Special lecture delivered on South Asia at UMISARC

Soft Borders’ will Lead to Peaceful India-Pakistan Relations,” Paul Wallace

Confidence Building Measures such as easy transit for families on either side of border, increased transportation facility, improvement in trade relations after mutual grant of most favoured relations (MFN) status, cricket and cultural diplomacy, medical/relief aid to Pakistan, release of innocent fishermen incarcerated in both states and so on, shall lead to improvement of India-Pakistan relations, said eminent expert on South Asia, Prof. Paul Wallace(who prefers to call himself has Shanti Paul) at a special lecture organised at UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute for South Asia Regional Cooperation (UMISARC), Pondicherry University.

Professor Wallace, who is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at University of Columbia, Missouri (USA), added, “Kashmir lies central to the India-Pakistan relations and therefore to the security of the entire South Asian region”, said Prof. Wallace to a gathering consisting of students from India and other SAARC countries  including a large number of Kashmiri youths from the University. Eventually, “soft borders” has a greater role in improving the existing situation.

Commenting on calls for “Azadi” in the intensely debating hall, Prof. Wallace said it appeared “unlikely” in “foreseeable” future but greater autonomy must be given to the Kashmiris. The major problem in Kashmir is of “unemployment and human rights violations.” Sponsoring Jihadi terrorists in response to these problems may result in “blowback” i.e. “unintended consequences” to perpetrators as it happened in case of the United States after the Soviets were expelled by US trained Islamists.

Contrasting “democratic, secular, multi-religious, multi-linguist, plural and diverse” India with “military” dominated, largely homogenous Pakistan, he remarked, India has shown tolerance in dealing with the issue “bilaterally”, despite Pakistan’s demand for “internationalising” the dispute. Militarising South Asia was one of the major policy failures of the United States but as a sole superpower, it should continue to “facilitate” dialogue between the two states in “consultation with United Nations and other affected parties” instead of direct “mediation or intervention. No superpower can solve the Kashmir problem because they are simply not capable of doing it. Solution ought to be sought only bilaterally and peacefully.”

He was dismayed while highlighting the fact that “Indians are forgetting Gandhian values here, something that has permeated even the Arab world too” and has “returned to the US with the ‘Occupy’ movement after Martin Luther King Jr’s successful anti-racism movement” in the 1960s.

Summing up the lecture, Director of the UMISARC, Prof. Nalini Kant Jha appealed to the Kashmiri youths that complex problems like the Kashmir issue can be addressed only through debate and dialogue and not through violence. He admitted that while New Delhi has committed certain mistakes in the past by interfering in the Kashmiri affairs, yet one has to look forward. He suggested that internally the people of Kashmir must be given both self as well as good governance. Externally, India and Pakistan can make the boundary irrelevant through cross border exchanges of peoples, and goods as boundary cannot be redrawn. He emphasised on the relevance of Sufi culture for bringing back harmony. In this context, he thanked Ambassador Madanjeet Singh ji for trying to promote harmony and peace in South Asia through establishing institutions such as UMiSARC at Pondicherry and Institute of Sufi Studies in Kashmir. He also thanked Pondicherry University Vice Chancellor Padmashree Prof J A K Tareen for extending all possible support and encouragement in promoting academic excellence with equity in Pondicherry University as well as peace and cooperation in South Asia. 

Reporter: Gaurav Kumar Jha, PhD Candidate, Department of Politics and International Studies, Pondicherry University

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