Opinion Can there be peace in South Asia?

When I met the Minister,my first question was why India always behaved in such a namby-pamby fashion in the face of open hostility. He smiled indulgently and pointed out that I should pay more attention to ‘substance’. The Prime Minister ignored Chinese objections on Arunachal and so did the Dalai Lama. The Minister seemed convinced that there was nothing for us to worry about on the Chinese front.

When the talk turned to Pakistan,the Minister said that all India wanted was some clear indication that the men responsible for 26/11 would be punished and we would start talking peace again. “We would like some reassurance that the Pakistan government recognises that the enemies of India are also the enemies of Pakistan.”

As I drove off into the dark and foggy night,I mulled over war and peace in South Asia at the start of the second decade of the 21st century. By the time I got home,I was in a mood of dark depression. Things are very bad. And even if we do start peace talks with Pakistan,they could end up being no more useful than all those other rounds of engagement in the past sixty years. South Asia is the epicentre of worldwide jihad and after the United States and Israel,there is no country the jihadis hate more than India. If,Allah forbid,Pakistan’s nuclear bombs fall into the hands of the sort of people who planned and executed 26/11,the Indian sub-continent could simply cease to exist. We must do everything to prevent such a horrible eventuality.

As someone who believes that the United States is India’s friend because it is in that country’s best interests and our own,I think we must strengthen that friendship. And,hope that President Obama has some way of controlling Pakistan’s nukes. At the same time we must try and find some way of trusting the Pakistan government. It is true that neither the Pakistani army nor the government of President Zardari have done much since the attack on Mumbai to inspire trust. If Ajmal Kasab had not been caught alive and if CCTV footage of the attack on the Taj and Oberoi had not traced telephone calls back to Pakistan we might still be hearing nothing but denials of Pakistani involvement. But,do we have any choice except to try and find someone in Pakistan to talk to?

Having said this let me add that if a new process of dialogue does begin,the rules of engagement must be new ones or the exercise will be pointless. The attack on Mumbai was a defining moment. An act of war. There is a possibility that some elements of the Pakistani army were involved. We need to know if this is true. The ten who came to Mumbai were pawns guided at every step by those who sat in Pakistan watching the attack on television and openly taking pleasure in its success. A peace process can only begin when the Pakistani government tells us who these men were and whether they will be punished.

Ever since Atal Bihari Vajpayee took that bus to Lahore ten years ago,every gesture of peace India has made has been treated with contempt. Even today every time the Indian government mentions Islamist terrorism,Pakistan responds with Kashmir. It is an absurd response since the attack on Mumbai made it abundantly clear that the worldwide jihad has goals that go far beyond Kashmir. This is something that we can and must talk to Pakistan about. Whose side is Pakistan on when it comes to the jihad?