Le Lignes Rouge!

Update: Since this post was written Northern Areas have been renamed Gilgit-Baltistan and NWFP is gonna be renamed Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.

I recently watched a heist movie called "Le Cercle Rouge". Jean-Pierre Melville made up a story where Buddha drew a circle with red chalk and said "When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle."

Funny enough, there exists a circle in the ancient Utharapada region of the Vedas where the future of the world may well be decided. And this circle is characterized by two lines standing by the names of Messrs, Durand and Radcliffe. The Lines that should never have been drawn, let alone legitimized as national borders.

Pashtuns have never recognized the Durand Line, the purported Afghan-Pakistan border. Someday Hindus will also have to reject the Radcliffe line, the supposed India-Pakistan border. By Hindus I mean the Hindustani speaking people of Pakistan and India. Indus river should be the only legitimate border in this region.


Pakistani map presently reads like this. Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP make up the four provinces. FATA, 'Azad' Kashmir, Northern Areas and NCT Islamabad make up the rest. This should instead read, Punjab, Sindh, Gandhara and Kashmir states of India, Pakhtunkhwa province of Afghanistan and the independent nations of Baluchistan and Balawaristan.

Pakhtunkhwa:

Pakhtunkhwa is the name suggested for the North West Frontier province. Pakhtun is ofcourse Pashtun. The areas west of the Indus in NWFP, FATA and the Pashtun speaking regions of South-eastern Afghanistan should form the future Pakhtunkhwa province of Afghanistan. This region on either side of the Durrand line is the theater of US/NATO operations.

Gandhara:

The Hindko speaking parts of NWFP, east of the Indus, should form the future Gandhara state of India. Ancient Gandhara extended well into Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir but the Hazara region should suffice now. Abbottabad should be the capital of this state. Taxilla in Western Punjab should also be included in this state.

Baluchistan:

India may already be helping Baluchistan gain independence from Pakistan. Iran and India should join hands in the creation of this independent state. The state suffered a serious setback with the killing of Nawab Bugti by General Musharraf. Its time to revive nationalism there.

Balawaristan:

The Northern Areas region comprising Gilgit and Baltistan is the forgotten child of the Kashmir conflict. While Pakistan turned POK into 'Azad' Kashmir, Northern Areas are directly under its control. This region north of the Indus, through which the Karakoram Highway passes, should be the Independent Balawaristan nation.

Enough day dreaming for today!