Flash Point !

Once again India and Pakistan are rattling swords across their frontier in Kashmir. They have twice gone to war against each other in the past but now the risk of combat is enhanced because both are armed with nuclear weapons.

When British rule was ending in India in 1947 it was deemed necessary to divide the country because of the clash between two great religions.  The Hindu and the Muslim citizens of India contended that it would be impossible for them to live together and so the country of Pakistan was hived off.  It was a time of bloodshed and chaos as millions of Hindu citizens fled to India and millions of followers of Islam crossed the border into Pakistan. An issue that was not settled at that time was the status of Kashmir, a tiny sliver of land bordering China.

Kashmir is predominantly Muslim but it is divided between India and Pakistan along what is termed the " line of control " and several parts are ruled by China, which also has national claims.  This line of control is really a war zone with regular exchanges of artillery fire and combat between heavily armed adversaries.  All attempts to solve the conflict and peacefully settle the Kashmir question have failed.

The enmity between India and Pakistan is palpable.  The powerful Pakistan Intelligence agency has a controlling hand on the Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan and allows Al Qaeda rebels to seek sanctuary over its borders.  There is constant infiltration into India by terror groups with Pakistani backing and in most respects the relations between the two countries is little short of an undeclared war.

A recent bombing in Indian controlled Kashmir saw India take measures against a terrorist training camp over the border and this led to an exchange of fire that involved Indian fighter planes.  Pakistan claims that two aircraft were shot down and an Indian pilot taken prisoner.  Both sides are being urged to use restraint but this simmering enmity is now at a very explosive stage.  The battle tactics are in the hands of local commanders.

There would be no winners in a nuclear exchange.  Two heavily populated countries could decimate one another  and send the survivors fleeing in a refugee surge that would inundate the rest of Asia. Hopefully, there are sane heads on both sides of the border and the same reality that prevented the old Soviet Union and America from ever going to war against each other will stay fingers on those nuclear buttons.

In this instance, the point of friction is again Kashmir.   That is unfinished business from the partition of India and it should be settled by the United Nations.  The fact that it isn't is simply confirmation that the United Nations is no more affective that the old world body that preceded it - the League of Nations.

It seems we live in a dangerous world where the clash of religions could end life on this planet !