Many Voices and Concerns on Kashmir Solution

Peace conference called by two separatist leaders of J & K at the Indian International Center seem to speak about the 'real' issues here.  Ethnic group rights in the process need to be heard - many people are greatly affected by the stalemate in the northern areas.  Neither is willing to give an inch to the other and the 'dialogue' process is at a standstill because credibility of this technique has been lost through eruptions of violence in the past 15 years. 

One of the leaders, Sajjad Lone, proposes trade as a means to build trust and build the economy of the region.  Through this, the region can be unburdened by "the monotony of sovereignty."  He released a document called "Achievable Nationhood," the first of its kind since violence in 1989, at the beginning of Jan 2010.  Is this just the type of leadership that the region is needing to emerge from protracted conflict?

The paper calls for tax-free movement of goods between a united J & K. "Lone's peace formula comes a month after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Islamabad would abandon its claim to Kashmir if India agreed to give the territory autonomy under joint supervision by both countries," says Reuters. 

The Most Important Ten Minutes of TV this Decade.

Good Quote for the Ending of a Journey

“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand.” 

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

(This is from Beau - he read it at the final puja today. He usually paraphrases the part about 'blown-in-the-glass bum' - and today he added academic directors to the list in the seventh sentence.)