Pakistan’s intentions are, and long have been, no secret to observers in this region. But, at a time when they most needed it, India appears to have provided the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) the most extraordinary gift in the form of the disorders and communal polarization that have now arisen out of the self-inflicted wounds in J&K. Even without the provocations of external agency, these wounds will take an age to heal. As they are dovetailed into Pakistan’s subversive agenda, they will provide an inexhaustible source of further provocation and violence.
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n "all party delegation", headed by union homeminister Shivraj Patil, has visited J&K in an effort to ‘resolve’ the crisis. It is significant, however, that leaders from Jammu and from thevalley remained unwilling to sit together with the central team, and had to be met separately, at Jammu and Srinagar, respectively. Unsurprisingly, thedelegation appears to have failed to soothe tempers in either region, many politically correct declarations and speeches notwithstanding.