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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Jul-2010
17-Jul-10 News -- India-Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony

Web Log - July, 2010

17-Jul-10 News -- India-Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony

Iran blames U.S. for Jundullah's terrorist attack, says Hillary sheds 'crocodile tears'

India / Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony

India and Pakistan almost went to war following the horrific November, 2008, terrorist attack on Mumbai that lasted three days, killing 166 and injuring hundreds. (See "After Mumbai's '26/11' nightmare finally ends, India - Pakistan relations face crisis.")

The perpetrators were Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistani terrorist group, committed to Pakistan's takeover of Indian-controlled Kashmir. After the Mumbai attack, India threatened to invade Pakistani soil to go after Lashkar-e-Toiba. War was only avoided by hard intervention from Condoleezza Rice.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been very tense since then, and it's only in the last week that the two countries had any face to face peace talks. However, those peace talks appear to have collapsed in bitter acrimony.

Indian subcontinent, showing the disputed regions of Kashmir and Jammu.

Indian subcontinent, showing the disputed regions of Kashmir and Jammu.

The peace talks occurred against the backdrop of increased violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which we've mentioned a few times. (See "30-Jun-10 News -- Riots spread across India's Kashmir region.") After some 15 killings occurred, India imposed a curfew on Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir. The curfew was lifted briefly on Thursday, and thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest Indian security forces, according to AFP. Because of renewed violence, the curfew was reimposed on Friday.

The political tension was escalated on Wednesday when Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai directly blamed Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for supporting Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Mumbai terrorist attack, according to VOA.

This accusation was based on information provided by David Coleman Headley, who, in March, 2010 in Chicago, pleaded guilty to providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Mumbai attack. In the course of his confession, he implicated Pakistan's intelligence agency.

These accusations infuriated Pakistani government officials, and increased the tension on the eve of the peace talks.

The meeting on Thursday was between the Foreign Ministers of the respective countries. India's S.M. Krishna came to Islamabad (Pakistan) and spent seven hours in face to face talks with Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Quershi.

India wanted to talk about bringing members of Lashkar-e-Taiba to justice by extraditing them to India. Pakistan didn't really want to talk about this.

Pakistan wanted to talk about Indian human rights violations in Kashmir, and allowing the Kashmiris decide whether they want to be part of Pakistan or part of India. India didn't really want to talk about that.

After it was all over, Querishi complained that India's Krishna was not mentally prepared for the dialogue, according to Pakistan's The Nation. Querishi said that Pakistan was aimed at conclusive and decisive dialogues with India, but that India was ignoring Pakistan's interests. "I have felt, that the visiting Indian delegation had no mandate to settle any issue conclusively, as they got dictation on phone continuously from Delhi during negotiations, but I didn't make any call to my leadership during the meeting with Indian delegation, adding that talks only on modalities makes talks difficult. We are ready to negotiate. We are not in a hurry. When they are ready, we are ready to discuss all issues and show flexibility."

An Indian official called Querishi's remarks were "uncalled for, unjustified and condemnable," according to The Hindu. She said, "We don't want a certificate from the Pakistani Foreign Minister whether Mr. Krishna had a mandate for the talks. He had the full mandate." She said that Qureshi's aggressive remarks were playing to a domestic audience in Pakistan.

The two sides agreed to meet again some fine day.

Possibly the bloodiest war of the 20th century was the war between Muslims and Hindus that followed Partition, the 1947 partitioning of the Indian subcontinent into Pakistan and India. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Pakistan and India are approaching a war refighting the 1947 war.

Additional links

Iran, which funds terrorist acts by Hamas and Hizbollah, is once again furious and humiliated by the terrorist attack on Iranian soil by Jundullah that we reported on yesterday. Iran blames the United States, and said that "Hillary Clinton had the nerve to shed crocodile tears over the incident." Tehran Times

Michael "Mish" Shedlock is calling the new Financial Reform Bill a "stunning success," because even though it accomplishes nothing, it doesn't appear to do any real damage. This is in contrast to the recently passed medical reform bill, which does an enormous amount of damage. I agree completely. The only important point missing from Shedlock's analysis is the good news: That the medical reform bill is such an economic catastrophe that it has no chance of actually being implemented. Global Economic Analysis

Scientists are puzzled by the unexpectedly large collapse of the earth's upper atmosphere. Space.com

America's missile defense systems protecting American forces in the Gulf States are inadequate and "vastly outnumbered" to deal with the looming Iranian threat. Media Line

Despite diplomatic tensions, America and Israel are working together very well on military-to-military relations. Washington Post

As Israel's relations with Turkey worsen, Israel's Parliament may consider recognizing Turkey's killing of Armenians in the 1910s as a genocide. EurasiaNet

15 reasons why you might get divorced. Reason #7: If you didn't smile for photographs early in life, your marriage is five times more likely to end in divorce than if you smiled intensely in early photographs. Daily Beast

Scientists have finally figured out what's going on with women and high heels. Telegraph

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 17-Jul-10 News -- India-Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (17-Jul-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Jul-2010 17-Jul-10 News -- India-Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Jul-2010
17-Jul-10 News -- India-Pakistan peace talks collapse in acrimony