Kashmir

Kashmir has been a flash point since my junior high days. We were taught that the India-Pakistan dispute was religious in nature and that the mountainous land was of a secondary concern. The battle was for the souls of the people.
While talking to a friend from Pakistan, he brought up the subject. When I tried to show my impartiality on the religious front he started to laugh. "Not all of us want to kill you!" he said. He informed me that the powers at the top of the struggle were fighting over dominion, and thus control, of something much more important to humanity than religious belief or people or land. I thought for a minute then asked "What is so important?" WATER! It seems the industry and agriculture of the area is acutely dependent on the yearly runoff of the melting snow from the Himalayas. Who ever controls the water controls everything. Hmm, water for thought.