WHAT'S HOT? –– ANALYSIS OF RECENT HAPPENINGS

Retired Admirals in the News –– 

Nuclear Problem Linked to Kashmir

An IDC Analysis

New Delhi, 09 August 2004

Former Navy Chief Admiral L Ramdas (Retd) was in the news as he was awarded the Magsasay Award for his peace efforts between India and Pakistan. We congratulate him on his initiative and efforts. The Admiral has a son in law who is from Pakistan and is a serviceman. Admiral Ramdas is strongly anti nuclear and has toured Pakistan and the world on these missions.

Another retired Vice Admiral V Koithara has written a book on the Indo–Pak nuclear question  and it is a detailed account. His conclusion is that the issue of nuclear problem between the two countries is strongly linked to the Kashmir problem and has to be resolved along the LOC and the legal implications must not be gone into. He is right and the media item is posted below. We have several times in the past posted many pieces in this vein including those by Mohan Guruswamy. (See Kashmir Imbroglio).

It is the Pakistan Army that has to agree and then the border can be made soft. USA holds keys also to see that the International border is resolved along the LOC as it can leverage Pakistan and President Clinton on 4th of July in 1999 during the Kargil war did just that by telling PM Nawaz Sharrif this and has written about it in his memoirs.

Indo-Pak Nuclearisation Linked To Kashmir, Says Ex-Indian Admiral

New Delhi, August 04, 2009

(ANI)

A former admiral of the Indian Navy has claimed that there is a close link between the imbroglio in Kashmir and moves by both Pakistan and India to go nuclear.

Deviating from the established position of the Indian Government, Vice-Admiral (retired) Verghese Koithara says in his recently published book "Crafting Peace in Kashmir through a realist's Lens" has drawn a parallel between conflicts in Northern Ireland and Kashmir, saying the conflict is simpler than it is commonly portrayed.

"I started studying the strategic situation between India and Pakistan. This is a subject I am familiar with. When I looked at it closely, I realized that the nuclear problem between India and Pakistan was closely linked to Kashmir," Vice Admiral Koithara told the Daily Times.

The book further goes on to suggest that both India and Pakistan should accept a final settlement of the dispute on the basis of the present Line of Control (LoC).

"The Indians will have no serious difficulty in accepting the LOC as a permanent border in reality. M point in the whole book is legal, constitutional and ideological aspects existing in India and Pakistan in Kashmir are not significant and addressing them will not lead us anywhere. This is a purely a political and military problem and we have to adjust to that," he said.

"There is no doubt that the line (LOC) separates Pakistani and Indian sovereignty. Even if you have areas with different sovereignty, nothing prevents a soft border. You can cross over ithout visas. This is the kind of thing I saw in Northern Ireland. I had a British visa, but I could go to the Republic of Ireland. A soft border is a necessary part of the permanent LoC," he concluded.