Pakistan threatens to use nukes

[Imran Siddiqui]

Spray, I believe independance, though going with Pakistan is not far behind.

[Dr Strangelove]

The conflict over Kashmir goes back to the negotiations over independence in 1947. The Indian Congress party wanted to keep India intact, but the Muslim party was very insistent on a seperate "Land of the Pure" for the muslims. The British, though caught in the middle leaned towards the aims of the Congress party, if only because Gandhi and Nehru were much more easy to get along with. Driven by popuar sentiment in Britain and India the British Commission were also driven to come up with an independence plan ASAP. They were forced to knuckle in to the Muslims and established a commission to draw up the borders between the countries. In most areas they used census reports to draw a very rough line between areas that were predominantly muslim and those which were predominantly Hindu or Sikh. Kashmir was different though. Kashmir was one of those provinces still technically ruled by an independent prince. The Brtish let the prince decide wgether Kashmir would go with India or Pakistan, but it's fairly clear they did so largely because they knew he would side with India.

Kashmir is one of the most pleasent places to live on the sub-continent. Because of its higher elevation and its proximity to the mountains it is cooler than the rest of India, but it is not as cold in the winter as Nepal or Tibet. It is less rugged than those areas too. It is rich in agriculture, especially wheat, and a tourist haven as well. Both the Indus and the Ganges rivers have major sources in Kashmir. During the days of the British Raj the summer capital of India was in Kashmir. Undoubtedly Lord Mountbatten had hopes that it would continue to be the summer residence of the figurehead Governor-General of India after independence. He got his wish, but at the price of unending resentment from the Pakistanis.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Dr. Strangelove, very good post... and might I add, fitting, that with your screen name that you post here .

[Jac de Molay]

Knock it off, you're scaring me.

Anyway, Im worried about al-qaeda maybe setting up an attack on india to get em good and riled up :shudder:

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Dr. Strangelove, very good post... and might I add, fitting, that with your screen name that you post here .

All Right, D**n It!!!! I've had enough of the lot of you associating my good name with this sorry a*s little affair on the subcontinent. Why do you associate me with mass atomic death? Please, go watch the movie or read the book, and you'll find that the good doctor had absolutely nothing to do with the Russian doomsday bomb. Quite the contrary, it was the teutonic advisor himself who came up with a plan to save humanity when everyone else were either panicking or covering their own bohunkasses. Who else but the wheelchair bound genius would have had the presence of mind to set the proper male-female ratio to jump start the resurrection of humanity? Love is in the details I tell you! And so generous as to volunteer even his own seed to the project. I'm a saint I tell you! A saint! Stop dragging my name through the mud!

[Boris Godunov]

MEIN....FUHRER!!!!

[Dr Strangelove]

LOOK.... I CAN WALK!!!

[Boris Godunov]

God, I love that movie.

"But sir...he'll see the big board!"

[monkspider]

lol, i sooo need to get the DVD of that flick, thanks for reminding me my dear chums.

[Ned]

Dr. Strangelove, regardless of Mountbatten's intentions, when the maharajah did not immediately decide to go to Pakistan, but instead indicated he was going to opt for independence (a goal that they still want even 'til today), Pakistan Pashtoon led by Pakistan army officers invaded. This is August. The maharaja asked for Indian military assistance. This was denied unless the prince declared for India. This he did in October only when his capital was under extreme pressure and was about to be overrun.

It is clear that Pakistan would not accept the decision of the maharaja to be independent - probably because of the majority Moslem population.

India's official position today is, I believe, that they will allow a plebiscite only when the Pakistani occupation ends.

The UN solution seems to be the best one - a UN supervised plebiscite to decide - just like in E. Timor. The options should be several. Join Pakistan. Join India. Become independent. Divide along the line of control and do any of the above.

But note, that even when there was a plebiscite in E. Timor, the moslems went on a terror campaign to both influence the vote and overturn the result when they lost. The situation in Palestine is very similar - the moslems refused to accept partition. Their actions in Kashmir are consistent with the pattern.

This leads me to believe that an international force would have to be in place before the plebiscite to guarantee a fair vote and to secure the result.

[faded glory]

Update All non-diplomatic Americans ordered to leave asap. Pakistan has ordered blackouts over 3 cities. Fearing air strikes are coming.

DoS believe total war could breakout in a matter of hours

[Ned]

Originally posted by faded glory
Update All non-diplomatic Americans ordered to leave asap. Pakistan has ordered blackouts over 3 cities. Fearing air strikes are coming.

DoS believe total war could breakout in a matter of hours

I had thought the Indians would at least wait until Rumsfeld arrived. If they go to war now, then they obviously know what Rumsfeld was going to ask of Pakistan and found the American position more of the same, unacceptable.

[faded glory]

Well Im not saying that war is inevitable. But Pakistan Intellegence indicated possible airstrikes on supspected Khasmiri seperatist camps sometime within the next 48 hours.

We shall see

[Boris Godunov]

Indian intelligence is claiming Al-queda is massing in Kashmir for an attack on Indian territory, and such an attack would lead to a full-scale response by India. They believe Pakistan would likely retaliate with nuclear weapons, as they lack competitive conventional forces.

Jesus f*cking Christ, this could very well be the closest the world is going to come to a nuclear war, if not a nuke war itself. High holy hell...

[Andrew1999]

I hope nobody in India thinks they can launch a few airstrikes or a couple of army incursions and then just walk away. The idea of a "limited war" or "managed conflict" is ludicrous.