Chapter Eight

The Secret of the ‘Clear Victory’ if need be, without feeling that they have been defeated. Only those who are willing to give to others are capable of obtaining anything. Only those who are brave enough to make way for others can engage in successful action. This principle is the key to peacefully resolving all sorts of conflicts, even those at the international level. Consider the Kashmir conflict, for instance, in the light of this principle. The policies of the leaders of Pakistan with regard to the resolution of this conflict have proven to be completely unsuccessful. The only reason for this is that they have failed to adopt this abovementioned Quranic principle. They are ignorant of the law of nature. In 1947, the Kashmir issue was plain and simple. At that time, it was possible for the Pakistani leadership to relinquish their claim to Hyderabad, and, consequently, get the whole of Kashmir. But owing to their lack of foresight, these leaders did nothing of the sort, because of which the Kashmir issue became a deadly conflict between India and Pakistan. After the 1971 Bangladesh war, some 93,000 Pakistani soldiers fell into India’s hands. At that time, India could have returned these men to Pakistan and ensured a permanent resolution of the Kashmir conflict. But, once again, the leadership of both countries failed, and despite this invaluable opportunity, the Kashmir conflict continued to remain unresolved. Towards the end of 2001, the leaders of India and Pakistan met at Agra to discuss the Kashmir question. On this occasion, I put forward a proposal—that both parties should accept the status quo in Kashmir and thereby end the conflict. That is to say, that part of Kashmir that is under Pakistani occupation would become part of Pakistan, while the part that is under India’s administration would be recognised as an integral part of India. But on this occasion, too, the leaders of the two countries failed to enter into any agreement, and so the conflict remains as it was before. I then made another suggestion—of adopting what I called