Page 48 - English Tehelka Issue 3&4

foreign affairs

So why should India still be wor- and again when he had to blame his
ried about what goes on beyond its own failures on the drunken mili-
Western borders? For an answer to tary General , another Field Marshal,
this, one must first try and understand Yahaya Khan, after the defeat of the
how instability in Pakistan affects us. Pakistani Army and the creation of
The fact is that even if Pakistan were Bangladesh.
to offer a merger with India, India will Almost all of these — Bhutto
almost certainly not accept it— leav- despite his threat of “a thousand year
ing that country’s establishment to war” and Nawaz Sharif despite his
continue to battle with “sandy mounds acquiescence in the Kargil opera-
where snakes abide.” For that very tion with General Pervez Musharraf
reason, India does not want a destabi- — were men who sought to resolve
lized Pakistan in its neighborhood. A tensions with India. But they were
stable Pakistan, even as an enemy, suits upstaged as soon as they were about
India more than a friendly but troubled to succeed.
Pakistan. Balkanization of Pakistan is Ironically, the man who came
the last thing that suits India’s security closest to resolving the seemingly in-
concerns. India does not want boxful of tractable India-Pakistan conflict was
snakes in its lap. It would rather leave an army General, President Pervez
‘the uniformed’ snake charmers across Musharraf, who nearly pulled it off
the border to deal with those snakes. on Kashmir with his original talk of
Which is why Doval seems always “out of the box” solutions. I can never
to keep a close watch on the situation forget the way he spoke about the
problem, and it sounded and probably
Islamic or a Jehadi Islamist state? Is it • security matters National Security Advisor was so honest: “We say resolve Kashmir just political and economic but even • no greetings The BSF didn’t exchange sweets
India’s problem Jinnah’s Pakistan with emphasis on Ajit Doval recently met his Pakistani counterpart according to our approach. You say cultural. Most of these countries, like and greetings with Pakistani Rangers at
with Pakistan is not constitutional secularism — the August Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua (retd) in Thailand ‘We must resolve it our way.’ Therefore, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Attari-Wagah border this Republic Day
there is no go. So, lets do so, let us do
11, 1948 speech being iconic — or is it
Bangladesh, etc., happen to be in the
that one is a secular the Pakistan of the fundamentalist something different. Let is us think out Islamic block. And yet India’s trade and
state and the Mullahs insisting on Shariat laws as the liberated intellectuals like Hassan Nisar of the box.” That was as original as it cultural ties with all these countries sion that his party continued to believe
have traditionally been strong and have in ‘Akhand Bharat’ which includes the
can get.
only constitution ? There is an educated — too bold to be tolerated even in India.
other a theocratic middle class in Pakistan which is in And there are quite a few others, some But may be, the Indian government been on the upswing. For that matter, present day Pakistan, Bangledesh, Ne-
one. India enjoys no way different from or inferior to its operating from overseas but most from and the Pakistan army working behind even Israel is a Jewish state but while pal, Myanmar and parts of Afghanistan.
counterpart in India. They love cinema. the Pakistani soil itself, telling their
India’s real problem with Pakistan is
maintaining its principled stance on
the shoulders of Musharraf ensured
excellent ties with They love English. They love Bollywood countrymen to rise above bigotry and that the problem wasn’t as simple as Palestine, India has always had sound the deliberate choice Pakistani estab-
see reality as the global community
and they WANT TO LOVE India. But
lishment continues to make in keeping
that. If that is true, that indeed is a great bilateral ties with it. This was so even
many theocratic they are annoyed with India for not sees it. And there are cerebral politi- pity and a great tragedy. For what- when New Delhi did not have formal it a security state, with the entire focus
countries standing by them against enemies in cians like Hina Rabbani. ever else Pervez Musharraf may have diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv. being on Pakistan becoming a strong
their own country — the fundamental-
Thus, India’s issue with Pakistan
military power to ward off “the threat
But then, waiting at the end of it
been, his proposal for a solution of the
ists. And there are the ‘lal topiwalas’ — all is the army. You can’t move a leaf Kashmir tangle was not only original has nothing to do with our neigh- of Hindu hegemony in the region”. The
the passionate ideological equivalents without permissions from the army but also, for a Pakistani Head of State, a bours being a theocratic state. Nor is security-state syndrome translates into
within Pakistan — not because he of the old-world Mullahs , the Zaid headquarters. You must understand very courageous one. And perhaps the there any substance in the impression reducing democracy to an object of rid-
wants to destabilize conditions there Hamids who function more as mouth- Pakistan: it’s not like India or England. only solution possible — turning the deliberately spread across Pakistan by icule and something which a patron-
but, on the contrary, he does not want pieces of the Inter-Services Intelligence Here , the army has all the power and Line-of-Control into a line of irrel- its Mullah-military establishment that izing army brooks only as a concession
instability there to begin to spill over (ISI), the Army Inter-Services Public the politicians all the responsibility evance and virtually bringing the two India has never really been reconciled to the political class. If Jinnah wanted
into our homes. Relations (ISPR) than as representatives and blame. In Pakistan, democracy Kashmirs together without either India to the reality of Pakistan as a state and Pakistan to be a liberal secular democ-
of Pakistan’s educated middle class. is merely a camouflage to cover the or Pakistan having to surrender their harbours secret ambitions to annex it. racy with a tolerant Muslim majority,
So what is happening in Pakistan? Then there is also the liberated me- army’s sins. The politicians know it, and prestige or stakes. But that was the last Ironically, the propaganda that there that ideal was buried with him as Liaqat
As a state, it is hard even to find out dia — the cool and composed though they generally play along. But there time the two countries ever got close to is a strong communal Hindu lobby in Ali Khan quickly tied his country’s
if there is a Pakistan out there. There slightly angry Rauf Klasras, the Amir are times when they speak out, like lasting peace. India represented by the RSS and its destiny to the Mullah-military regime.
are several. And they keep changing Mateens, the liberated intellectuals like Nawaz Sharif has been doing since his India’s problem with Pakistan is political arm, the BJP, fell flat on its face This, obviously should be Pakistan’s
their political, psychological and even Pervez Hoodhbhoys, and the genuinely departure from the PM’s office. Zulfikar not that one is a secular state and the with Atal Behari Vajpayee becoming internal affair and India should have no
administrative colours every other day. impartial and objective journalists like Ali Bhutto did so briefly when he had other a theocratic one. There are so the first Indian Prime Minister to pay problem in dealing with it.
No one in Pakistan seems to know what Ejaz Haider or intellectuals like Parvez to “extinguish” Field Marshal General many other theocratic countries with an official visit to Minar-e-Pakistan as a
their country stands for. Is it a liberal Darvesh. Then there are angry but Ayub Khan post-Tashkent Agreement, whom India enjoys excellent ties — not symbolic gesture to dispel the impres- letters@tehelka.com
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