Chapter Sixteen

Peace in Kashmir If we do not do this at the very outset, and, instead, in a bid to get more, we delay the solution of the dispute, the situation is bound to become even more intractable. Consequently, it will become impossible for us to get even what we were initially getting in terms of what we wanted. A good illustration of this principle is the ongoing problem of Palestine. In 1917, the British drew up a plan, commonly known as the Balfour Declaration, to partition Palestine. This partition scheme was clearly in favour of the Arabs. Under the scheme, less than a third of the territory of Palestine was given to Israel, and more than two-thirds was set aside for the Arabs. As per the scheme, the whole city of Jerusalem and the entire area of the Bayt ul-Maqdis was given to the Arabs. However, the Muslim leadership of that time refused to accept this scheme. A certain Arab scholar took a realistic stance on the matter and suggested that the scheme be accepted, for which he was accused of betraying Arab interests. This scholar died, uttering the following verse: Soon my people will come to know that I have not betrayed them. And no matter how long the night is, the morning is certain to come! If the Muslim or Arab leaders had adopted a pragmatic and realistic approach, and, accepting whatever was being offered to them at the very outset, had concentrated all their efforts on work of construction and progress, the Palestinian Arab Muslims today might have been much better off than the Jews of the region. However, because of their unrealistic approach, the Palestinians’ aspirations were brought to ruin. Exactly the same thing happened in Jammu and Kashmir. Both the Kashmiri and the Pakistani leadership have been guilty of extreme ineptitude. Facts reveal that the present Kashmir problem is a result of the injudiciousness of the Kashmiri leaders