It looks like violence is flaring up again over Kashmir, the disputed territory located in the North Western corner of India. Both Pakistan and India claim this region for themselves and the wrangling has been going on since India gained independence from the UK back in 1947. What makes this dispute more worrying than the usual third-world border bust-up is that both states have nuclear weapons and don't seem backward in coming forward with sabre rattling threats whenever something like this happens. Of course religious differences form the bedrock upon which this dispute gains sustaining oxygen to fuel its flames, the majority population of Indian controlled Kashmir is Muslim as opposed to the majority position in India which is Hindu and there are many claims of human rights violations by the former against the latter.
Of course the only lasting solution would be to create an independent state with a secular constitution based upon reason that embraced democracy and the rule of law. Then the long suffering regular people might start to actually benefit from advances in social equality, education, medicine, technology, agriculture and commerce rather than be hamstrung by ancient myths and subservience to authoritarian, corrupt and theocratic systems of government. Although, from where I'm sitting, the chances of that happening seem just like post-Brexit UK economic growth forecasts, i.e. pretty close to zero.
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