Mehr Tarar :
Long-standing issues need years of bilateral talks, formulation of strategies to find solutions acceptable to both, and treaties to assist in cases of alleged terrorism
As Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Russia, the expected noise was audible in the media on both sides. And as expected, the hawkish brigade – politicians, analysts, and TV anchors – are adamant in their trivialisation of the outcome of the meeting. While many consider Modi’s acceptance of the invitation to the Saarc summit in 2016 in Pakistan, the proposed meetings of the two National Security Advisers, Directors General of the Indian Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers, and the Directors General of Military Operations as positive breakthroughs, there is considerable scepticism as to not attach too much importance to a visit that is not even an exclusive one, and meetings that promise much but effect no tangible change.
Although Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Aizaz Chaudhry, accompanying the Pakistani premier, announced after the meeting, “.they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues,” there appears to be a sentiment among some Pakistani analysts and politicians as to how certain issues have been excluded in totality while highlighting the “important” ones. There is much that is to be read between the lines, and there is much that is being read where there is nothing to read.
“Both leaders condemned terrorism and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from south Asia,” Chaudhry added. Indeed some would take this as terrorism in myriad dimensions, proven or alleged, whether in Kashmir, Mumbai, Balochistan, or near Panipat. But there is loud condemnation in some quarters of Pakistan vis-à-vis Sharif’s silence on the alleged role of R&AW in creation of mayhem and terrorism in Karachi and Balochistan, and of Indian army’s extremes in the “Indian-occupied” Kashmir. Pakistan is on the back-foot while indulging in diplomatic overtures with India, and that is being thought of as a failure of the Sharif government by some political leaders. PTI’s Shireen Mazari tweeted: Shameful how PM Sharif once again appeased India on terrorism while ignoring Indian state terrorism in Occupied Kashmir & in Pakistan.
I find it all bewildering, to say the least, but expected. What was expected from a meeting that was too brief to be even labelled a proper meeting? While attending a summit, in which Pakistan and India have become permanent members of the SCO, the meeting on the sidelines is at best a thaw in the icy silence that existed between the two after the cancellation of the foreign secretaries’ meeting earlier this year. The last few months have seen exchange of verbal machismo and reckless words between ministers and media of Pakistan and India, thus worsening the stalemate of nothing-doing between the two nuclear-armed nations. The long-standing issues between Pakistan and India need years of bilateral talks, formulation of strategies to find solutions acceptable to both, and treaties to assist in cases of alleged terrorism.
In all honesty, those few like me who wish to see Pakistan and India exist side by side as cordial neighbours if not best-friends-forever are not very optimistic about any substantial alteration in the status quo.
The ghosts of a very painful past posses the present, and haunt the future that remains bleak. As Modi boasts of India’s blatant involvement in the East Pakistan’s secession from Pakistan in 1971, many Pakistanis wonder why then the allegation of Pakistan’s complicity in the Khalistan movement is deemed such a huge deal. While the Pakistan Establishment is said to be responsible for the ongoing militancy in Kashmir, R&AW is alleged to perpetuate terrorism in Pakistan. While one Indian minister announces terrorism-for-terrorism, a Pakistani minister issues a threat of nuclear retaliation.
That is matched by another Indian hyper-nationalist’s incredibly reckless comment, as Siddharth Singh of the Centre for Research on Energy Security, on July 9, tweeted: Bill Clinton marvelled at a claim he heard from an Indian official: a nuclear war will wipe out Pak but only half of India. So India “wins”.
Be it Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, water disputes, Mumbai attacks, Samjhauta Express attack, cross-firing and loss of life at the Line of Control, allegations of intelligence agencies enabling, funding and perpetuation of terror in two countries, there is no way forward unless there is a dialogue between Pakistan and India.
(The author is a Lahore-based columnist)
The dialogue that is not thwarted whenever something unsavoury happens. My endorsement, like that of all peace-seeking Pakistanis and Indians, echoes the sentiment of columnist and activist, Sudheendra Kulkarni: “There’s no alternative to India-Pakistan talks. And talks must become Uninterrupted and Uninterruptible.”
Pakistan and India are so diverse in terms of their size, population and resource-capability that it is naïve to pit them as rivals. Pakistan and India, on the other hand, are in such close proximity to one another in geographical terms, and cultural and historical ethos that it is to the benefit of both that they coexist peacefully, enabling an environment for people-to people interaction, bilateral trade, and formulation of treaties . The goal should be long-term peace that would only be possible after a sustained dialogue, efforts, productive action and counter-action, which would only bear fruit over a period of years.
Pakistan and India have so many domestic issues – of poverty, human rights violations, gender-discrimination, unemployment, inflation, infrastructural failures, religious divides – that it is intrinsically fallacious and harmful to have tensions on the border. It is imperative for the peace on our borders and that of the entire region that Pakistan and India quit viewing one another as eternal foes. If the US and Japan can shake hands after the latter’s unmentionable nuke-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, why is it impossible for Pakistan and India to become friendly neighbours if not friends?
I am not holding my breath for any answer, or an impasse that would work. That’s the problem with being a realist. But I hope for peace between Pakistan and India. And that’s the good thing about being optimistic.
