The dogs that don’t bark in international relations

Newspapers, media outlets — and, because we feed off them, blogs — tend to focus on the violent hot spots in international affairs. This is entirely appropriate — but occasionally, it’s worth stepping back and remembering that there are parts of the globe where everyone has expected and predicted things to go “BOOM!” — and yet, in fact, conditions have improved. Which brings me to Rajesh Mahapatra’s report in the Associated Press about the further easing of tensions in South Asia:

India’s prime minister on Thursday ordered a reduction of troops in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir this winter, citing a decline in separatist violence in the disputed Himalayan region. The announcement coincided with a grenade attack by suspected militants on a paramilitary camp in Srinigar, summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir. The attack set off a gunfight in which an Indian security guard was killed and three guards were wounded, a police official said. Two attackers also were killed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the forces would be withdrawn starting this winter and ending in March, though he did not disclose how many troops would be cut. “In recognition of the improvement in the situation, the government has decided to reduce the deployment of troops this winter,” Singh said days ahead of his planned visit to the strife-torn Indian state…. Kashmiris reacted cautiously to Singh’s announcement. “We welcome this announcement. But what matters is not the number of troops that will be cut, but the way the security forces behave with the people in Kashmir,” said Abbas Ansari, a moderate leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Kashmir’s main separatist alliance. India has deployed about 1 million troops in the Himalayan region since 1989, when more than a dozen Islamic guerrilla groups began fighting for independence of the Indian-held portion of Kashmir, or its merger with neighboring Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which has been divided between the South Asian rivals since they gained independence from Britain in 1947 but is claimed by both in its entirety.

As the second graf indicates, his doesn’t mean that everything is sunshine and roses in Kashmir. However, the curent situation is certainly an improvement compared to conditions two years ago.