From: The Hindu, Thursday, February 11, 1999
:: Pg: 10 :: Col: c
(SECTION: Opinion)
A new turn in India-Pakistan tiesby Asghar Ali Engineer
RELATIONS between India and Pakistan have of late taken a new turn with both the Prime Ministers showing a spirit of friendship and reconciliation. The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, in a newspaper interview, struck a positive note and said, ``Let us discuss the n-issue, the missile issue... let's talk directly.'' It is a meaningful statement. ``India doesn't want third-party intervention in Kashmir, so why a third-party role in the nuclear issue? Or else, let's have third party in Kashmir as well'', he said.
Mr. Sharif said this on the eve of a visit by a U.S. delegation led by its Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Strobe Talbott. He also said ``the (nuclear) threat is all here. So why not resolve the issue between ourselves?'' For years, attempts have been made to promote peace between the two countries and improve relations. In the last couple of years, people-to-people initiatives surfaced and four conferences were held in India and Pakistan. In November 1998 a conference was held in Peshawar in which over 100 persons from India participated. These have created the right climate for better relationship.
Whosoever goes to Pakistan comes back with the impression that the people desire friendship with India and those who visit India from Pakistan return home with similar impressions. It is obvious that there is no enmity between the two peoples. Yet it is so difficult to build bridges, thanks to the tangled political issues chief among which is the Kashmir question. Also, the right-wing parties in both the countries want to keep tensions alive - the Sangh Parivar in India and the Jamat-e-Islami in Pakistan.
Recently, the Shiv Sena tried to sabotage the cricket Test between India and Pakistan and dug the pitch on the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds in Delhi. The ostensible reason was that Pakistan is sending terrorists to Kashmir. But political analysts know that the real reason lay elsewhere. The Sena is doing all this with an eye on the Assembly elections in Maharashtra due next year. It also threatened to set fire to the bus which came from Pakistan on its trial run last month. The Jamat-e-Islami cadre held out a similar threat in Pakistan.
But the animosity between the two countries has gone too far and now there is an urgent need for reconciliation. The people on both the sides of the border are eager for a better relationship. Partition is now history and should not embitter us any longer. It was after all brought about by politicians on both sides. The people were not responsible for it and, on the contrary, they suffered greatly.
Anyway, Partition cannot be undone and wisdom demands that we now live as good friends. In the last 50 years, we have lived with an uneasy relationship and fought three wars. Now is the time to say enough is enough and bring about a reconciliation in right earnestness. We have much in common - our languages, cultures and even religions - as there are Hindus, Muslims and Christians on both sides. Many people from either side are eager to visit the other. There are any number of divided families. In many cases, brothers are on either side of the divide and in some cases, if the mother is on one side, the father is on the other.
Besides, millions of tourists would like to visit the other side. Sikhs have their sacred places in Lahore and other parts of Punjab. Nankana Saheb, their most sacred place, is in Pakistani Punjab. Thousands of Indians would like to visit Mohanjodaro and Taxila, which belong to our shared period of history. Similarly, thousands of Pakistanis are eager to visit the Qutb Minar, the Taj Mahal and the Lal Qila, equally precious heritages from the Sultanate and Mughal period.
Besides relatives and tourists, litterateurs, writers and journalists on both sides are equally eager to visit each other. Punjabi writers in India and Pakistan would very much like to meet frequently and discuss literary issues. They share a common literary heritage. Similarly, Urdu literature - both poetry and fiction - has so much in common. There are great Urdu poets and fiction writes in India and Pakistan. If India has poets such as Sardar Jafri and Majruh Sultanpuri, Pakistan has fiction writers such as Intizar Husain and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi.
Also, much is being written by younger generation poets and fiction writers on both sides. They are so eager to meet one another and exchange ideas. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain even literary magazines and books and there is a great paucity of literary and journalistic exchanges. The business communities are also eager to promote trade. It is no longer true that Pakistani businessmen are afraid of India and would not like trade exchanges. Those days are gone.
The late Mehbubul Haque, Pakistani economist, fervently pleaded for the promotion of better trade relations saying that informal (illegal) trade worth crores was already taking place across the border. In Lahore, there is the India Bazaar where everything Indian is sold. It is said that this informal trade is in the region of a few billion dollars.
The European nations which fought fiercely against one another till 1945 have not only forced a close relationship but also formed a common European Union, a common market and now, of course, a common currency. It is unfortunate that India and Pakistan have not succeeded even in liberalising the visa regime. On the contrary, it has been tightened. India was forced to close down the consulate in Karachi and Pakistan, in Mumbai. The people are put to inconvenience in obtaining visas. They have to go either to Islamabad or Delhi and still securing visa is uncertain. The applications are sent to the Foreign Minister of the respective countries by the High Commissions for clearance. It does not happen in dealings with any other country. Then, there is the humiliating condition of police reporting. If you are lucky to get a visa after all these hassles, your visit will be restricted to one or two cities specified in the visa.
All such restrictions must go. Preferably and ideally, the visa regime should be abolished altogether. People should be free to travel all over the SAARC countries. Now no visa is required for the nations of the European countries within the E.U. They can show their passport and go.
The argument that spies will infiltrate is not well founded. They do it anyway. Intelligence agencies in both the countries can keep an eye on such undesirable elements. If visas are not be abolished, they should at least be liberalised. There should be consulates in different parts of the countries and people desirous of visiting Pakistan or India should be assured visas except where there is a strong case of suspicion.
The Kashmir issue is, of course, the major hurdle. It is not easy to find a solution and may take much longer to resolve the problem than most optimists think. Both sides should show a spirit of accommodation despite political caution. Right now, there appear to be two options: -
either convert the Line of Control into an international border or freeze the whole issue for 25 years. The coming generation may not be so sentimental about it as we are. They may be more capable of settling it coolly. It must be realised that both sides may find it extremely difficult to retreat from their positions on Kashmir. If any government on either side does that, it may face a stiff opposition from the right-wingers. But at some point, they will have to take the risk in the interest of peace and harmony. As some individuals are at times called upon to lay down their lives and become martyrs, some governments may also have to play a similar role in the large interest of their people.
Three wars have been fought and we have failed to resolve the Kashmir issue. Huge sums are spent on the armies. This money, all sensible people will agree, could be fruitfully invested for the removal of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in both the countries. For each fighter jet that the two nations buy, thousands of children can be made literate. With the money that goes into every tank that we manufacture, hundreds of people can be fed. Poverty and illiteracy are the common enemy and we must fight the common enemy rather than each other.
Now there is some hope in the air. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has announced that he will be the first passenger in the inaugural bus service to Pakistan and Mr. Sharif has said that he will accompany Mr. Vajpayee on his return journey. And the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, has announced that he will accord a grand reception to both the Prime Ministers in Amritsar. Let all sensible people support these efforts in right earnest. Let us join hands and convert the theatre of war into an arena of peace and prosperity. It will be the greatest service to the people of both the countries. and the Noble Prize for peace should be awarded to the two Prime Ministers.