Let’s give cooperation a chance
Mani Shankar Aiyar
Pakistani heads of state and governments have frequently visited India since the last time an Indian Prime Minister went on a bilateral visit to Pakistan in 1999. In January 2004, the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee again visited Pakistan, but that was for a Saarc Summit.
Now, this is not a numbers game. But we need to recognise that we are at a conjuncture in Indo-Pak relations which we have not had in the previous 63 years. One, the governmental dialogue taking place fairly fitfully over a wide spectrum of issues would appear — after external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s most recent visit to Islamabad — to have now actually come to grips with issues that are resolvable.
Two, it is also increasingly clear that a uni-focus on the 26/11 Mumbai terror is not serving anybody’s interest. It is possible to move forward even on 26/11 provided it’s done in a somewhat cooperative rather than a confrontationist spirit. And while there is no question of our resiling on our dogged pursuit of the 26/11 perpetrators, this cannot be to the exclusion of everything else.
Three, there are more fundamental things to consider. The kind of communal animosity that resulted in the carnage of Partition has become a thing of the past. Communal animosity has been replaced by national hostility. And all national hostility can be resolved through diplomatic and political means.
Pakistan undoubtedly thought it could use terror as a weapon against “enemies” like India and emerging enemies like the US. But the boomerang effect has been terrible. The fact is that Pakistan is not only perhaps the biggest perpetrator of terrorism but also its biggest victim. Victimhood is affecting its desire to continue being a perpetrator.
Since mere confrontation does not lead to a resolution of issues, I think we ought to give cooperation a chance. Also, more often than not, the great powers end up playing India against Pakistan in order to secure their ulterior goals. So, if India is to really emerge as an important player on the international stage, a resolution of its issues with Pakistan is a prerequisite. Pakistan has perhaps now come to realise that it needs to be a frontline state for its own interests. Fundamental parameters of our relationship have now moved in such a direction that there is a degree of compatibility that makes this the moment when the iron is sufficiently hot to strike. We will never get an optimum situation in which the Prime Minister can go to Pakistan.
The writer is a Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister
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Pakistan has learnt to ignore us
Kanwal Sibal
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to go to Pakistan but also wants something substantial to emerge from his visit. Earlier, agreements on Siachen and Sir Creek were viewed as deliverables. Now, while Dr Singh thinks Sir Creek is still “doable”, he expects Pakistan to demonstrate sincerity in curbing terrorism directed at India from its soil by making credible progress in bringing to justice those guilty of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Dr Singh is implicitly ruling out a “goodwill” journey to Pakistan built around a nostalgic visit to his ancestral village on the occasion of Guru Nanak’s birthday in November. A “pilgrimage” element is being introduced as an inducement by Islamabad. Pakistan may be comfortable with such a ploy — of mixing religion with politics in planning foreign visits of dignitaries. But can secular India think on those lines? Political reasons alone should determine the calendar of the Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan.
Pakistan knows from experience that it can whittle down India’s resolve by being unyielding to its demands. Islamabad knows that pressure by internal Indian lobbies to reach out to Pakistan will work in its favour. Indian leaders have shown that they have the political urge to make history by finding solutions to India-Pakistan differences. Because Pakistan will not make concessions to break the logjam, India is thus disposed to make them. “We are the same people” syndrome affects our attitudes towards Pakistan. Instead of treating that country as an unrelenting adversary, we nurture hopes of winning it over through conciliation and engagement.
On terrorism, despite numerous attacks culminating in the monstrosity of Mumbai, India has diluted its position so that dialogue could be resumed. From wanting Pakistan to dismantle its infrastructure of terrorism, we are now asking merely for credible progress in trying those guilty of the Mumbai massacre. In between we also conceded that both India and Pakistan were victims of terrorism. This implied, contrary to the facts and indeed our own convictions, that we had a common enemy which lay outside the control of the two governments.
Indian external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, during his recent trip to Islamabad, repeated almost four-year old appeals to Pakistan on Mumbai. Pakistan has learnt to ignore this. Its foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, declared that she was “appalled” when told that terrorism continues to be an issue. This is “old time” stuff, she said, “a mantra of the past”, not of the future.
The writer is a former foreign secretary of India
Courtesy : DC
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