A beautiful Himalayan landscape extolled in memoir and travel literature (e.g., Sudha Koul's
Tiger Ladies: A Memoir of Kashmir [2002]), Jammu and Kashmir have been punished by a complicated terrorist war for the past decade. Bose, a professor of politics, compares the area to Northern Ireland because both regions' inhabitants are exasperated with militancy and yearn for peace. Their unhappy dilemma is that their lives are embroiled in the competing nationalisms of Pakistan and India, each locked into an adamantine narrative of accusation against the perfidious opponent. Though Bose summarizes how Kashmir became a bone of contention in the blood-wracked partition of British India in 1947-48, he restrains himself from adjudicating the grievances in favor of exploring an exit from the impasse. His basic idea, as in Northern Ireland, is to put into abeyance the parties' most radical demands in the hope they will ameliorate under the influence of newly created negotiating institutions. Knowledgeable about Kashmir's religio-ethnic complexities, Bose can be profitably consulted by serious students of the conflict.
Trygve ThoresonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Sumantra Bose both captures the complexity of the Kashmir issue and explains it in ways nonspecialists can understand. It is essential that as many people as possible do understand this dispute, since it is surely one of the most dangerous on earth. Bose performs the additional service of providing guidelines for a bold, imaginative, yet feasible approach to resolving the problem of Kashmir based on lessons learned in other regional and sectarian conflicts.
--Strobe Talbott, Brookings Institution (20040401)
Today more than ever the powder keg that is Kashmir demands attention. In this balanced, deeply informed, and compelling study, Sumantra Bose unravels the tangled strands that have made the dispute over Kashmir so daunting. Demonstrating conclusively that neither plebiscite nor partition will resolve this seemingly unresolvable conflict, he offers a bold and innovative framework for meaningful negotiations. Statesmen in Islamabad, New Delhi, and Washington should take heed.
--Andrew Bacevich, author of
American Empire (20041204)
Though Bose summarizes how Kashmir became a bone of contention in the blood-wracking partition of British India in 1947-48, he restrains himself from adjudicating the grievances in favor of exploring an exit from the impasse. His basic idea, as in Northern Ireland, is to put into abeyance the parties' most radical demands in the hope they will ameliorate under the influence of newly created negotiating institutions. Knowledgeable about Kashmir's religio-ethnic complexities, Bose can be profitably consulted by serious students of the conflict.
--Gilbert Taylor (
Booklist 20041201)
One of the many remarkable things about Sumantra Bose's book is that it demonstrates that the common 'solutions' offered on Kashmir are actually dangerous.
--Sauvik Chakraverti (
New York Sun )
The conflict over Kashmir remains one of the most intractable and explosive disputes of the postcolonial era and the subject of numerous books. Bose has added a clearly focused, concise, and well-written study to this list and provides an innovative set of proposals designed to settle the dispute.
--S. A. Kochanek (
Choice )
[In] an intelligent, thoughtful and accessible discussion of the conflict in Kashmir, Sumantra Bose examines how the conflict became a grave threat to South Asia and explains the roots of the conflict and seeks to proffer a solution for peace in the region. (
The Asian Art Newspaper )
Sumantra Bose's refreshingly readable, authoritative, and fair-minded account of the dispute goes far to illuminate both the reasons for its intractability and the requirements for its resolution.
--Robert C. Wirsing (
International History Review )
