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BoX 2: The new (old) road to Kashmir<br />
The time is ripe to take a new—and yet familiar—road to Kashmir.<br />
This road would be built on the solid foundations of economic geography<br />
and trade.<br />
The high valley of Kashmir drains into northern Punjab via rivers and<br />
“nullahs” (a ravine or gully). Clinging to the contours of the drainage system<br />
are land routes that have facilitated the movement of people and goods for<br />
centuries. This has evolved into an intricate network of commercial and social<br />
“biradaries” (kinship-based networks) that bonds northern Punjab and<br />
Kashmir, and has facilitated the outflow of Kashmiris from the resourcepoor<br />
valley into the plains. The new strategy must re-establish this network.<br />
This can only be done through unbridled trade with <strong>India</strong> across the<br />
entire length of the international border and the Line of Control [LoC].<br />
We are committed to this in the SAARC [South Asian Association for<br />
Regional Cooperation] agreements. Let us hasten it forward.<br />
<strong>Trade</strong> with <strong>India</strong> can only do good. Consumers will benefit unambiguously.<br />
Some powerful protected manufacturers will be hurt, but they<br />
have enjoyed super profits long enough. Let them now compete. Many<br />
will see <strong>India</strong> as an opportunity to enjoy scale economies that a large<br />
middle class offers. Agriculture will benefit from the more advanced crop<br />
technologies across the border.<br />
A liberal trade regime will promote greater travel. We will see, firsthand,<br />
the historical evidence of the grandeur of Muslim rule in <strong>India</strong><br />
and visit the dargahs (shrines) of sufi-saints. The Sikhs will travel to<br />
Hasanabdal, Nankana, and Lahore to pay homage to their history and<br />
religion. An elderly generation of Punjabi and Sindhi Hindus in <strong>India</strong> and<br />
Northern <strong>India</strong>n Muslims in <strong>Pakistan</strong> will fleetingly re-capture the galikoochas<br />
(street-lanes) of their youth. How can this be bad?<br />
And if commerce and people begin to move freely along the old trade<br />
routes across the LoC and re-create traditional networks, who will be able<br />
to tell where “Occupied” Kashmir ends and “Azad” Kashmir begins?<br />
A liberalized trade regime could easily see <strong>India</strong>-<strong>Pakistan</strong> trade jump<br />
to $2-$3 billion and much larger in the medium term. Powerful commercial<br />
lobbies in Delhi, Lahore, Bombay, and Karachi will then ensure<br />
that no one tramples on the rights of Kashmiris to trade, fraternize, and<br />
prosper—be they Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist. How could this be bad?<br />
Source: Ravian (Ijaz Nabi), “The New (Old) Road to Kashmir”, Daily Times,<br />
September 13, 2002.<br />
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