Pak-India relations: From one roadblock to another

Eventually, they will have to talk

Till recently there had been one roadblock in the improvement of relations between India and Pakistan, the Pakistan army. Now there are two, the army and Narendra Modi’s BJP government.

The army believes India is Pakistan’s permanent enemy and there can never be reconciliation with it. It was therefore not without reason that something invariably went wrong on the LoC, the working boundary or an Indian consulate in Afghanistan whenever there was a significant move to bring the two countries together.

The Kargil military adventure took place months after the Lahore Declaration jointly signed by Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Declaration signalled a major breakthrough in overcoming the historically strained bilateral relations between the two nations in the aftermath of the atomic tests carried out by the two in May 1998. The Declaration was widely welcomed by the international community.

In 2011 attempts were initiated again to improve relations between India and Pakistan which had gone from bad to worse after the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. The exercise continued next year also with significant achievements. When in 2012 President Zardari visited Ajmer Sharif he used the occasion to call on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh. A thaw occurred in relations between the two countries during the year. Their interior and defence secretaries met and there was a second meeting between the two foreign ministers, this time in Islamabad. Trade agreements were signed while several Pakistani business firms participated in the Indian Internal Trade Fair (IITF) in New Delhi. An integrated check-post for trade was opened at Wagah. Indian cricket board invited Pakistan for a series for the first time in five years, The Oscar-winning documentary “Saving Face,” filmed in Pakistan, was premiered in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The Kargil military adventure took place months after the Lahore Declaration jointly signed by Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Declaration signalled a major breakthrough in overcoming the historically strained bilateral relations between the two nations in the aftermath of the atomic tests carried out by the two in May 1998

The attempts to promote peace between the neighbours were cut short by an outburst of cross border clashes that were described as the “worst bout of fighting in the region in nearly 10 years”. The series began on 6 January 2013 and with breaks in between climaxed in August and continued till October.

The next serious attempt to bring the two nations together was made by Nawaz Sharif who ventured forth to Mumbai to attend Narendra Modi’s oath taking ceremony on February 1, 2014. The visit was undertaken notwithstanding raising of eyebrows by the military leadership. The two leaders decided to hold a meeting of their foreign secretaries.

Three days before the ceremony, the Indian consulate in Herat was attacked by LeT terrorists. This was interpreted by some as a message to Pakistan prime minister of the perils of defying military hawks hostile to peace and to Modi, of the dangers of not doing business with them.

This time however the Modi government, more than anyone else, is responsible for the continuation of tension. In Pakistan the establishment has all along patronised small extremist groups to kick up anti-India sentiment. The networks have invariably failed to gather mass support. India has never been an issue at any elections in Pakistan.

Indian films remain popular on this side of the Wagah border. Cricket fans are keen to see matches between the two teams. Seven years after Partition when the memories of the bloody riots were still fresh in minds Indian cricket team was warmly received in Lahore and Indians coming to watch the match were received by a friendly population. Visitors from India have often taken note of the hospitality they receive in this country.

In India things are happening under the BJP which were once inconceivable. Last year a number of BJP leaders maligned Pakistan in their election speeches, criticising Congress for being soft on the country. While in Pakistan no religious party has ever got enough votes to rule Islamabad, Indian electorate overwhelmingly supported Hindu nationalist BJP once again. What is more unlike Vajpyee, Modi happens to be a religious fanatic. This led Arundhati Roy to remark, “Now we have a democratically elected totalitarian government”.

An attempt is afoot by the Sangh Privar groups to create a mass hysteria against Pakistan and the religious minorities in India. A chief minister belonging to the party has recently told Muslims to migrate to Pakistan if they could not live without eating beef. Speaking at an election rally last year, BJP junior minister Niranjan Jyoti asked whether the country should be governed by “the children of Ram or the children of bastards”. In Delhi, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj supported a patently religious move to declare the Bhagwad Gita as national scripture. A lawmaker from the Shiv Sena, another offshoot of the Sangh Privary and an ally of the BJP, tried to shove a chapatti into a Muslim caterer’s mouth during Ramadan. The incident led to chaotic scenes in parliament, with one BJP member demanding that some opposition politicians be sent to Pakistan. He later apologised for his comments.

Sadhvi Prachi, a BJP leader recently called for boycott of all the three Khans’ films for “spreading a culture of violence” and advised youngsters not to idolise them. BJP politician K Laxman denounced a move to name Indian tennis star Sania Mirza the brand ambassador of Telangana state calling Mirza the “daughter-in-law” of India’s rival nation. Mirza broke down during a television interview and said it was unfair that she had to keep asserting her “Indianness”. “I am an Indian who will remain an Indian until the end of my life,” she said in a statement posted on Twitter.

This month at least two Muslims were killed on false charges of beef eating. Regarding the lynching of Mohammed Iqlakh over rumours, the investigation report by India’s National Commission on Minorities (NCM) concludes that the lynching was premeditated and not spontaneous as claimed by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and some other BJP leaders

This month at least two Muslims were killed on false charges of beef eating. Regarding the lynching of Mohammed Iqlakh over rumours, the investigation report by India’s National Commission on Minorities (NCM) concludes that the lynching was premeditated and not spontaneous as claimed by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and some other BJP leaders.

It is not only Muslims who are being targeted. Christians too have been pressurised, attacked and forcibly made to reconvert. During a year of the BJP rule several churches have been set on fire. Two nuns were gang-raped.

India is no place for Pakistani celebrities. Indian activist Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face was sprayed with black ink for inviting a former Pakistani foreign minister to a function. Cultural delegations from Pakistan have been barred from performing in Mumbai. India is not willing to play cricket with Pakistan.

The attitude of major Indian TV networks has become increasingly invidious. The way Indian media pounced upon Manmohan Singh after the Gilani-Manmohan joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh is part of history. Under Modi the chauvinistic sentiment has overtaken many more media houses.

Provocative statements against Pakistan have been issued by union ministers for defence and interior. Taking cue military leaders too have followed suit. In December Indian Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said, “India has no territorial ambition, except for recovering the territories that we lost, because of the history that we had, to our neighbours.”

What provides one hope is that there are strong voices in India calling for moderation and asserting the secular character of the Indian state. The Hindu and the Indian Express are among the mainstream newspapers which continue to fight against the tide of intolerance. There are dissenting voices among the Indian writers and intellectuals. Over forty recipients of the Sahitya Akademi award have returned it in protest against the failure of the literary body to protect or robustly defend free speech or lives of writers.

While the extra large Indian market and hundreds of billions worth of military orders by Modi discourage the US to play a moderating role in South Asia, India cannot afford to reject Pakistan’s offer for talks for long. Despite its current intransigence, New Delhi will have to sit down with Pakistan to hold talks on all subjects from terrorism to Kashmir.