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Partition Jammu and Kashmir: Palkhivala

Eminent jurist Nani Palkhivala feels the Kashmir issue can be solved only by partitioning Jammu and Kashmir.

''There appears to me no other solution left than to partition the state and close the chapter,'' he told Pritish Nandy in an exclusive interview.

Reiterating his stand on the issue -- he had expressed similar views in a letter to a newspaper two years ago -- Palkhivala said, ''For 50 years we (India and Pakistan) have fought over it. Two wars and the immense agony of its people have not helped to resolve the issue. Terrorism has grown. Tourism, the most important industry in the state, has suffered enormously.''

He said Sir Isaiah Berlin, the British philosopher, suggested the same while talking about the problems of Israel and Palestine. ''He said, 'since both sides begin with a claim of total possession of Palestine as their historical right, and since neither claim can be accepted within the realms of realism or without grave injustice, it is plain that a compromise, that is partition, is the only correct solution.' That is why my view about Kashmir as well. Let us solve the issue and move on with the future. Otherwise, both nations will fritter away their energy and their resources on this futile conflict.''

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