To the Editor:
As an alumnus who has spent more than a quarter-century in India, I was dismayed to read Adil Ahmad's May 13 column "End the Occupation." My purpose in writing is not to answer the inaccuracies in Mr. Ahmad's column. No doubt there will be plenty of volunteers for that task.
Rather, I would like to point out that such expressions of opinion do little to move India and Pakistan toward a solution.
There is little doubt that Kashmir is a complex, deeply-rooted problem that has poisoned relations between India and Pakistan for more than 50 years. There are, in both countries, those who would very much like to see it resolved. Such a resolution, if at all possible, will require creative solutions -- not the type of harangue that is heard from both sides of the border.
What is sad is that historically Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir lived together without the enmity that has arisen over the last 50 years. Left to their own devices, the Kashmiris would probably opt neither for India nor Pakistan, but for autonomy and the freedom to pursue commerce with both sides and to serve as a bridge of understanding between the two.
