Prashant Bhushan: The case for a referendum and how Kashmir could become “another Afghanistan”

If the territorial dispute over Kashmir is not addressed through open debate, it may become “another Afghanistan”, says the Indian supreme court lawyer.

In October 2011, Prashant Bhushan, a supreme court lawyer in India, was publicly assaulted after arguing that a referendum on Kashmir would be a legitimate way of resolving the territorial dispute. In this interview, Bhushan tells Free Speech Debate that while the Indian government may continue to assert that Kashmir is an integral part of country, it doesn’t “help things on the ground”. He explains: “If there is disaffection among the people of Kashmir from India, that disaffection needs to be addressed. You cannot address it by having a huge army presence and suppression people by force.” The risk, he adds, is that Kashmir becomes “another Afghanistan”.

(Main image: Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images.)

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Published on: January 21, 2013 with 1 Comment Print

Civility Democracy India National security Politics Violence

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