The India-Pakistan 'Composite Dialogue'
Bentota, Sri Lanka
September 2004
Witnessing history: The kernel of Kashmir
By A G Noorani
This term, the 'composite-dialogue', is a rather misleading summation of what has been at the kernel of India-Pakistan relations since their birth. Immediately after Partition, it became quite apparent that the basis of the Indo-Pak conflict could be neatly classed into Kashmir of 'K' and other 'non-K' issues. Kashmir on the one hand, and the others, which included evacuee property, division of cash balances, refugee movement and the division of the Punjab rivers. The passage of time dealt with some of the problems, but Kashmir remained standing in all its starkness.