Obama's Kashmir comments baffling

Some Pakistani television channels called me up, seeking my comment on the effect of Senator Barrack Hussain Obama's election as the US President on India-Pakistan relations. The same question has been raised by the Indian media.

The first is downcast and the second exudes confidence since it assumes that India and America are "natural allies."

However, the Indian reaction to Obama's telephone call to President Asif Ali Zardari is subdued. The general impression is that Pakistan has been singled out, along with five other countries, because it is an ally in the Afghanistan war. Newspapers do, however, carry reports that Obama called Manmohan Singh, but the communication was not established. The idea is to tell Pakistan that India continues to be close to the US.

What amuses me is the obsession in the two countries or, for that matter, in South Asia, about the way America looks towards them. They strain every nerve to catch Washington's eye.

This smacks of colonial slavish mentality which we have not been able to shake off even after six decades of independence. Incidentally, Bangladesh's regret is over the defeat of Senator John McCain, who had adopted a Bangladeshi girl.

If the US elections have proved anything beyond doubt it is that people are their own masters. They have no holy cow and they are not afraid to face any challenge. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are sovereign countries and their strength or weakness is from within, not without. They do not have to kowtow before any foreign country, however powerful.

Washington cannot impose anything on them if they do not offer their neck. Yet, the manner in which they behave gives the impression as if they are banana republics, tiptoeing for favours.

Obama has made certain observations on matters relating to India and Pakistan. Before the polls, Obama was critical of Pakistan for "using" the US assistance in training and arming extremists for infiltrating them into India. Indeed, India has been at the receiving end and it still is. But these terrorists have now trained their guns against Pakistan itself.

Joint mechanism

India's resolve to have a joint mechanism is the reply to combat terrorism together. M.K. Narayanan and Mahmoud Durrani, the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan, respectively, have held a two-day meeting in Delhi to discuss the nuts and bolts of the mechanism. Both have been positive in their observation. This is one example to show that we are our own master.

I did not like former prime minister Nawaz Sharif travelling all the way to Washington and using former president Bill Clinton's services for withdrawing the repulsed Pakistani forces from Kargil. Nawaz Sharif knew former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee well. He should have talked to Vajpayee on the hotline and settled the matter then and there.

Clinton did the same thing indirectly. He had Vajpayee on the phone in the presence of Nawaz Sharif, conveying that Pakistan wanted free passage to withdraw its troops from the Kargil heights.

Obama's remark on Kashmir has created a stir. He has said that Kashmir was a place he wanted to "devote serious diplomatic resources to get a special envoy there to figure out a plausible approach." Even the name of Clinton figured as the envoy.

Obama's statement is an unnecessary diversion when New Delhi and Islamabad are engaged in bilateral talks to sort out Kashmir and other problems souring relations between the two countries. Both had signed an agreement at Shimla in 1972 to iron out differences bilaterally, without resorting to arms. And they have stuck to it.

Obama would only aggravate the situation by focusing his attention on Kashmir or appointing an envoy like Clinton, who is pro-India.

The reported nomination of Ahmad Rashid as adviser on Afghanistan to the American forces at Kabul is a welcome development. He is liberal and has many friends in India. His advice would be sober and not smack of high-and-mighty attitude. His knowledge on Afghanistan is intimate. But why has he been given the responsibility of Kashmir as well?

Mixing chalk and cheese

I have not been able to understand the linkage between Kashmir and Afghanistan. The first problem is as old as partition while the second came up after 1980 when America created a force of Taliban to bleed the Soviet Union to death. Even if the time factor is forgotten, combining the two will be like mixing chalk with cheese.

In any case, South Asia expects George W. Bush's cowboy diplomacy to come to an end. If it does not, Obama's victory speech, which gave the world a new hope of peace and conciliation, may turn out to be yet another false promise held by a US President.

Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha MP.