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Coalition May Bring Kashmir New Hope
Saturday, November 2, 2002
(1:59:34 PM ET)
By Hema Easley
The Journal News

"It's difficult for the U.S. to work with either of them [Pakistan & India] if they are obsessed with each other, and Kashmir."

When a disparate coalition of political parties and independent lawmakers is sworn in as the new government in Indian Kashmir today, the world will be looking to see if peace will return to the Himalayan province wracked by more than a decade of violence.

A peaceful Kashmir under chief minister-designate Mufti Mohammad Saeed would be a welcome respite to its 10 million people, who have seen 60,000 deaths since an Islamic insurgency erupted in 1989. Stability also would provide the first step toward resolving the territorial conflict that brought nuclear rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of a war during the summer, analysts said.

"I hope it works out," said Jagdish Mistry of Tarrytown, an engineer for Westchester County who heads the New York chapter of the Indian American Forum for Political Education. "Peace in Kashmir will bring peace to the region."

In Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, where an estimated 24,000 Indians and Pakistanis live and follow the Kashmir dispute, residents debated the new Kashmiri government's ability to deal with rebuilding the embattled state and prevent it from becoming a haven for terrorists.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Dr. Rakesh Shreedhar, a Stony Point-based surgeon from India who has lived in the United States for 20 years. But the people of Kashmir "have to realize that if they want peace, they have to outright reject terrorism."

* For the United States, a lot is at stake
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Dan