UN Should Impose
a Solution on India and Pakistan
By
VK Grover
THE
INDIA-PAKISTAN charade never seems to end. New peace initiatives,
one upmanship, exchange of barbs, threats, brinkmanship, and every
kind of cussedness can be found on both sides. Neither side is
sincere in wanting a final solution to the Kashmir problem.
The
Pakistani generals will never give up power, which means they
can never come to a meaningful agreement with India. Mr Atal Bihari
Vajpayee can say what he likes but cannot do what he says. His
own Sangh Parivar trips him.
A political party committed to the abrogation of Article 370,
and to the trifurcation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, can
hardly be expected to find a solution. The move by the Center's
steps nominating the Deputy Prime Minister, as the interlocutor
in the dialogue with the separatists, is a welcome development.
But it is not likely to produce anything substantial.
First, the Government is on the extent to which it is prepared
to share power with Srinagar. Second, the Hurriyat Conference,
the moderate wing of the All Party Hurriyat Conference led by
Maulana Abbas Ansari can hardly repose faith in a hard-line interlocutor.
Third, if the Hurriyat gets involved in any serious negotiations,
its members risk their personal futures as the ISI may well repeat,
as was done in the case of its engineered murders of the present
Mirwaiz's father and Abdul Ghani Lone.
Neither a dialogue with Pakistan nor any meaningful negotiations
between the Center and Hurriyat looks likely. So why are we carrying
on with this "peace initiatives" farce with Pakistan?
There are a number of reasons for this. From the Indian side,
Mr Vajpayee has to whitewash, to the extent possible, the communalism
generated by Mr Narendra Modi in Gujarat. He also has to keep
the NDA allies on his side, as they all have Muslim constituencies.
This factor is important both for the forthcoming elections in
the States and the general elections, which are scheduled for
next year.
The Prime Minister, on the other hand, has to keep his hardline
Deputy Prime Minister and the Sangh Parivar on his side. Without
their support he can say goodbye to his coveted chair. The way
out would be to take peace initiatives but refuse to have a dialogue
with Pakistan. The Deputy Prime Minister has made cross-border
terrorism the one, non-negotiable condition for any talks with
Pakistan. I must say, I agree with him to some extent. So if Mr
Vajpayee is to play to the international gallery, the domestic
audience and the NDA allies at home, he has no choice but use
cross-border terrorism as the ace up his sleeve even as he extends,
for all to see, his hand of friendship to Pakistan.
The 12 peace proposals constitute a clever move. By offering to
strengthen people-to-people ties and alleviate their suffering,
India hitting Pakistan at its weakest point. Pakistan remains
a military dictatorship and any offer directly for the benefit
of its people and exposes the reality. It also wins the hearts
and minds of the democracies of the world, particularly those
who matter in the western world.
The Pakistani responses with conditionalities factored in, was
only predictable. They too have bowled their googlies by offering
scholarships and medical assistance to Kashmiris, who may have
been victims of the excesses committed by the Indian security
services. However, they continue to harp on the necessity of a
dialogue on Kashmir.
So, if the BJP cannot enter into serious negotiations with Pakistan,
before the next general elections, and the Pakistani Army is not
interested in a permanent solution, what do we do? Violence in
Kashmir is increasing and vitiating the atmosphere. Pakistan has
also divided the Hurriyat Conference, which under the previous
chairman, Abdul Ghani Bhatt, was at least willing to talk to representatives
of Indian civil society.
This
is nothing new. Each time Pakistan finds one of its sponsored
groups-militant or political-stepping out of control, it engineers
a split so that the new organization is firmly under Islamabad's
thumb. Terrorism remains the major instrument for Pakistan to
assert its sub-continental Muslim identity.
However, neither India nor Pakistan can ignore the US and its
increasing presence in the region. Undoubtedly, the United States
had role in engineering this exchange of "initiatives".
The US is in a complete mess in Iraq. They may have won the war,
but are close to loosing the peace. They simply do not know how
to win the minds and hearts of the Iraqi people.
Besides,
they have raised demons which did not exist before they entered
Iraq. Arab nationalism, hurt Iraqi pride, and Islamic perceptions
that the US is the enemy of the entire Islamic brotherhood could
have long term implications. President George W Bush has chastised
the countries of West Asia for denying democracy to their people.
He, however, deliberately did not mention Pakistan.
Islamic
terrorist outfits, such as the Al-Qaeda and others, now find Iraq
as the best arena for attacking Americans. The world's jihadis
have united to fight the US on Iraqi soil where they have an inherent
advantage. If they perceive it as a clash of civilizations they
feel the battle is easier to carry out on their own turf rather
than on foreign soil.
It is too simplistic to blame Saddam Hussein's followers for the
daily killings of American soldiers. There is clearly a much wider
involvement of the jihadi outfits based in Pakistan. This, obviously,
is not going to endear Pakistan to the US. But the policymakers
in that country continue to be convinced that without General
Pervez Musharraf things could get worse.
Again, the US is either deluding itself, or simply not willing
to accept that anti-Americanism is intertwined with the Israeli-Palestine
issue. As long as the US is perceived to be totally backing Israel,
it will be considered to be both anti-Arab, and anti-Islam. This
washes well wherever there is a sizeable Muslim population. It
was probably for this reason that India could not afford to send
troops to Iraq when the US so desperately wanted us to assist
them.
India, having taken peace initiatives for winning the hearts and
minds of the Pakistani people, should continue to implement and
strengthen these objectives. The logical corollary for the Government
would be to allow the Hurriyat Conference, under Maulana Abbas
Ansari, visit Pakistan. One has failed to understand the logic
of denying permission and passports to the members of the executive
of this branch of the AHPC. The denial makes little sense in an
age where to communicate you need not necessarily travel. The
Hurriyat Conference (excluding the Geelani faction) should be
allowed to go, as it would further expose Pakistani claims that
the Hurriyat is the 'sole' voice of Kashmir.
One has serious doubts about any bilateral solution to India-Pakistan
problems. It can either be imposed from outside-say by a United
Nation's Security Council Resolution declaring the LOC as the
international border-or through the people of the two countries
finding some modus operandi which can influence their respective
governments.
To
achieve this there should be a meeting of Kashmiris, from both
sides of the border, including representatives of the Northern
Territories and Baltistan, from Pakistan. Jammu, Ladakh and the
Gujjars also need to participate through their nominees. Since
the governments cannot find a solution, let the people who are
suffering the most come out with practical proposals. -
Courtesy Pioneer
