INDO-PAKISTAN RELATIONS

Kuldip Nayar on Past's Shadow over Indo-Pakistan Relations

Thinking in the South has undergone a sea change in the last few years. At one time Pakistan was too distant and Kashmir a North Indian obsession, not now.

Two developments have upset the South. First, many of the military and paramilitary men, who have died in Kashmir, hailed from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kashmir is now part of their personal tragedy. And since Pakistan is seen assisting the Kashmiri militants, anger has got transferred to it.

Second, every bomb explosion or an incident of sabotage is traced to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan. Militants, whether in the North-east, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh or elsewhere, are believed to be getting arms, training and money from the ISI.

The Government of India puts all the blame on Islamabad and every incident is attributed to it. The media reports all that officials give out, without challenging its authenticity. Minds have got conditioned. The South has begun to be as much influenced as the North. There is no sane voice heard or reported from Pakistan. The same is more or less true of India. It appears that the hawks on both sides have taken over.

Not long ago, threats to Pakistan at public meetings evoked no applause. But now, whenever they want to play to the gallery, the politicians bring in Pakistan. Some even go to the extent of mentioning Pakistani and Indian Muslims in the same breath so as to suggest a connection.

The liberals, if not the rulers, have to think hard how ether to tame the rivers of hatred which are flowing unchecked on both sides. Hostility is increasing by leaps and bounds. The three wars have not solved any problem. The fourth one is difficult even to visualize because the two countries have reportedly acquired nuclear device.

How do you bring down the temperature? No discussion, much less a sense of accommodation, is possible if the atmosphere remains tense. True, Kashmir said is on the top of Pakistan's agenda. It is equally true that worry the Shimla agreement has made it clear that the Kashmir question is yet to be settled. At present no government Lord either in India or Pakistan can rise above populism while discussing Kashmir.

It is also naive to believe that the settlement on Kashmir will bury the hatchet between India and Pakistan. There are many hatchets to be buried. Kashmir is only a symptom, not the disease. The disease is the anti-India feeling in Pakistan and the anti-Pakistan feeling in India. It has also largely to do with the 150- 1937-year-old chasm between Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent.

It is the same challenge facing us over and over again in a different shape. The past is too much with both countries. And it is not the recent past. It dates back to the times when the Muslims advanced their claim to national expression on the basis of religion and when the Hindus say that all Indians were the same.

And history has been distorted to serve parochial ends. Wars between kings and overlords have been understood as wars between Hindus and Muslims. Muslims recall the days when they ruled India and Hindus see themselves as the rightful owners of Aryavarta (the land of the Aryans), treating others as intruders or plunderers. Nothing will be more futile than the argument whether partition was the answer. There was no other way out.

Has partition served the purpose of Muslims? I do. not know. As far as Muslims in India are concerned, they are still paying the price. At least North India has not yet forgiven them.

In Pakistan people avoid the word 'partition". I have heard they say that they are happy that at least they have 'some place' where they feel secure, free of 'Hindu domination' or 'Hindu aggressiveness".

I do feel that the Muslims have been the biggest losers as they are now spread over three countries - India. Pakistan and Bangladesh. Imagine the influence that their numbers their votes could have commanded in the undivided subcontinent! They would have been more than one-third of the total population.

Whatever the past, it is history. We have to begin afresh. The new relationship will have to be built brick by brick. Geography has thrown us together. We come from the same stock. Outside the subcontinent we get along very well. In several ways we are complementary to each other.

New Delhi should take the initiative to mend fences with Pakistan. By raising walls on the borders, we will only heighten mistrust and suspicion. To begin with, India should liberalize its visa policy. Ours is an open society. That is our strength.

(Source: The Indian Express, 18 March, 1996)

Soli J. Sorabjee On Hindutva Vs Bharatva

Will the BJP government last? Much depends on the official stand of the government in Parliament on the issue of minorities and its economic policies. Will it shed its obsession with demolishing mosques? Can Hindutva not be replaced with Indianness or Bharatva? How sincere will it be in the fight against communalism, casteism and corruption? Will it be able to resist the blandishments offered by the tribe of Ambanis and Hindujas.

(Source: The Times, of India, 17 May, 1996)