Give Peace A Chance
New year 2016 for India has been threatened already by the fidayeen
attack at Pathankot Air Base, just 40 km from the border with Pakistan.
And this, predictably, and true to past form, just days
after prime minister Narendra Modi’s impromptu goodwill visit to Lahore on December 25th
.
Not only was the terrorist intention to destroy parked
aircraft in the technical area of the massive 1600 acre forward base thwarted,
but the six intruding fidayeen from Bhawalpur were all killed. Their
offensive mission was an utter failure. They were able to kill seven brave
Indian soldiers, but at random. That there were Indian facilitators on our side
of the border is a much more worrying thought.
However, if the point of the attack on the part of the
alleged JeM planners was to destabilise the fresh attempt to resolve
differences between India and Pakistan - it remains to be seen if the Indian
government goes ahead with
Foreign Secretary level talks scheduled for January
15th.
All cold logic seems to suggest that the India-Pakistan
talks should go on, despite this atrocity, and others expected, in future. To
let the rag-tag and fanatical fidayeen set the diplomatic agenda between
the two neighbours would be a mistake.
The endeavour, on both sides, should be to reduce the space
in which those who would perpetuate enmity between our two nations can manoeuvre.
This can come about in incremental stages. It could begin
with creating vested interests on both sides of the border in favour of
increased trade and commerce, cultural exchanges, and cooperation to the extent
possible in advancing the affairs of SAARC.
Though the medium term goal should undoubtedly be to settle
the Kashmir dispute once and for all. This, probably by turning the LOC into a fait
accompli border by tacit understanding, and allowing free, if supervised
movement, of people and goods between J&K and POK/Azad Kashmir.
The danger at this point, which the Modi government seems to
have grasped, after several false starts, is that there are those in Pakistan
who want peace, just as there are people in India who also want it.
At the same time, both countries have those who want the
hostile atmosphere to perpetuate. In India, the anti-talks sections are mainly
political entities, some in the opposition, and others in the ruling NDA.
While in Pakistan, it is supposed that they include the
powerful Pakistan Armed Forces, its accomplished intelligence agency the ISI,
and, of course, the many terrorist organisations and loose cannon ‘non-state
actors’.
The developed world, led by the US, is very keen that the
two nuclear powers reduce tensions at the earliest, and find common ground to
do so.
They have long been trying to facilitate dialogue between
the two countries from behind the scenes, and have exerted quite a bit of subtle
diplomatic pressure to this end.
The other worthwhile dividend, not only for India, and the
West, but other vulnerable peoples elsewhere with large Muslim populations, is
to refuse the extremists a chance to take over centre- stage.
Pakistan’s terrorists not only attack and foment jihad against
India, Afghanistan, China, and the West, but they also attack the Pakistani
establishment from time to time.
They constantly attempt to radicalise the polity to adopt
fundamentalist Islamic tents favoured by the harsh Salafat/Wahabi sects from Saudi Arabia. Another
unpleasant aspect, apart from their acute bloodthirstiness, is that they are
often deeply hostile to women and their emancipation.
All this red hot fanaticism, in a country armed with nuclear
weapons is very dangerous for the world at large. The extremists will not
listen to anyone if they get hold of nuclear weapons, and have no apparent fear
of mutual annihilation.
For India, not to talk to the saner political voices from
Pakistan, would be a huge and historical mistake. Short term justifiable pique
at wanton and repeated attacks of terrorism on our soil should not blind us to
what is at stake here. We cannot afford to tar the whole of Pakistan and its
people with the terrorist brush. This would be playing into the very hands we should
seek to avoid.
Therefore, India must not assume that the Pakistani state is
necessarily in league with the jihadis any more. This, even though we
have been proved wrong time and again in the past.
The time may have come at last when we are looking at a
post-binary scenario. The Pakistani reality now contains too many spokes of the
wheel of power aimed at its centre.
This time prime
minister Nawaz Sharif seems to be reaching out with the approval of the
Pakistan Army top brass. A recent solo visit to America by Pakistan Army Chief
Raheel Sharif seems to also suggest this, because it just preceded the
Indo-Pakistani thaw.
The formidable ISI is also a creature of the Pakistani state
and Army, and has no choice but to fall in line if the policy changes. The fact
that the LoC and other border areas have been silent and free of any cross-border
firing since the Modi-Sharif meetings in Ufa and Paris, is perhaps indicative
of change.
Having said this, there may still be rogue elements at play,
particularly amongst those recently retired, and now in cahoots with terrorist
outfits such as JeM and LeT.
Most fidayeen are very well armed, and reasonably
well trained by ex-army trainers. But their deadliest feature is their
willingness to die for the cause in multiple suicide missions.
This degree of commitment is largely absent in the regular
Pakistan Army, that has not generally come off better in encounters with the
Indian Army.
But terrorism internationally is a blood-soaked business,
reverberating with fanatical ideology in the minds of ill-educated and poverty
stricken youngsters, all dreaming of glory and death.
Prime minister Modi and prime minister Nawaz Sharif are
standing once again at the crossroads, with a chance of fostering a lasting
peace between the two countries.
However, nobody in his right mind can suggest that it won’t
be a rocky road, replete with betrayals and set-backs. But geographical neighbours, particularly nuclear weaponised ones, have
no choice but to come to an understanding.
Israel, which has nuclear weapons,
surrounded as it is by hostile Arab neighbours, lives with an uneasy truce,
despite its disciplinary forays outside its borders, even though none of its
neighbours are, as yet, nuclear powers.
India’s choice is to legitimise
and deal with those in Pakistan who would make peace and seek cooperation,
rather than have to confront those who would seek to destroy us, even if it
means certain obliteration in return.
For: The Pioneer
(1,100 words)
January 5th, 2016
Gautam Mukherjee
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