PRESIDENT Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, decided to start bilateral trade in Occupied Kashmir. Both the leaders also agreed to open up Wagha-Attari and the Khokrapar-Munabao routes for all permissible items of trade. Considering what is presently happening in Kashmir, especially the atrocities committed by Indian security forces totalling 700,000, measures of the sort have little relevance in resolving the conflict. To begin with, trade with India only makes sense once the issue has been resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people and with the UN resolutions. It is moreover highly regrettable to see a propensity on the part of many of our leaders to put the core issue on the backburner and instead waste time in measures like the trade and other such non-starters. In the midst of this flawed approach, Kashmir continues to be in flames. The violence and repressive rule of the puppet state government in Held Kashmir is fuelling a new wave of struggle for independence: a second violent uprising in the region is now gathering momentum. Tactics like arrests, curfews and extrajudicial killings are common. There is also truth in claims that the government was trying to convert the Muslim majority to a minority by resorting to schemes like giving a big chink of forestland to a Hindu Shrine Board for the purpose of building permanent structures for yatrees. The subsequent protests, the largest in two decades, shook the whole region. The Indian forces felt no scruples in killing scores of innocent protesters. But that is not all that is to the problem, the Indians are using Kashmir as a route for blocking the water flowing into Pakistan. It is a pity that while Prime Minister Singh was meeting President Zardari in New York, our crops were suffering because of lack of water that had been cut of by India and stored in the controversial Baglihar Dam. In August alone, it reduced about 60 percent of the water flowing into Pakistan in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. The point is that New Delhi is in no way willing to listen to reason or to the voice of the people, be it through CBMs or any other method for that matter. We have before us the example of the previous regime, which despite showing a great deal of flexibility failed to turn the corner with India. This was however the natural outcome as the core issue was deliberately relegated to the background. The leaders must address the call for independence first.