Way to solve terrorism

UGANDA and Sudan’s relations are steadily on the mend following years of acrimony and hostility that has bordered on war.President Museveni made his first visit to Khartoum at the weekend to crown the thawing of relations. While progress has been steady in the past year, it has picked up pace since September 11.In a bizarre sort of way, the terrorist attacks on the United States have been a blessing to this region because of the renewed international focus on the scourge. The countries around have now been compelled to address the terrorist problem.Last year, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir pledged that his country no longer backed the murderous band of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. The mode, dialogue, by which the two countries have reached this point in solving Kony question is exemplary.In the last one month, the world’s biggest geo-political challenge, with the Afghan leg of the US-led war on terrorism on the wane, has been the tension between India and Pakistan.New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing Kashmiri militants who staged an armed attack on the Indian parliament last month. There are many conflicts in the world, in which armed groups are posing as freedom fighters. But freedom fighters do not use terror. The Kashmiri conflict between Pakistan and India is a long and complex one, but it shall certainly not be solved by terror tactics. The solution has to be arrived at diplomatically, with the possibility of a referendum for Kashmiris to decide where they should belong — India, Pakistan or in an independent state. Sudan and Uganda have shown how to isolate terrorism.Pakistan and India would do well to emulate this.