India’s Pakistan moment

Given the vastly improved relations with Islamabad over the last three years and the UPA government’s delicate negotiations with President Pervez Musharraf on Kashmir, India’s current silence on Pakistan seems golden. Diplomatic silence does not mean New Delhi is not looking at different political scenarios for Pakistan in what promises to be an eventful 2007. That Musharraf’s political stock should begin to crumble at home just when big bilateral breakthroughs appeared to be at hand, is part of an unending tragedy of Indo-Pak relations.

Bhutto, herself, is aware of one such moment which was lost in the late 1980s. Two youthful prime ministers of India and Pakistan, Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir, did seem to possess the will to overturn the conventional wisdom on Indo-Pak relations. They negotiated an end to the deadlock in Siachen, and looked at Kashmir with a fresh perspective. Before they could implement their ideas, the two leaders were ousted from power.

Bhutto also focused on the shared interests in the region against terrorism and religious extremism. “When there are militant camps and Taliban is regrouping in Pakistan, it not only has consequences for India and Afghanistan... but also for the people of Pakistan”.

“We the people of Pakistan have a stake in dismantling the militant groups and eliminating the Taliban from the tribal areas of Pakistan so that our people can be safe from suicide bombers. (We) cannot be held hostage by militant groups who can, for example, strike India in the Parliament and bring the two countries to war”.

For India, however, it is not a question of choosing between Musharraf and Bhutto. India has no reason to personalise the current troubles in Pakistan. It should be focused on positive political outcomes across the western border.

... contd.