WAR AND PEACE

by Anand Patwardhan [ 26 June 99]

 

Undeclared war rages on the Indo-Pak border and threatens to expand into

full fledged declared war with the ever-present danger of nuclear

holocaust. But even if the unthinkable is averted and the war is contained

>from here on, untold damage has been already done to the peace process.

 

What do we, on both sides of the man-made divide, who count ourselves

amongst a vocal minority of peace advocates, do at this juncture, when all

around is sound and fury? How do we begin to reach out to that silent

majority on both sides that perhaps guesses in its heart of hearts that

only peace between neighbours can bring economic justice and political

freedom?

 

Today in both countries, the very forces that caused the poor to become

poorer by selling land, air, water and sovereignty, have draped their

ugliness in the flag. In India, the Bofors gun, hitherto the symbol of

Congress corruption is now a weapon of pride. And the BJP whose hardline

was totally discredited has emerged as a direct beneficiary of the war. In

Pakistan a similar process of empowering hatred and rewarding corruption is

taking place.

 

In this atmosphere who can dare come out on the street and say "Stop this

war now!" or "Begin unconditional dialogue for peace" when the media daily

flashes a heartrending story of a brave jawan's family that vows upon his

body to send every available son to the front as soon as he comes of age?

No TV channel or newspaper, private or public can afford to steer clear of

the path of patriotic fervour. On the airwaves as the death toll rises Lata

Mangeshkar's "E mere watan ke logon, jara aankh me bhar lo paani" replaces

even the national anthem as the song of choice. Politicians rush to be

photographed by the side of the bereaved, businessmen rush to publicly

declare how much they are donating for the war effort and multi-national

corporations rush to advertise their products in tricolour or in green

depending on their geography. Even the stock market rises to the occasion

demonstrating that for tumescence, confidence is more important than health.

 

Hundreds of young lives have been lost on the icy slopes of Kargil and the

suffering caused to their families will last long after public memory

fades. But if there is one victim that remains completely unmourned it is

the peace process itself.

 

Five years before Vajpayee set out to Lahore on his goodwill bus journey to

meet Nawaz Sharif, peace activists from India and Pakistan had been

crossing the border annually to hold large peace conventions, exchange

ideas, literature, films, and to make joint recommendations to their

respective governments to restore trade, travel, and communications between

the two countries, to eschew the nuclear path and make phased, parallel

cuts in defense expenditure and to resolve core issues, including Kashmir,

across the table rather than await another war.

 

All those who made these trips across the border were struck by the

overwhelming desire for peace that ordinary people in both countries

spontaneously demonstrated. When Pakistanis visited India they were struck

by the outpouring of love and affection that Indians showered on them and

likewise it was when we visited Pakistan, all this in marked contrast to

the hate politics that prevailed amongst certain political groups in both

countries and the cautious, even suspicious tone adopted by sections of the

media.

 

Many have argued that Vajpayee's visit to Pakistan and the fact that Nawaz

Sharif met him there with open arms was not an event that either of them

initiated out of personal conviction but an event that took place because

in the wake of the nuclear misadventures of May 98, a groundswell of public

opinion already felt that peace was no longer a luxury but a necessity.

 

What we failed to see was that peace in the hands of politicians is not a

peace that can be relied upon. Vajpayee and Sharif are both products of

hate politics and cannot themselves be the antidote of the very poison that

brought them to power. Sadly, that poison is no longer the monopoly even of

the parties that first began to use it. Other parties learned the power of

poison (a Sonia Gandhi poster vows to make mincemeat of any intruder in

Kargil) and the war hastened its spread into the brains of the urban middle

class and elite. The enemy has become an undifferentiated target of hate.

Afghan mercenary, ISI agent, Kashmiri militant, Pakistani soldier, all are

equal, all are a sub-species deserving of extermination. As the poison

makes its way further, soon the undifferentiated target will include all

Pakistanis and all Indian Muslims who do not take a public and publicized

patriotic stand and it will eventually include all those, Muslims and

non-Muslims who do not bay for the blood of the enemy.

 

Where then lies the hope for peace and sanity? Clichéd though this may

sound, it undeniably lies in the very areas where our modern economy and

its hand-maiden politics of hate have not fully penetrated, in our villages.

 

Some weeks before Kargil hit the headlines, on May 11 (the day of India's

nuclear test) a peace march began from the village of Khetolai , near the

nuclear test site. It is winding its way slowly through the countryside of

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to conclude three months and 1500 kms later on

August 6 (the day in 1945 when the USA dropped its atomic bomb on

Hiroshima) in Sarnath where the Buddha once spread his message of peace and

compassion. Having spent a few days with the marchers, I know from our

interactions with local communities that humanity is alive and well though

this is a glimpse that is rarely visible anymore in the urban jungle.

 

Those who have read this piece so far will doubtless be concerned why the

rights and wrongs of Kargil and Kashmir are not its primary subject. For

the record I will say that the violation of the LOC by Pakistani or

Pakistan supported intruders was both morally and politically wrong. The

torture of soldiers and combatants is reprehensible. The loss of young

lives on the border is tragic. I will also say that I believe that a long

term just and viable peace can be won in Kashmir and for that matter

anywhere in the world, including Kosovo and Iraq, through democratic rather

than military means. The battle of Kargil may end in diplomatic and

military victory. But the war will be lost if we continue to believe that

winning territory through the force of arms is more important than winning

hearts and minds through the force of reason.