WASHINGTON: Known for her straightforward approach and language, investigative journalist and news editor of Tehleka.com Harinder Baweja, while speaking at the recently held International Kashmir Conference in Washington called Kashmir as a humungous human tragedy
She argued that the main reason for the lingering dispute was “India’s mind-set.”
“India’s constant policy is that Kashmir is an integral part of India and therefore an internal issue, and this, in my view is really the main problem,” she said. “Since its inception, the government of India has been paranoid at the thought of international intervention, interference or even interest in the Kashmir issue.”
Baweja strongly alleged that “India has taken recourse to the Shimla Agreement and emphasized bilateralism because India has never really been sure that the world by and large accepted the legitimacy of its control over Kashmir.”
“It is imperative for any government, no matter which political party it comes from, to look at Kashmir as a human problem and not as a legal property issue.”
I’ve not found the Kashmiris move even an inch closer to India or to Delhi. It is difficult to find a Kashmir family that has not lost a loved one to the military.” Kashmiris are totally alienated from India, she added.
