Two US based research institutes (the and the ) have conducted a survey inIndian and Pakistani Kashmir regions on what Kashmiris want. Thesurvey, which the groups say is the first of its kind on both sides ofthe de facto border, shows that Kashmiris feel they are being used byrivals India and Pakistan to advance those countries' agendas. Forboth India and Pakistan, Kashmir is strategic and has become a matterof prestige over the years.
Clashes between angry protesters and police are frequent in Indian Kashmir.
Thelatest was on June 19. Kashmiris were protesting an alleged rapeof two women by Indian troops deployed to quell a 20-year-old Muslimseparatist bid. India says the campaign is aided by Pakistan, butIslamabad denies the charge.
India controls two-thirds ofKashmir and Pakistan the rest. The UN line that divides the region iscalled the Line of Control or LOC.
Both sides claim the entireregion, and several Muslim separatist groups in Indian Kashmir, arefighting for either independence or a merger with Pakistan.
A recent public opinion survey on both sides of the LOC shows that Kashmiris feel they are being used by India and Pakistan.
"Thepeople there think that India and Pakistan are using Kashmir to advancetheir own political agendas, their own political interests whateverthey may be," said Colin Irwin, a senior fellow at theUniversity of Liverpool and the survey's chief investigator. He didsimilar work for peace builders in Northern Ireland.
He says it is crucial to ask the Kashmiris what they want. "InNorthern Ireland we got to a solution by actually asking people whatthey wanted, and what they would accept and what they would put upwith," Irwin said.
India and Pakistan began a peace processabout five years ago but the dialogue was stalled by last year's terrorattacks in Mumbai. India blamed the attacks on militants of thePakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and wants Islamabad tobring them to justice.
Yashwant Deshmukh of the New Delhi-based Center for Voting Opinion also took part in the survey.
Hesays the most acceptable solution to Kashmiris is a confederation withopen borders and local control in all regions. "Something whichPakistani Kashmiris would be really keen to talk on," Deshmukh said."Indian Kashmiris probably would not be that keen but they can do withthat."
He says an autonomous Kashmir is also acceptable to both. "Amajority of them are actually leaning into the direction that thismight be a probable solution of that entire state being autonomous,"Deshmukh adds.
But, he says there is a disconnect between whatthe two governments think Kashmiris want and what the populationsreally desire.
He says as the neighbors try to reach asolution, they should realize how the conflict is affecting theday-to-day lives of the Kashmiris, and provide better governance.
"Givingthem more opportunity to talk to each other, interact with each otheracross the Line of Control, having more economic ties, having morecultural ties," Deshmukh said.
He says more people-to-people exchange across the LOC should be encouraged if the two neighbors are to reach a solution.