| It took Man a shorter time to reach the moon than it has India and Pakistan to resolve their dispute over Kashmir. Thirty years ago, in July 1969, three American astronauts risked their lives and the reputation of their country, by journeying to the moon, walking on it and then returning safely. In the unforgettable words of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, he took `one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Nations which reach for the stars afford to think on such a grand register. His president Nixon described that week of the lunar trip as `the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation.’ In our subcontinent, the equivalent is a span of twenty-four hours. That has certainly been so in the troubled case of Jammu and Kashmir. |
| For example, when on 10 May 1947 at Simla, Nehru rejected the plans proposed by Mountbatten and approved by the British Government for the transfer of power, it took V.P. Menon less than six hours to pen his plan for partition, which became the basis of the creation of the two Dominions of India and Pakistan. Nehru accepted it within twenty-four hours. [EXRTRACT] |
Published in DAWN 3 Aug. 1999, and reprinted in THE BARK OF A PEN (2001). |
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