D., 32855 Ed (4200)
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
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LILE. The repair of the twenty-year Indo/
outward and
Pakistan quarrel, the
ig visible sign
of which Kashmere seems as far away as ever.
is
As long as it continues, this diverts resources
from development.
For Pakistan in particular
it will continue to dominate all her external
any major disintegration of India
policies:
would, of course, present Pakistan with an
opportunity for action in Kashmere which she
would find it difficult to resist.
45.
What of the possibility of Indian
disintegration ? The unifying force of the
Congress Party has been greatly weakened and the
fragility of an imperial amalgam of 500 million
people of different races and tongues is
becoming more evident; Nehru's ideal of a
modern secular union is becoming more difficult
for his successors to maintain.
The obvious
unifying factor in India, as elsewhere, is
if
the armed forces. For the shorter term, they
would probably act obediently in response to
the orders of a constitutional government;
Delhi's control over the country slipped too
much, however, the armed forces are likely
progressively to be impelled to take over or,
at least, to participate in the government.
A disintegrating India would pose the Western
countries with the same problem as faces some
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/ of them