Opinion Can anyone save Pakistan now?

My Pakistani friends are all moderates.

January 16, 2011 04:12 AM IST First published on: Jan 16, 2011 at 04:12 AM IST

My Pakistani friends are all moderates. I have known them for more than thirty years from a time when Pakistan was another country. So marginally different to India was it then that when I first flew to Lahore from Delhi in 1980,I thought I had accidentally landed in one of our own Punjabi cities. Yes,there were prayer rooms at the airport and restrictions on bringing in duty free liquor,but they were hardly noticeable. Dinner parties in Lahore were so much like dinner parties in Delhi that it was unnerving. Liquor flowed,conversations were about politics,sub-continental affairs and the superiority of Punjabi culture. I shared their wistfulness about how magnificent Punjab would have been if it had not been divided and it brought back childhood memories of loss that my family brought with them when they came as refugees to India in 1947.

In recent years,every time I meet my Pakistani friends,they speak with great sadness about how their country has changed and how people like them have become an endangered species. Some attempt feebly to blame everything on the Americans but most admit privately that Pakistans descent into venomous,violent Islamism is mostly the fault of their own leaders. Inevitably,at this point in the conversation they turn to what India can do to stop things getting worse and the conversation goes something like this,India must understand that it is in Indias interests for the moderates in Pakistan to survive. This kind of radical Islam will spill across the borders. Is India not aware of this?

It goes without saying that an imploding Pakistan is not in Indias interest. If moderate Islam and democracy fail to survive,there is a real possibility that it will be mullahs and radicalised military men into whose hands Pakistans nuclear bombs will fall and for India this would be beyond horrific. The problem lies in understanding what India can do to prevent Pakistan from becoming the first nuclear armed radical Islamist country in the world.

Last week my fellow columnist,Sudheendra Kulkarni,made a few suggestions on this page among which the most important was that we try and find a solution in Kashmir. But will this really save Pakistan from the radical Islamist groups who lead the jihad? My own view is that it will not. The jihad has grown much bigger than Kashmirs freedom movement. Those who lead it have stated more than once that their goal is the Islamisation of the whole of India. It is to this end that Mumbai was attacked and to this end that groups like the Indian Mujahideen are being enlisted to harm India in every way they can.

Those who believe India can play a role in saving Pakistan from radical Islam also suggest that if India stopped building roads and hospitals in Afghanistan,it would help. Pakistan sees evil designs in our peaceful efforts to help rebuild Afghanistans infrastructure. The people who believe India can stop Pakistan from imploding are earnest and well meaning but in my view blind and politically naïve.

The problem is not the militant groups any more nor is it Pakistans Generals. Things are so bad in Pakistan that if the army were still in control of the violent fanatics the ISI spawned,there would be some attempt at control. They have turned on their own masters and so are no longer strategic assets. Even if all the Islamist groups were disbanded,Pakistan would still be in danger from radical Islam because this idea of the faith has seeped into the fabric of Pakistani society. It is not just mullahs who spread the message but lawyers,policemen,judges and army officers. Pakistan is no longer the country that it used to be and those who believe that there is still a chance of India saving Pakistan by strengthening the voice of moderates are dreaming.

There is not much that India can do but it can appeal to President Barack Obama to stop the war in Afghanistan. As long as it continues,Pakistanis will find someone else to blame for their problems. Once the Americans leave,they will have to confront their own demons and in this lies the only faint flicker of hope. In any case,the war in Afghanistan is a meaningless exercise because it is not the Taliban in that country who constitute the real problem but the numberless Taliban type groups in Pakistan. These groups have the support of ordinary Pakistanis because they see them as heroes in what is perceived as a just war to save Pakistan from being destroyed by the United States. When American troops leave,they may see their true colours. So stick to your 2011 deadline President Obama,it could be the only thing left to do.

Follow Tavleen on Twitter at tavleen_singh