scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeSG National InterestThe Sunday Spring

The Sunday Spring

Why a lunch in Delhi and a pilgrimage to Ajmer could achieve more than any summit.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

As a closed-door conversation with some editors during his state visit to New Delhi meandered to Pakistan, the head of a major western power said, in a tone of resignation, that all they were looking for now was a way out of the hole called Af-Pak. Good point, I said, but in India our challenge is entirely the opposite: we have to figure out a way of continuing to live forever next to just this region which you now so conveniently dismiss as a forgettable hole.

It is no surprise, therefore, that for the past two years or so, our Pakistan (or Af-Pak, though India is wisely dehyphenating that equation now) policy has peeled away from the broader western stream of thought. Consider, for example, the fact that over these two years, nobody of any consequence in India has said anything rude about Pakistan. In fact, mostly, they have been saying nice things, leaving their indignation for their favourite tormentors of Indian expats, like Australia and Norway. At the same time, hardly any American has been heard saying anything that is not rude about Pakistan. For them, the stalwart ally of yesterday has emerged an incorrigible double-crosser. For India, on the other hand, Pakistan has increasingly changed from an incorrigible hostile to a more reasonable neighbour seeking to explore beyond either side’s preferred core issue, Kashmir or terrorism. It is in this fascinating new set of circumstances that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari comes calling.

It has been said for centuries that you only get to go on a pilgrimage to Ajmer Sharif if Khwaja Sahib wishes to see you there. Jaswant Singh (then external affairs minister) had famously reminded Pervez Musharraf of that at a news conference at Agra just after the talks had broken down and he had decided to fly back to Islamabad rather than stay overnight for the following morning’s scheduled visit to Ajmer Sharif. Don’t blame this on anything else, Jaswant Singh said, as it’s been known for generations that you only get to go to Ajmer Sharif if Khwaja Sahib invites you. Of course, he added, for effect, that he himself and his family have been frequent pilgrims there.


Also read: It took Pakistan three defeats to understand the flaw in its war strategy against India


A supposedly weakened Zardari, therefore, would achieve tomorrow what a Pakistani dictator at the peak of his power was not able to do. To complete an entirely different script from Musharraf’s (who came in for a formal summit), he will also do it on what is, ultimately, a mere pilgrimage with a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thrown in en route. There are also good prospects that even this meeting, incidental to a pilgrimage, will end up achieving more than the terrible disaster of Agra with its hype.

At Agra, both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Musharraf were at the peak of their power. This will be a meeting between two struggling leaders, each debilitated by a different set of reasons. You want to stretch that list of contrasts, see how Zardari, though weakened politically, is still buoyant because his army chief is weaker than any since Zia-ul-Haq took over power. Manmohan Singh, on the other hand, is distracted by his fractious coalition and declining political party. But he can safely ride the belief that if there is one thing on which Indians still fully trust him, where his coalition has total unanimity, it is better relations with Pakistan.

Movement on the ground has also reflected the shift in our discourse. Accordingly, Pakistan’s equation with India has improved just as it has deteriorated with the West. Now, if you were from the old, suspicious school of West-phobia, you’d ask, wasn’t this only to be expected as, after all, it was the big powers that made poor neighbours fight? But it is not so simple. It is, in fact, even simpler than that. The latest American (and allied) love affair with Pakistan began after 9/11 and was purely transactional. I give so many billions and visas and green cards to the children of your generals, bureaucrats and politicians and you give me Osama and the rest. In this transaction, their counterparts could only have been the Pakistani army and the ISI, and not the elected government. The political leadership, in fact, was a hindrance. This put the big powers at odds with the people of Pakistan whose mood was shifting towards democracy anyway, and who have, by now, begun to see their armed forces as American clients and, after the Osama raid even more incompetent than their elected leaders, howsoever weak or venal.


Also read: Pakistan never ‘surrendered’ in 1971. Kashmir, 26/11, Parliament show why 


What follows is also equally simple. Over these six decades, Pakistan’s army had built and justified its special position in the power structure on the edifice of fear and hatred of India. If that declines, the army’s special status would be robbed of its justification to that extent. The two are directly proportional. That is precisely what has happened.

This has unleashed an unprecedentedly pleasant breeze. Check out some more interesting straws blowing in it. Pakistan has opened trade with India, with MFN status, in a manner few had expected. It is a matter of time before the Bathinda refinery starts exporting finished products to Pakistan and, hopefully, at some point soon, Jamnagar too. An integrated customs checkpoint is coming up at Wagah-Attari. A Pakistani judicial commission has had a pleasant visit to India checking out evidence on 26/11. One of its eminent members was even photographed cleaning shoes at a Delhi gurdwara in penance for a Sikh killed by fundamentalists in FATA. India voted for Pakistan to join the Security Council just as they had voted for us earlier. And while they have been on it for three months, they have eschewed the tamasha of old over Kashmir. And, of course, while their cricketers still wait for the BCCI to deal with its fear of the Shiv Sena, Pakistani hockey stars have already completed one brilliant World Series Hockey season. You saw their all-time great striker Rehan Butt turn out for Chandigarh Comets in the semi-final against Pune Strykers at Mumbai’s Mahindra Stadium last week. Of course, it was such a pity to see him mess up a one-on-one challenge in the penalty shootout. But you can’t have everything going to script in the subcontinent after just two years of virtuous change.


Also read: Modi must make sure US doesn’t hyphenate India & Pakistan again


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular