Artless Dodges
Debutant
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2013
- Runs
- 160
I don't usually post much and just stick to lurking in order to keep up with cricket but the recent few thread on Kashmir really irk me. I’m not here to rave about why Pakistan is right. On the contrary, I understand why India is holding on to Kashmir and I would do the same if I were the PM of India. The region gives India precious water resources, is geographically optimal for defending against invasion, and an argument can be made that losing Kashmir would threaten the very territorial integrity of India. But please do not for a second pretend like your country is some force of moral good protecting the misguided Kashmiris from themselves and the evil Islamic fundamentalist nation of Pakistan. Understand that the Kashmiri separatist movement is very much homegrown and just because you offer them citizenship and benefits doesn’t make them morally beholden to like or stay in India. I don’t know about anybody else but I wouldn’t want to be a part of British Raj no matter how many seats in parliament they offered us. Self Determination doesn’t require moral justification, IT IS A MORAL JUSTIFICATION. The Kashmiris fighting for independence are no different than Irish nationalist, American revolutionaries, or even the Indians that fought to create India. It doesn't excuse terrorism or atrocities committed but the movement is very much legitimate.
Despite all our failings, it seems that Pakistanis more readily accept that our government isn't some prophetic force of good. Some Indians would be mindful to realize that Pakistan and Kashmiris have certain legitimate grievances and their actions are in response to actions committed by India itself. Same goes for the other way around. Pakistan is not guided by blind hate of India or some wet dream to conquer India. Pakistan, India, and all other nations in the world are government by self-interest and Real-Politik. So please lose the faux morality, it is very patronizing and stinks of hypocrisy.
(Before somebody brings up Balochistan, if the majority there want independence, their demands would be just as legitimate as well. But reality on ground suggests otherwise especially considering that 50% of the population is Pashtun to start with and at least half the Baloch tribes are pro-autonomy or Pro-Pakistan)
Despite all our failings, it seems that Pakistanis more readily accept that our government isn't some prophetic force of good. Some Indians would be mindful to realize that Pakistan and Kashmiris have certain legitimate grievances and their actions are in response to actions committed by India itself. Same goes for the other way around. Pakistan is not guided by blind hate of India or some wet dream to conquer India. Pakistan, India, and all other nations in the world are government by self-interest and Real-Politik. So please lose the faux morality, it is very patronizing and stinks of hypocrisy.
(Before somebody brings up Balochistan, if the majority there want independence, their demands would be just as legitimate as well. But reality on ground suggests otherwise especially considering that 50% of the population is Pashtun to start with and at least half the Baloch tribes are pro-autonomy or Pro-Pakistan)