Asif Ali Zardari was never taken seriously in India. People either knew him as Benazir Bhutto's husband or Mr 10 per cent. But his pronouncements after assuming charge of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) began drawing attention in India.
He was applauded when he said, six months ago, that the ties between the two countries should not be held "hostage" to the Kashmir issue. This was what New Delhi had been saying all along.
Since Zardari's point of view did not fit into Islamabad's policy and mindset that bureaucrats, crusty politicians and army top brass devised and pursued, he was denounced. Islamabad interpreted his statement differently and reiterated the same old policy. Even Pakistan's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Qureshi, whom I met at Islamabad subsequently, rationalised that Zardari did not mean what was being presumed.
Zardari, now Pakistan's president, has expressed similar thought in a more explicit way. He seems to have stirred up a hornets' nest of opposition on the Kashmir issue. In an interview to a US daily, he has said that "the Kashmiri militants are the terrorists."
I do not understand the furore over the remark. He has not given away Kashmir, nor has he withdrawn the claim on the state. All that he has done is to describe today's militants as terrorists who, by no stretch of imagination, are "freedom fighters," the title that General Pervez Musharraf gave them.
If this definition is accepted, the entire argument of fighting against the Taliban falls flat. They too are up in arms to 'free' people from the modern way of thinking and living because it, according to them, defiles the "Islamic behaviour." (The Taliban have burnt down 125 schools for girls in the territory under them). Who are the militants except those who were first trained and armed by General Zia-ul Haq to bleed India and then sustained by General Pervez Musharraf till 09/11 when the entire scene changed drastically?
Rigged polls
True, when the state elections in 1987 in Kashmir were rigged, many from among the youth crossed into Pakistan and obtained arms after getting trained to use them. The first phase of insurgency was not sullied, either by religious fervour or by senseless killings. But that phase ended soon and the fundamentalists took over.
Terrorists under different names of Laskar-e-Toiba, with headquarters in Pakistan, continue to indulge in violence and encounters. They kill the innocent. Should they be called freedom fighters or Mujahideen as the fundamentalists claim? Terrorism cannot be fought if its perpetrators are hailed when they infiltrate into Kashmir and condemned when they operate in Pakistan. Zardari sees the point. Others, prisoners of old policies, don't.
Yet, I am a bit disappointed over the criticism by the Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif. He knows better because he saw through the game when he flew to Washington to retrieve the honour of his armed forces after the debacle at Kargil.
They are the same terrorists who set off bomb blasts in Lahore, Sargoda or elsewhere. They are the ones who burnt the Marriott at Islamabad. If Nawaz Sharif were to analyse the situation dispassionately, he would come to the same conclusion as Zardari has. Political considerations should not cloud Nawaz Sharif's judgment.
The Kashmir issue has to be settled. But should even limited ties between the two countries depend on the solution of Kashmir? Both sides have wasted 60 years and fought three wars, but are nowhere near to the Kashmir solution as they were in 1948. Had we facilitated trade and travel first, we would have generated enough goodwill to take up thorny problems like Kashmir.
Whenever I have visited Pakistan, I have found the climate improving. Pakistanis are awakening to New Delhi's difficulties in keeping its polity of pluralistic as well as democratic. India is ashamed of many happenings, particularly those which have made a mockery of the country's secular credentials.
Still, the majority of people are trying to restore "the balance" which India has come to represent over the years. The task has become more difficult because a band of Taliban has come up among the Hindus. Since we are nearing the general election, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party plays its old game of dividing the society. The party, burning with the ambition to return to power, is using all methods to incite the Hindus which constitute the majority.
Equation with Islamabad is an essential ingredient to protect the ethos of secularism. This is where I find Zardari different from the general run of politicians in Pakistan. He is preparing his country to face certain realities. He has no hesitation in saying that India is not a threat to his country. He has recognised India's economy prowess.
He rightly dreams of Pakistani cement factories being constructed to provide for India's huge infrastructure needs, Pakistan textile mills meeting Indian demand for blue jeans, Pakistani ports being used to relieve the congestions. What is wrong with that?
No doubt, New Delhi is watching closely what Zardari does or says. Pakistan is passing through difficult times. India has to do something concrete to express its solidarity with it, more so with the nascent democracy. It is in India's own interest.
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha MP.
Your comments
I completely agree with Mr. Kuldip Nayar's views. Islamabad should re-think about their existing policy - the policy against India - and try to establish a policy of cooperation which is vital for them. Mr. Zardari's recent statements are a good sign but it is too early to say how much support he would get even from his own people to normalise the ties with India and to improve the bi-lateral relations. Anyway, let us hope for the best in the years to come.
Prasanna
Dubai,UAE
Posted: October 11, 2008, 10:32
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