East Timor, Sudan and Kashmir
No one doubts the outcome of the referendum in southern Sudan. The voters are sure to vote for secession. Some years ago, a similar event occurred in Indonesia which had to cede a part of its territory, Eastern Timor, to become an independent state in a manner identical with the excision of Sudan's south as it also had a large Christian population.
In contrast with the events in Sudan and Indonesia, the stalemate in Kashmir and the resulting standoff between Pakistan and India on it continues and the referendum mandated under the resolutions of the United Nations passed nearly 62 years ago to ascertain the wishes of the people of Kashmir remain unimplemented. Kashmir is being illegally held by India in open defiance of the directives of the United Nations. And yet the world conscience, despite its pretence to high morality and human sensibility, remains unmoved.
In the mean time, Kashmiri people, who have been demanding freedom from the Indian stranglehold, continue to live in terror and suffer from the brutal acts of repression. The international mass media does not consider these events worth reporting and there is no demand from their side for a referendum in Kashmir.
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