WILL Barack Obama, who arrives in India for his first official tour of the country in the next few days, be forced to utter the K-word? America has a tried-and-tested formula when asked if it will get involved in troubled Kashmir: after some 60 years of conflict, unless both Pakistan and India seek outsiders’ assistance, it will not push itself forward. And since India has no intention of doing so, that means America will stay away.
Yet as a presidential candidate Mr Obama promised to seek some sort of diplomatic resolution in Kashmir. He talked of deploying an envoy to encourage peaceful progress there. His envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has mightily annoyed the Indians in the past by bringing up Kashmir as relevant to the wider region.
All this might have been quietly forgotten in Mr Obama's forthcoming trip, except for thedreadful events of the past five months, in which Indian security forces have killed more than 110 Kashmiri separatist protesters, some of whom had hurled stones at police, and injured many more.
Very interesting article
