Irrevocable Peace

India and Pakistan have declared that the time is right for the forseeable future to be filled with Peace. The nuclear flare-ups of the early Millennium have receded so quickly it can only be interpreted as either amazing or a sham. I'm trending toward amazing, or at least, I'm hoping so. The grace and difficulty that Musharaff in particular has faced is notable and frightening- if this beneficiary of military coups is the graceful figurehead of the reinstatement of dignity, diplomacy, and a tangible movement toward peace, I don't know what to think.

The bullet point of the peace agreement reads like a laundry-list of needs for any small-town:

• set up a joint business council to improve trade
• launch a rail link between the Indian state of Rajasthan and the Pakistani province of Sindh by 1 January 2006
• increase the frequency of the bus service across divided Kashmir launched on 7 April
• allow trucks to use this route to promote trade
• open a new bus link between Poonch in Indian Kashmir and Rawalakot in Pakistani Kashmir
• reopen consulates in Mumbai (Bombay) and Karachi by the end of the year
• begin a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore

The method to Peace, then, is this:

1. Enable diplomatic communication
2. Promote connections among local populations, at first based on trade
3. Keep lines of communication and travel open
4. Disempower those who would disrupt the Peace by isolating rabble-rousers and enabling the regional populations in other ways
   

At least, that's what I make of it. Is this the simplest road to Peace ever devised? If this peace lasts, these guys should win the Nobel by default.

The Caveat:

• "The two leaders have committed themselves to never return to acrimony," says Amit Barua. "It is up to the people of both countries to hold them to this commitment."

A concept that has globe-spanning awareness of the problem.