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A composite dialogue
There is no better time than the present to seek a solution to the problems souring relations between India and Pakistan.
- By Kuldip Nayar, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:56 May 9, 2008
If I had anything to do with the formulation of a policy on Pakistan, I would have sent a goodwill mission to Islamabad soon after elections. For the first time, after many years, the democratic forces had emerged victorious despite a large-scale rigging, as the report of a European Union team has revealed. That a beleaguered nation, awakened by the lawyers' agitation, asserted itself to choose its own representatives is a great achievement in a country which was tightly controlled by the military. It was a limited democracy, but a democracy nonetheless.
New Delhi could have sent at least a team of artists, academicians, writers and the like to meet their counterparts across the border. Their interaction might have thrown up new ideas.
"Composite Dialogue" and "Confidence Building Measures" are overused phrases that have come in handy to the rulers on both sides. But they have meant the status quo which the people in the countries have seen does not break the mould. Governments in New Delhi and Islamabad are scared or too confused to take steps to sort out even a minor dispute like that of Sir Creek in the backwaters of Gujarat.
Yet, all concede that there is no better time than the present to seek solutions to the problems souring relations between the two countries. Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Afsyar Wali Khan and Fazlur Rehman are comparatively the most liberal elements in Pakistan that New Delhi can assemble to do business with. All the four want good relations with India and have said so on record. The atmosphere is also congenial with practically no tension between the two countries.
Hampering talks
Still there are some real problems hampering result-oriented talks. India has to go through fresh elections because the tenure of the Manmohan Singh government is nearing its end. A new Lok Sabha is due for constitution by May 2009. Naturally, the present government cannot bind the next formation to anything new without a public debate and without the approval of opposition parties. For example, the Kashmir problem cannot be settled by the present government, however close the interlocutors behind the scenes are.
On the other hand, the Yousuf Raza Gilani government in Pakistan is yet to settle down. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz trying their best to accommodate each other to rule the country. Yet the coalition is going through spasms of uncertainty as the decision to restore 60 judges indicates. There is a host of domestic problems which the two leaders have yet to tackle. Their plate is too full to take on the problems relating to India.
The core issues will have to wait. Sharif's statement that trade and business will have to progress in proportion to the advance made on Kashmir may prove to be a spanner. Suppose Kashmir proves to be intractable, as has been found so far, does it mean that there should be no trade or business? The two have to be separated.
The real problems are economic ones. They can change the course of history. True, Kashmir has to be settled but some more time would not matter when we have been grappling with it for the last six decades.
From whichever point the Gilani government may start, it would have to take the economic route. Disputes or religiosity cannot engage people who want bread. They are not anti-India, but anti-feudal. Economic cooperation with India arouses new hope.
What is required more than anything is a break from the past. Let politicians and bureaucrats realise this and let peoples on both sides feel it. Sharif and Zardari are the best bet. Were they to take a unilateral step to do away with the visa for visitors from India, they would put pressure on New Delhi. Manmohan Singh, hailing from Punjab in Pakistan, is raring to take action.
But he feels handicapped when Jaish-e-Mohammad, with its headquarters in Pakistan, continues to operate in Kashmir. Militants and the fallout of their activities are irritations which come in the way of cordiality between India-Pakistan. But they also arouse indignant opinion in India - something which can sabotage any reconciliatory effort.
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha MP.
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