One of the conspicuous participants in the SAARC Meet in Thimpu, Bhutan was Robert Blake, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs. He was supposed to be present there as an “observer”, or one may say as a “monitor” over seeing a class of rowdies of the South Asian Region. The US interest has tremendously increased in the region after their debacle in Afghanistan. It is said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Vietnam should have taught the Americans many lessons but they refused to learn and continue to act as the “Global Cops” creating one mess after another. Their latest ploy for global intervention is “War against Terror”. Under this cover they have virtually created a free access for themselves in entire Islamic belt. Now, they seem to be extending the cover to other non-Islamic areas. If one just goes through William Blum’s book, the “Rogue State”, one would get fully enlightened about the American game all over the world. In part III of the book titled, “A Rogue State versus the World”, William Blum has prepared a concise history of United States Global Interventions, from 1945 to the present time. There is a long list which starts with US intervention in China on the side of Chang Kai-shek. The countries and places of intervention mentioned include France, Marshall Islands, Italy, Greece, Philippines, Korea, Albania, Eastern Europe, Germany, Iran, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Middle East, Indonesia, Haiti, British Guiana, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Ecuador, and so on. In fact, the list is quite long and all individual interventions have been detailed! William Blum compares the present American set up as an Empire like the Roman Empire. In fact, in many places they themselves first create the problems and then intervene as “Global Cops” to sort these out. What has been the main compulsion for the Americans to give the “Nudge”? Without any doubt their discomfort in Afghanistan. Apart from arranging a meeting of the unwilling neighbours in Thimpu, the most important fall out of the American intervention has been the shifting of over hundred forty thousand Pak troops from the eastern border to the western theatre of anti-Taliban operations. This was disclosed by the Pentagon recently. It simply means that the Americans have given full assurance to General Kiyani that the Indians will behave and they will not have any trouble on the eastern front. The civilian set up in Pakistan is hardly taken seriously by the Americans and they continue to be close to the Army.

It is a pity that the leaders of the sub-continent fully knowing the American history of interventions in all sorts of problem areas for their own Global Interests, continue to get nudged by them. If only these leaders could introspect and see what is happening to both countries due to this unending atmosphere of hostility, things would take a turn for the better. Instead giving succour to teeming millions living below poverty line, the two governments are buying weapons of destruction for billions of dollars. They are the biggest buyers of these destructive armaments manufactured primarily by the Americans. Both the sides are claiming some irritants to be responsible for the continuous hostility. The Indians feel that Pakistanis are behind every terrorist act in India. Pakistanis feel that the Indians are not ready to give their due share whether it is water or Kashmir. These days water is more important for Pakistanis than Kashmir. The symbol of the entire mistrust is the turmoil in the State of Jammu & Kashmir especially in the ever turbulent valley. Now that the two giants of South Asia have been nudged by the Americans for restarting their suspended dialogue, they need to go beyond the photo ops for diplomatic consumption. Firstly, they have to insulate the dialogue process against the off and on violent incidents taking places in both the countries. Experience has shown that due to the volatile and emotional state of the people in both the countries, the peace process remains on a precarious hold. Any violent incident completely disrupts it. Leaders on both sides claim to be fighting a war on terror but usually the war gets converted into mutual bickering and blame game. It is most important for both sides to demonstrate that they are genuinely taking concrete steps to root out terrorism and extremism of all types. Unless they practically do it, there is no chance of the mistrust being removed. While talking of the mistrust, one has to accept that main symptom of the same is Kashmir. Whether we call it the core issue or the symptom of mistrust, it has become over last 60 years or so the main bone of contention for two sides. Even though the mistrust has been there much earlier, yet from 1947 onwards Kashmir assumed the symbol of all bickering, blame-games or even became the basis for the physical conflict between the two sides. No doubt both the countries have suffered physically and emotionally during last sixty years due to the conflict yet the worst sufferers have been Kashmiris. They have been continuously in the line of fire and still continue to be in the same position. The ultimate resolution of the problem may take quite sometime as the first requirement is to build an atmosphere of trust between the two neighbours. However, it is not fair and just to keep the real sufferers in agony till the trust builds up. Both the sides need to realise that the people on whose behalf they claim to be fighting each other are in pain and agony and deserve immediate relief. The security situation in Kashmir must be eased for the relief of the common people. The atmosphere of siege must be terminated. Kashmir should not reflect the peace of a graveyard but the peace of paradise which it is globally claimed to be! The Confidence Building Measures already initiated need to be reinforced and implemented in true spirit rather than symbolically and new ones have to be initiated immediately. For the new détente, Kashmir itself should become the meeting ground. So far it has been the catalyst for all discords but now it should become the motivator for coming together in all spheres in the sub-continent and beyond. This can happen only if the two Prime Ministers sincerely decide to go beyond the external “nudge” and honestly take up the cause of peace on their own, not only in the sub-continent but in the entire South Asian Region! Media has already raised the hopes of the people in the region and they have great expectations!