The lie of the lands
| "A territory is an area of space ... which an animal or group of animals defends as an exclusive preserve ... is also used to describe the inward compulsion in animate beings to possess and defend such a space. A territorial species of animals... is one in which all males, and sometimes females too, bear an inherent drive to gain and defend an exclusive property." |
| Sumantra Bose, a respected scholar who teaches international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics, has not referred to Ardrey. But the point he makes is pretty much the same: if the world wants to sort out its hot spots, it had better first sort out the problem of "contested lands", that is, hand over exclusive territories to those who are demanding them. |
| The reference is to places like Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia, Cyprus and Sri Lanka. Mr Bose offers a formula for each. Indians would be most interested in what he has to say about Kashmir and, because of the global movements it has spawned, Palestine. In a more limited way, the Sri Lankan problem is also of direct interest to Indians. |
| On Kashmir, however, they are likely to be disappointed because other than suggesting autonomy and soft borders, he has nothing concrete to offer. Trouble is, autonomy means nothing, at least in the Indian context. The Constitution already guarantees a very substantial amount of it to all the states and even more to J&K. It is hard to see how much more "autonomy" is possible. |
| "The most important building block is self-rule," he says. But pray what does that mean in reality? In 1996 just before the election in Jammu and Kashmir, I interviewed a former chief minister for this newspaper and insisted that he define autonomy. At first he refused but when pushed, he said it meant, for him, a flag, a currency and being called prime minister! What about Jammu and Ladakh, I asked. He said nothing that was of any consequence. So in the end it is all about the Valley "" all of 80 miles by 20 miles. |
| Mr Bose also chooses not to discuss the most salient aspect of the Kashmir problem "" Pakistan's unwillingness to accept any solution that does not involve India handing over the Valley to it. Soft or hard border, porous or impenetrable, the moment Pakistan accepts the Line of Control as the international border, 90 per cent of the Kashmir problem will be solved. But can the Pakistani army or the ISI afford to accept such a solution? Mr Bose leaves us to guess. |
| He also doesn't think India's incremental approach is very useful. In fact, he says, it has its own "perils" because it will generate a lot of "disconnected loose ends". This once again demonstrates an old Indian failing. Most liberal Indians understand India. But do they understand Pakistan? |
| CONTESTED LANDS |
| Sumantra Bose HarperCollins Pp 329; Rs 395 |