HELIOLITH

I heard on NPR about ten days ago that a bus between Pakistan and India was going to start running again, despite the danger of transporting people through the Kashmir. The program aired the stories of people who hadn’t seen their relatives for years, and were willing to stay with the police (a security measure) until the departure of the bus and risk the dangers of the trip. On the 8th, NPR posted this quote from an encouraging article about the bus (full broadcast):

Two buses defied attacks by militants and traveled through Kashmir Thursday, restoring a service closed for nearly 60 years by tensions between India and Pakistan. Families wept as they were reunited with relatives for the first time in decades.

Yesterday I read in the New York Times that Lockheed Martin is going to sell F-16s to Pakistan, and immediately after the announcement was made, Bush called India to tell the government there that the US will sell them to India as well.
The article details the slowing of production for that aircraft at the LM plant, and explains that not only would it create jobs here in the US, and prevent massive layoffs, but because of the way Pakistan wants to work out the deal, it would create jobs there as well. Peace, evidently, doesn’t pay the rent.

I don’t really know much about the relationship between the two countries, but it was interesting to read the different takes on the situation. The New York Times make a point out of the way the US offered the same arms to India immediately after agreeing to sell them to Pakistan, and it had a more suspicious tone than the Washington Post. The latter actually did not emphasize the critics of the sale at all–the article mentions critics who point out that the war industry is simply profiting off an an arms race, but that’s it. Al Jazeera of course had a different tone from both of them. It might be interesting to check out the site for the Hindustan Times that I’ve never seen before.

I heard the stories out of order, apparently, because I thought that the announcement to sell arms to Pakistan took place after the bus reopening. But the articles on the arms sales are dated near the end of March. Originally, I conceived of this post as a protest against Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and any other arms manufacturers profiting by engendering further animosity between the two countries, particularly right after such a poignant symbol of hope: the bus though Kashmir. But after doing some research and realizing the timing was actually the opposite, maybe I can spin this in a positive light–that the desire for peace is strong enough to overcome the fear of violence.