120 Whither Kashmir? (Part II) - Islamabad Policy Research Institute

Whither Kashmir?
the need for peace and prosperity which has eluded the two countries
ever since they became independent. The purpose is "to provide a mutual
platform for debate on the major sticking points in the hitherto fickle
peace dialogue on both sides of the border -- whether it is Kashmir, the
water dispute or security.
The mission statement commits the two media groups "to a
movement that will bring the people and civil institutions of the two
countries together in fostering an honourable, genuine and durable
peace." This is a noble mission and needs to be pursued with all
seriousness of purpose. While the ultimate aspirations of Aman ki Asha
are admittedly lofty, the sponsors claim to have taken good care in
factoring in realistic and deliverable means to ensure the sustainability of
their peace endeavour.
In its essence, the Aman ki Asha project involves an expansive
[extensive] media diplomacy seeking "to resolve amicably all outstanding
issues that serve as hurdles to peace, and campaign for collaboration on
economic, cultural issues through a media-led civil society movement." In
the India-Pakistan context, we have seen "media diplomacy" at work in
different forms in recent years. Notably, Panos South Asia and the
Kathmandu-based Hemal magazine have been organising a series of
roundtables and retreats since 2002 for senior media practitioners to
explore the modalities of reinforcing the peace process.
One conclusion flagged in those discussions was that no foreign
policy without popular support and consent can be sustainable or survive
domestic political changes in the two countries. Indeed, the India-
Pakistan peace process has never been immune to domestic and external
factors and has always been vulnerable to occasional hiccups. We have
seen that whenever the dialogue process, initiated in June 1997, appeared
to be making headway, some bizarre incident took place derailing and
then stalling the process.
The latest is the November 2008 Mumbai tragedy, after which we
were back to square one. The dialogue remains suspended despite two
summit-level meetings, one in June last year at Yekaterinburg, Russia,
and the other in the following month at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-
Sheikh. India and Pakistan seem to have inextricably tied themselves
together in a straitjacket with each looking in the opposite direction.
They do need help. The US is doing what it can to nudge both sides. But
domestically, in the absence of popular momentum, both are held back
by the extremity of their traditional trust deficit.
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