Show Originally Aired: 1/2/2002 CALL 1 800-423-TALK
India and Pakistan
Indian Army soldier near India Pakistan border, north of Bhuj, India AP Photo Email to friend
If you're talking war in South Asia, forget about Afghanistan. The border to watch is the one between Pakistan and India: Kashmir. Amidst the largest military buildup in 30 years, diplomats are out, and India's parliament has OK'ed war powers for its Prime Minister. Yet here in the first days of 2002, there's perhaps more hope than pessimism. Pakistan is cracking down on fundamentalist groups, even suggesting it may withdraw support for Muslim insurgents in Kashmir.
India remains suspicious, but as soldiers fire mortars and machine guns across the border, officials from the two nations will attend a summit in Kathmandu this week. India and Pakistan: nuclear powers under massive international pressure to make nice.
Ambassador Dennis Kux, author of India and the United States: Estranged Democracies, 1941-1991, and The United States and Pakistan, 1947-2000, Disenchanted Allies, currently a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center
Sir Mark Tully, former BBC India correspondent, currently a freelance journalist based in Delhi
and Ayesha Jalal, Professor of History at Tufts University.
Ayesha Jalal: Musharaf has been moving since late march towards cracking down on the jihad. listen
Dennis Kux: Its important to distinguish between the short term and long term problems. listen
