Pakistani accusations of an Indian invasion of Pakistani-held territory are baseless. The recent escalation in the fighting in Kashmir has aroused considerable international concern, with President Hosni Mubarak urging both sides to show restraint. The Kashmir conflict was never a simple border dispute between two United Nations member states. The UN is still technically the guarantor of the referendum on the border once promised by the Indian government, but never actually carried out. Over the past couple of years, US President Bill Clinton has twice cancelled trips he was scheduled to make to India and Pakistan.
Nobody doubts the immense strategic importance of Kashmir.
It lies at the crossroads of Central Asia and Southern Asia. Afghanistan and Iran form a gateway to the Middle East, while Tibet offers a royal road to China and the Far East. Yet it is a country of over one billion people, and its economy is growing at a healthy rate of five per cent a year, notwithstanding the Asian financial crisis. Neither the UN nor the US has the power to compel India to relinquish Kashmir. NATO cannot bomb India into submission.