's fateful decision to deploy troops here as peacekeepers.
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