Doves, hawks and ‘sparrows’ on Pak-India relationship

Nawaz and Modi must free Pakistan and India from myriad shackles of yore

We live in times where everyone seems to be abreast of all that goes around on our pale blue dot. The lines that once demarcated the local occurrences from regional happenings and national news from international events are obsolete due to the incessant avalanche of news, views, comments, blog posts, columns, features and endless talk shows which create ear-splitting noise that deadens one’s sense of perspective and context.

In our age hearsay and rumours reign supreme. The anchors yell aloud the information from well-placed sources and trusted people who by chance ‘eavesdrop’ on important people telling cloak-and-dagger stuff to save the motherland from evil foreign designs during prime time and are hailed as torch-bearers of Mamlakat-e-al-Bakistan.

In all this the intricacies of foreign policy and the toil required to discern various diplomatic imbroglios are lost on our man in the street. As he has neither time nor will to educate himself on all things foreign; the cable TV and downright simplistic, horribly prejudiced and often misinformed memes, vines and caricatures he likes and shares on social media reinforces the image of Pakistan as damsel in sheer distress in the comity of nations.

The ultimate bone of contention being Kashmir between Pakistan and India, Pakistan sticks with UN Security Council’s resolutions on Kashmir while India has a three-pronged strategy. Firstly, during bilateral talks it considers Kashmir a disputed territory, secondly, on the international podium it calls Kashmir part and parcel of India. Also, it tackles Kashmiris by making their land the most militarised zone in the world.

Oblivious of above-mentioned moods and modalities, a majority of Pakistanis see India as the arch nemesis of Pakistan. They loathe India for many perceived and actual grievances. The relationship between two neighbours has never remained enviable.

And amidst all this PM Modi visited Pakistan on 25th December, 2015. The people of Pakistan after a long time received a genuine breaking news. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Pakistan on Christmas was a cause of genuine felicity for many. And for the rest it triggered another episode of paranoia.

On 25th December last year, all of a sudden the tickers on TV screens started yelling ‘PM Modi in Lahore’. My scepticism was gargantuan. I thought finally it is happening, at last, we’re holding hands with each other and hopefully we’ll sort out the long standing enmities.

There I had my light bulb glow bright. Why not ask people their take on this Kodak moment that happened in otherwise fraught history of ties between Pak-India.

But asking questions would be an exercise in futility. As people launch their rote learned diatribe the moment the topic of Pak-India ties surfaces. So, I devised a ploy to overcome the empty harangue and bashing. Before asking them, I told each of them the benefits people of Pakistan can accrue from a working relationship with India. Trade, creation of new jobs, a more stable, more inclusive society and provision of more opportunities for all.

Here is how they replied.

Sarmad, a very dear friend of mine and a telecom engineer, was of the opinion that PM Nawaz Sharif was always and still is striving to resolve all the matters and bury the hatchet once and for all. The animus and malice need to be set aside and it is about time that one and a half billion people of South Asia turn a new leaf.

Sarmad is a dove. Let’s hear a hawk’s reply to the same question.

Javaid Iqbal, my uncle, a through and through hawk, after being ‘briefed’ by me on the pros of peace, liked the notion of the promising economic outcome. Still, warned me that Indians are an unreliable, shrewd and cunning lot.

Now, we’ve heard the ‘doves’ and ‘hawks’ and are aware of the extremes they occupy. About time to know what spoketh the countless silent ‘sparrows’.

Meet Baseer, a student of A-Level, all set to become a lawyer, met him by chance at a dhabba. When asked said, ‘If Pakistan and India want to exist, let alone progress, they need to put their respective affairs in order, the bonhomie shown by both leaders needs to translate into concrete results, all the loopholes in the relations be plugged and all the abysses be bridged for a saner, safer South Asia. Both PMs must rise above petty and trivial grandstanding.”

I am darn sure Baseer will make one hell of a black coat. The way he talked and his choice of words, I actually had to take notes while he was commenting.

Ahmed Rehman, presently living and working in the USA, told me over Skype that in America Pakistanis, Indians and Bangalis live like brethren. We show up in each other’s hour of need and celebrate all festivals together. “We should better replicate this geniality back home as enmity and adversity has never benefited any nation,” he said.

Let us pray and hope that future historians see Christmas of 2015 to be more than Quaid-e-Azam’s and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s birthday. They must mark the PM’s visit as the touchstone that heralded the sons and daughter of South-Asia to a new era of peace, security and bliss.

And let us learn the Vulcan Salute and greet Indians to ‘live long and prosper’.