The noisy hate-India fringe

It’s unrealistic

The anti-India fringe in Pakistan is as old as the country itself. However unlike its anti-Pakistan counterpart in India, the Pakistani variety has failed to turn itself into an electoral force.

As Imran Khan once noted, many people in his generation grew up hating India on account of the traumatic events that took place during the Partition. Khan’s own misconceptions about India only changed after he visited the neighbouring country to play cricket. Realities of everyday life led most others to modify their stand.

A small section of the older generation however failed to change its anti-India stance. What is more it tried to keep the pot boiling in days to come. Among the pioneers of the cause was Majid Nizami who continued to spread hatred against the neighbouring country till his last days.

Nizami defined the issues that continue to be highlighted by the hate-India fringe. These included the atrocities committed during the Partition, avowed Hindu hatred for the Muslims, treatment being meted out to Muslims after freedom in India and the unresolved Kashmir dispute. While on the one hand he encouraged the revanchist sentiment he also conjured up a nightmare scenario of what might happen if India was allowed to dominate Pakistan

Nizami encouraged a whole lot of Urdu columnists to raise the Indian bogey. They have dominated the Urdu press over the last several decades.

Anti-India sentiment was further strengthened during the Zia era through text books. These books spread hatred against people professing other religions, particularly the Hindus and the Jews. India was presented as an eternal enemy.

Only the killings of the Muslim community are highlighted while discussing the 1947 riots. The fact that thousands of innocent Hindus and Sikhs were also brutally slaughtered as madness gripped both sides is totally ignored. It is conveniently forgotten that soon after the creation of Pakistan Jinnah had stressed the need to forget the past and develop friendly relations between the two countries.

Anti-India sentiment was further strengthened during the Zia era through text books. These books spread hatred against people professing other religions, particularly the Hindus and the Jews

It is also ignored that despite many more Germans, Britons and Frenchmen dying while fighting one another in the two World Wars, there is no desire for revenge among them now. European countries are living in amity since the end of hostilities 1945.

Another argument is that the Muslims are treated in India as Shudras or untouchables instead of equal citizens. It is conveniently forgotten that Muslims have held key constitutional posts and important ministries in India while they have served on important positions in the civil service and the armed forces.

Majid Nizami, who is the most well known India hater, was particularly concerned about Kashmir which he considered a part and parcel of Pakistan. The issue, he maintained, could not be resolved through talks. Kashmir will have to be wrested from India through war. Nizami was the most outstanding supporter of Pakistan acquiring nuclear weapons. What is more he advocated use of nuclear weapons against India. He in fact volunteered to be tied to a nuclear weapon and dropped on Indian soil.

Nizami warned successive governments against establishing trade relations with India until the resolution of the Kashmir issue. At one point he urged the government to forfeit the pension of Air Marshal Nur Khan for advocating peace and friendly relations with India.

Zahid Hamid is another prominent member of the fringe. Unlike Nizami, Altaf Hassan Qureshi and Abdul Qadir Hassan, he is not a journalist. Hamid prefers to be known as a security analyst. For him Pakistan’s real enemy is the Hindu Banya who, according to him, is slaughtering Muslims for the last 60 odd years. Hamid believes that the geo-politics of the region is clearly heading for a massive showdown. A war has in fact been already triggered by ‘Indian Zionists’ who continue to occupy Kashmir, block our waters and advance into our lands and have captured Siachen. After dismembering Pakistan they are inciting rebellion inside the country through Afghanistan.

For Hamid time has come to launch the promised “Ghazwa-e-Hind” that will lead to India’s defeat and the proclamation of the Islamic Caliphate. Zahid Hamid is steps ahead of Gen (r) Hamid Gul.

Another argument given by the fringe is that India being militarily more powerful it would subjugate Pakistan if left in peace. The argument however runs counter to all available evidence. The small-sized Cuba could not be hectored or overpowered or tuned into a colony by the much stronger US. Afghanistan could not be turned into Pakistan’s backyard or forced to provide it the strategic depth eagerly sought by the army. How could a country with 190 million population be forced to become a satellite of another South Asian country?

The propaganda by the fringe has affected only a minority in Punjab while it has had little impact on other provinces. The attempts by peaceniks to improve Pak-India relations continued most of the time till the issue was taken up by a more powerful section of society

Despite the propaganda launched by the fringe it has failed to create an anti-India wave in the country. Within a year of the death of Liaquat Ali Khan, who was lionised by the fringe for waving a threatening fist to India at a public speech, Pakistan cricket team played the first series of test matches in India. The return visit by the Indian cricket team came two years later. The Indian team received a thunderous welcome in Lahore, which surprised many because Lahore had a fairly large population of refugees who had migrated from Amritsar after the riots in 1947.

Cricket matches were suspend only after the 1965 war and could not be played during the tenure of ZAB due to the after effects of the 1971 war. With Zia-ul-Haq in power the two teams were again confronting each other in the cricket field. No less than six matches were played by the teams during the most Islamic rule of Zia-ul-Haq.

The propaganda by the fringe has affected only a minority in Punjab while it has had little impact on other provinces. The attempts by peaceniks to improve Pak-India relations continued most of the time till the issue was taken up by a more powerful section of society.

A number of industrialists are keen to enter the Indian market now. They are confident that they would create a niche for goods produced in Pakistan. While it was possible for the establishment to ignore the NGOs, it may not be possible to neglect a much more powerful lobby for long.

The fringe has so far failed to achieve its objectives because they were unrealistic. The hate-India brigade in Pakistan is the mirror image of the Sangh Parivar. It counters Hindu nationalism with Muslim nationalism and Hindutva with Shariah. Its views about the minorities are the reflection of the Sangh Parivar’s attitude towards the Muslims and Christians. In case Modi fails to rein in the extremist tendencies unleashed by his parent organisation, the hate-India fringe in Pakistan will be further strengthened. With Pakistan’s mainstream political parties consistently failing to deliver, they would provide an opportunity to the India-hating religious parties to replace them. This would be bad for Pakistan as well as for the region.