Rewriting Indo-US relations: a good beginning

[Guest guest]

Rewriting Indo-US relations: a good beginning

By MV Kamath

 

Is wisdom finally dawning on the United States that India is not a

country to be trifled with, that Pakistan is not just a failed state

but a bogus state to start with, and came into existence mainly

because of the machinations of the British? Admitting that the

exigencies of the Cold War drove the United States and Pakistan into

each other's arms, it should at least now dawn on Washington that the

only way to handle Pakistan is to handle it firmly and show it its

place under the sun, which is way below on the ladder. India should

henceforth occupy pride of place in Washington's thinking as is

obvious in the address delivered to the CII Partnership Summit in

Hyderabad last week by Richard N. Haass, Director, Policy Planning

Staff, U.S. Department of State.

 

In that refreshingly honest address, Haass made the point that India

and the United States share an interest in bringing about a world in

which terror is rare, proliferation is curbed and energy supplies are

secure and that ``beyond making progress on particular issues in the

political, military and security realms, India and the United States

should strive to regularise and deepen consultations across the

board''.

 

It may be too soon to believe that America's fascination for Pakistan

is over, but apparently America is at last beginning to understand

what India stands for, not just as an Asian power but as a

civilizational entity unique in the world. But first it may be

worthwhile to point out the psychological dimensions of Pakistan. The

Muslim leadership in the vast south Asian sub-continent had never

forgotten that Islamic rule had prevailed in most parts of India over

a continuous period of some one thousand years. The Muslim elite

almost believed that Islam had the right to rule over India.

 

It may surprise many to know that no less than a patriot as Maulana

Abul Kalam Azad for years held the belief that when the moment came

for the British to leave, the successor to Delhi should be a

descendant of Bahadur Shah. Mohammed Ali Jinnah equated the Muslim

with the Hindu populace demanding equal share in the governance of

the country, throwing democratic role into the dustbin. In the

Central Cabinet Jinnah wanted Hindu-Muslim parity. Such was the

Muslim elite contempt for Hindus that Pakistan's Gen. Ayub Khan

honestly believed that one Muslim soldier is equal to ten or twelve

Hindu soldiers. And in all these fifty years of its existence

Pakistan has demanded parity with India against all demographic and

economic facts of life.

 

In all these years the United States and Britain kept up the fiction

that Pakistan is if not more equal certainly equal to India, with

grave consequences to Pakistan and a great drag on India. That trend

has to be reversed. Pakistan must be firmly told that it cannot ever

be treated as on par with India and that it must come to terms with

reality.

 

India has no designs against Pakistan and all that it wants is to be

left alone. Haass says that India will not realise its global

potential until its ties with Pakistan are nor-malised. That is true

to a point. But one can't normalize such ties if Pakistan continues

its medieval ways.

 

This is a nation that doesn't realise that we are in the twenty-first

century and not in the fifteenth. Its leader-ship still believes that

it can bully Hindus into submission. This is partly the reason why we

have the Togadias bristling with anger. The Togadias cannot be

suppressed by calling them names. And much of the responsibility for

taming Pakistan rests on the United States which is the party most

guilty of making Pakistan what it is today, arrogant, unrealistic and

unwilling to face up to reality.

 

The reality, if that has to be spelled out, is that Pakistan is a

third grade power with limited capabil-ities nowhere to be com-pared

with India. If it can control the jehadis, sternly put down the

`maulvis' and `mias', liberate its society from thraldom, it can

possibly attain a measure of greatness and prosperity but not as

things stand now. It should be explained to Washington that India

would be ready to help Pakistan, but not as long as the Army rules

the country and as long as Islamabad makes Jammu & Kashmir the focus

of its attention.

 

Haass has been most appreciative of recent events in Jammu & Kashmir

that included the holding of free and fair elections, the coming into

power of a coalition and its ``bold intiatives to reduce tensions and

bring about a climate of reconciliation in a region that has too long

been mired in strife''. He told the Summit: ``There are a few things

about which I am certain. First, the status of the Line of Control

will not be changed unilaterally. Second, the LoC will also not be

changed by violence. To the contrary, in the absence of a jointly

agreed Indo-Pakistan alternative, everyone should act to ensure the

continued sanctity of the Line of control.

 

For its part, the United States will continue to urge President

Musharaaf to do everything in his power to permanently end

infiltration into Kashmir. Pakistan must realise that this

infiltration is killing their hopes for a settlement to Kashmir''.

And he added : ``The path to large break-through is often paved with

agreements on small issues''.

 

There are some things, as Haass himself discreetly pointed out, that

Pakistan must understand. One is that Jammu & Kashmir can never,

never be taken up by violence and India will never part with it, not

now, not tomorrow, not in another thousand years. Two, India may at

some point agree to accepting the Line of Control as the permanent

international boundary, but with great reluctance. If the United

States wants India to help Pakistan save its face, Delhi should not

hesitate to use Washington's good offices as a mediator.

 

What the people of India desperately want is peace, not a permanent

state of conflict with its irresponsible neighbour. If somehow that

can be achieved through America's mediation, that should be welcome

to Delhi.

 

For far too long has the Government of India declined mediation

offers. We need to grow up. In all these years Pakistan has been on a

self-destructive binge, but let it be said, fully aided and abetted

by the western powers, notably the United States and Britain, both of

which turned a blind eye to their ally's stupid ventures. History is

now catching up with everyone, most notably with Pakistan. Pakistan

must accept howsoever painful it be to do so that it is an artificial

state that can best survive only if it accepted the hand of

friendship and cooperation held out by India. And never otherwise.

 

Pakistan would do well to consider some form of federation with India

and give up its dream of being the epicentre of a huge Islamic Empire

stretching from the Indian Ocean to and beyond the Caspian Sea,

offering a threat to all neighbouring nations. Pakistan's happiness

and prosperity lies with India, not with Afghanistan or Iran, Dubai

and Abu Dubai, nor with the CIS countries up north; it may wish to

treat China as a great friend, but China and Pakistan have nothing in

common.

 

Pakistan's soul lies in India's heart, no matter how strongly the

Musharrafs of the country will dispute it. India knows it even if

Pakistan wants to deny it. Haass has given some wholesome advice to

India. He told the Summit meeting: ``Supporting positive developments

in Pakistan does not mean condoning or overlooking the many serious

matters that Pakistan still must address. But it does mean saying and

doing things that help encourage favourable trends within Pakistan

and make possible more normal ties with it''.

 

Well said. But who will listen in Pakistan? Not the military with its

heart full of revenge. Not the Generals who want to preserve their

power above anything else. Not the hate-filled jehadis who think they

have a mission to fulfil.

 

The only thing all these elements respect is force-and only the

United States can use it, because it has it. The U.S. for instance,

can put all of Pakistan's nuclear weaponry under lock and key. It is

not all that difficult as it seems. For all of China's support to

Pakistan, Beijing can do little if the United States decides to deal

firmly with Pakistan. And it is about time that Washington tells its

ally to behave itself or face the consequences.

 

Once Pakistan realises that insofar as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned,

the game is up, it will have no alternative but to come to the

negotiating table and listen to some sense. India has no desire to

humiliate Pakistan; it can, because it is the bigger party, afford to

be magnanimous but not in the way Indira Gandhi did at the Simla

Talks, only to be later taken for a ride by Bhutto. If Pakistan is

willing to let the past bury the past and look towards the future,

then there is nothing to stop both India and Pakistan make a fabulous

economic recovery.

 

The money that is now wasted on armaments by both countries can be

spent usefully in building roads and bridges, schools and hospitals

and in setting up small-scale industries. Then the sky will be the

limit. But only the United States can make it happen, even in its own

interests. Will it make the move? Perhaps Pakistan itself is waiting

for the U.S. to crack the whip.

 

What is the United States waiting for? Said Haass: ``We (the US and

India) have come a long way, to a point where cooperation not carping

is the dominant characteristic of our relationship. What we have

witnessed is nothing short of a basic restructuring of how our two

great nations interact''.

 

If Haass means even a tenth of what he has said, there is hope all

round, for the US, for Pakistan and for India. And for millions of

impoverished people in south Asia, tired of hating and suffering.

Come on, Mr Bush. Get going. And good luck to you.