It is now well known that the back channel between Satinder Lambah, Manmohan Singh’s special envoy, and Tariq Aziz, Musharraf’s national security adviser, has made considerable progress in recent months on drafting a settlement on J&K.

It is known that five elements constitute the potential solution being discussed: no change in the territorial disposition in J&K, autonomy/self governance on both sides, open borders, a consultative mechanism involving the two Kashmirs, and progressive reduction of Indian and Pakistani troop presence in the state.

While many issues remain to be sorted out in these talks, no one is questioning their purposefulness and historic nature. Although a successful conclusion is by no means guaranteed, there is an unprecedented air of optimism around the current round of Indo-Pak negotiations on J&K.

Sooner than later Manmohan Singh and Musharraf would have to reveal the broad contours of this negotiation to the people of India and Pakistan. Fearing that a premature exposure of the sensitive negotiations to public scrutiny might kill the very prospects for a settlement, the two governments have avoided helping an informed discussion of the subject.

Behera gives us a timely account that helps us think more calmly about Kashmir. That an objective picture of the conflict has come from an Indian scholar mirrors the maturation of the political attitudes in the nation towards the Kashmir conflict. Unending tensions with Pakistan over Kashmir have been so absorbing for so long that much of the Indian intellectual energy has gone into a “defence” of the national position.

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