The visit of the Pakistan delegation headed by the youthful but formidable Foreign Minister, was an indication that in the country, a new generation has emerged that seeks to get liberated from the shackles of the past, and which seeks a modus vivendi whith a country that can be a natural partner. In Hina Rabbani Khar, the people of India saw a new Pakistan, one very different from the country portrayed in the international media. The question is, will the Dead Hand of the Past choke off these bamboo shoots of rapprochement, or will this finally give way to the needs of the new generation in both countries, which is peace?
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| Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar |
It is not that no high hopes were held about the New
Delhi talks that their inconsequential outcome has set off no
despondency or dismay. The people here have got used to this familiar
pattern of bilateral talks between India and Pakistan over these past
decades. From their experience, they know that the interlocutors would
emerge from the conference room either with smiling faces or with frowns
on their brows, but the outcome would be the same. Over the period,
they have witnessed talks even at the highest levels finally ending up
the same way: a damp squib. Only a commentariat that latches on even to
the most insignificant to burnish its talking skills gets enthused. Keep
talking is their mantra, even if it means continue talking to infinity
with no concrete result whatsoever coming by on any substantive issue
outstanding between the two countries. Talking keeps the two countries
at least at bay from tensions or a conflict is the commentariat’s
mantra, even despite being proved wrong on this count again and again.
Their dialogue is indeed the first casualty of any flare-up between the
two. The hard facts are a living testimony of this truth. And if their
tensions over the period have not gone wild, it is because of the
dreadful weapon that both possess. Not even a loony would permit the
tension flaring up to the point where a nuclear Armageddon is unleashed
on the region.In any case, the keep-talking-battalion has something to
crow about. The two top diplomats of the two countries have in their New
Delhi decided to keep talking. And it should come as great consolation
to the battalion that the have agreed to meet again, mark you, by the
middle of next year, not the next century. But homilies, platitudes and
pious vows that the people have heard now they have heard earlier too.
The brew is the same; only the bottle is new. It was a “composite peace
dialogue” then. Now it is a “full spectrum dialogue”. Over four rounds
of the composite dialogue went by stillborn on substantive issues. The
first round of full spectrum has culminated likewise. And take it from
us, this will go on like this if a hard bitter truth is not contended
with.Although our self-righteous mob of political pundits, commentators
and analysts, which has transformed self-flagellation into a fine art,
would have it believed that the obstruction to normality between the two
countries is our security establishment, the boot fits squarely the leg
of its Indian counterpart.
The Indian establishment is not so meek or subservient as this mob has
self-servingly taken it to be. It is a very formidable force, and a very
decisive voice when it comes to India’s Pakistan policy. It almost has a
veto power on India’s policies and stances regarding Pakistan. Nothing
could be as illustrative of this as the stalled Pakistan visit of
Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister. To impart a measure of
significance to his visit, he wanted to come with a final agreement on
Siachen demilitarisation and sign it up in Islamabad. But both the
Indian army and air force put their feet down, refusing to vacate some
of their positions and facilities on the glacier. Consequently, his
intended Pakistan visit went on hold. And predictably the visit
invitation extended to him by the foreign minister would in all
probability go immaterialised again, particularly when his position has
got a severe battering from some high-profile corruption scams that have
come to blight his government in these recent times. Arguably, the
Indian establishment has got a big shot in the arm from the massive
armament spree that the Singh government has embarked upon. With a
booming economy, India has unfolded a whopping multi-billion-dollar
shopping list to equip the Indian militarily lethally massively.
Inevitably, that huge refurbishment would lead up to the further beefing
up of the Indian military’s clout on the country’s foreign
policies. Furthermore, the foreign powers eyeing avariciously India’s
enormous economic opportunities and big weapons contracts would be much
less prone to nudge it to go wholeheartedly for settlement of its
outstanding disputes with Pakistan. Already, the Americans have
catapulted India from a preeminent power of the region to its leader,
exhorting it to be assertive in its leading role in and around the
region. Hence instead of living in illusions and fantasies, the
Islamabad hierarchs must see the realities as they are and chalk out a
pragmatic policy to secure Pakistan’s interests to the best possible.
India is already snatching away from Pakistan its river waters
systematically.
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