Conference in Auroville

| 25 July 2011

French Pavillion de France - CINEMA PARADISO (TOWN HALL)

The talk will be in French with simultaneous English translation.

In 1989 already, the CIA director spoke of Kashmir as “the most dangerous and explosive region of the world”. It is true that the State has witnessed no less than four wars in 50 years. In 2002 again, following terrorist attacks in Kashmir and India, the sub-continent went close to a fifth one.
After the 9/11 drama of 2001, American and Western perceptions have tremendously changed:  Iraq and Afghanistan have replaced Kashmir in the media, though this State still remains the epicenter of one of the longest and most difficult conflict of the planet.
The attack on the World Trade Center had an unexpected consequence: it radically changed the western view on terrorism and therefore influenced their perception of the Kashmiri conflict: the United States felt for the first time terrorism in their own flesh; what Kashmir (and India) had been experiencing for so many years.
It has not always been like that. When Sir Francis Younghusband visited Kashmir at the end of the 19th century, he described the region as a most remarkable place for art, literature, philosophy and architecture. He pointed out especially the Martanda temple ruins were superior to the Parthenon, Taj Mahal or St Peter Basilica.
The Mogul emperor Jahangir visited thirteen times Srinagar. Many before and after him have been charmed by the scenic beauty of the valleys and wherever they went, they were thrilled by the hills gently sloping toward clear springs, the kinglike poplars groves or by the lake’s fresh waters.
Kashmir always was a synonym for high culture and profound philosophical thinking. It is also the only area of the subcontinent where a real symbiosis between Hindi and Muslim cultures occurred.
Unfortunately, the drama unfolded when the British left India in 1947. They decided to divide the subcontinent in two parts, the State of Jammu and Kashmir being wedged between India and Pakistan. The tragedy of Kashmir is born from the insanity of the Partition.
Claude Arpi will speak about the history of the Jammu and Kashmir State: the roots of the present problem and the strategic complexities of this area which was in the 19th century the epicenter of the “Big Game”. He will look at the sixty year old relationship between India and Pakistan, entangled in a sort of bitter family rivalry.
Finally, Claude will suggest possible conflict resolutions which naturally depend on the political will of Indian and Pakistani leaders but also on the support of westerns powers, particularly the USA, which in the past has only being pursuing its own interests in the area.