Saeed Minhas
Islamabad—At a time when the Pakistani foreign minister is visiting India with the hope to foster relations between nuclear-armed neighbors and inch-ahead on decades-old mistrust and misconceptions, recent terrorist acts in Mumbai are seen as yet another stumbling block in aching those goals.
Initial reports suggest that 101 people were killed and few hundred injured while financial and entertainment hub of India, Mumbai stand occupied by the Indian army for flushing out the terrorists from three different five-star hotels and a Jewish- synagogue, where terrorists of a previously unheard of group “Deccan Mujahedeen” have taken about 40, mostly British, US and Israeli citizens hostage and firing at the security forces.
Chief of Indian armed forces have summoned a meeting of all services chiefs, while reports of arresting Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harkatul Mujahedeen and extremist Hindu organizations have also poured in.
Pakistan, itself the victim of terrorism has been prompt to condemn the attacks and is suffering this war-on-terror-syndrome as its foreign investment has evaporated into thin air, whatever little financial gains or claims we had during Musharraf era have vanished altogether and the country is not only in the grip of terror but financial famine by being at the verge of defaulting on foreign payments.
And another blame-game, which has started with Manmohan Singh’s televised address to the nation, is sure to destroy the little both countries have achieved through five-rounds of composite dialogues since 2004 and will hurt Pakistan more than perhaps India. By announcing a number of measures, Mr. Singh seems to have taken the same old route of getting back into a shell and instead of looking to improve the internal dynamics of its home-grown terrorism and agreeing to share the burden of Pakistan in it fight against terrorists, he seems to have done what many ideologues on both sides would have wanted to happen.
Pakistan and India have a unique history in foreign relations, despite having four wars since a bloody separation in 1947, both the countries have never remained far from the negotiating table for very long but it also remains a fact that the embedded ideological immobilization fueled by hawks on both sides keep both the countries from making any headway in any positive direction.
Apart from the real bone of contention; i.e Kashmir, hopes of an agreement to demilitarize Siachin glacier, resolve the Sir Creek dispute through various CBMs and opening of borders and trade routes were emerging when Kargil (1999) episode forced both the countries to take a defensive postures and stick to their respective hawkish ideologues.
After resumption of talks in 2004, the fears of a deadlock again loomed large following the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 21 this year, as the Indian foreign minister came out with usual finger-pointing, no-nonsense statements blaming Pakistan in sync with the Karazai of Afghanistan without much concrete evidence, but somehow the process reeled under all sorts of skepticism.
Pakistani administration, backed by its 600,000 plus military might has its own litany of grievances against Indians especially on Balochistan, FATA and interior Sindh besides mentioning the insurgencies going on inside Indian Assam, Gujrat, Ahmedabad and Tamil areas.
But will it be possible for both the sides to break away from their ideological hardliners and start behaving as grown ups? The chances are very slim because it’s this very “ideology-game” which forms the basis of the so-called defense of Pakistan or that of India as well.
The establishments, on both side considers it vital to keep the issues broiling unless some heavy-hand from an arbitrator forces them to give peace a chance and mind you this commonsense need to be fed on both sides of the borders so that region can dwell in peace, harmony and socio-economic stability.
Recent attacks have blanketed the entire liberal thinking and forward looking people in Pakistan with gloom because the moment CBMs or composite dialogues raise a hope, something happens on this side or that side of the border, resulting in halting of a zero-sum, or two step-forward-one-step-backwards table-games between the two countries.
One view emanating within Pakistan was that the way Gen. Musharraf was cut short from making his Kashmir resolution map a talking point of the world, President Zardari was given a rejoinder for not crossing the line by asking for opening the borders or trade or visas or using an electronic card instead of visas, in his recent address with the Hindustan Times Leadership summit via satellite.
Whatever, the conspiracy theories might have, but the fact remains that if India plans to go on rampage in the region, a backlash will eventually result from Pakistan and the warring factions on this side might temporarily halt their wars to join hands against the single common enemy and that a scenario seems not only dreadful but catastrophic.
Therefore, international community, and knowing how US-centric world has become after the financial melt-down, US should play a pro-active not a passive role to not only sort this issue but the long standing disputes between the two countries, unless they have some other plans for Pakistan.