Incidentally a few days back the former President of Pakistan O. Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan suggested, “Let there be Maharaja's rule in Kashmir. It is a lesser evil.” He is probably tired of the events in both parts of Kashmir and speaking in the light of his experiences. Let us examine Kashmir briefly. Kashmir is part of the trio-- Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. With a population of less than ten million it is poor in natural resources. It does not have oil, gas, coal, iron etc. It can boast of the saffron and beauties it produces, and natural beauties. Tourism remains the main attraction and industry of the valley which has been nearly destroyed by militant activities. Economically it is not an important part of the world. So, the appeal for help after the earthquake elicits lukewarm response from other countries.

There was lot of melodrama during the accession of Kashmir to the Union of India soon after partition. The Maharaja, Hari Singh, wanted to remain independent. He was coerced and later on convinced into joining the Union. Sarder Ballabbhai Patel reportedly offered to trade Kashmir in lieu of Hyderabad with MA Jinnah in those days. But Jinnah showed more interest about Junagarh and missed the opportunity. All these are history now.

The ground reality is Kashmir remains divided, people keep on suffering, death toll of soldiers rise by the passage of every day, and most importantly both India and Pakistan keep on bleeding economically -unrelentingly.

Practically the war will be never ending unless the leadership of Pakistan acknowledges the realities. If more important states like Bengal and Punjab could be divided during partition, why not the tiny and less important Kashmir, which practically remains divided since 1948.

Both the countries should accept the realities of the futile state of war and legalise the present line of control as border with some special considerations for the 'Kashmiris' on both sides and end the confrontation. This will allow the majority Kashmiri people to rest and live in peace and work without fear and interruption.