Way forward for nuclear neighbours

Head of PPP Media Cell

Pakistan and Indian leadership, generally, have been holding the prosperous future of the people of two nations hostage to their flawed fixations since independence. They are yet not fully convinced of the futility and usefulnessless of the boring policy of confrontation towards each other country. After the nuclearisation of India and Pakistan the option of taking over adversary militarily has been closed for ever. They have only one option. They should live like good neighbours and defeat their insidious enemy that has been eating into their vitals in the form of hunger, disease, poverty and ignorance throttling the large population of the two countries. They should demonstrate their reiteration to address the issues through uninterrupted peace process, while the cooperation in other fields should continue unhindered. Dialogues with pre-conditions have always crashed before even taking off. The beaten tracks should be jettisoned to be replaced with the paradigm shift entailing good will and bonhomie based on unequivocal sincerity and shared vision.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Sowraj made the day of the people of Pakistan and India when she announced in a much awaited press conference in Islamabad recently that both the countries have agreed to resume ‘Comprehensive Dialogue’ to address all the long standing issues between the two countries through dialogue process at a pace Pakistan desires. It was a pleasant surprise and heart-warming too by any criterion in the face of flames- throwing across the border since the Modi government has been in the saddle in India. The whole range of issues like terrorism, Kashmir, Siachin, Sir Creek, water disputes, transit facility to India and Afghanistan and people to people level extensive exchanges are likely to constitute the pillars of the process. Touchwood! Wish good luck from the bottom of hearts.

The earlier irritant of pre-condition was appreciably shoved aside by India without the slightest hesitation. International diplomatic dynamics preceded by a couple of minutes meeting on the sideline of Prime Minister Modi with his Pakistani counterpart in Paris recently made it happen. The body language of the delegates of Pakistan and India in Islamabad at the ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ was upbeat beaming out shared vision and commitment to make progress in the desired direction— normalisation of relations.

The foreign secretaries’ level meeting is scheduled early next month. The commencement of the process is pleasing hoping the denouements will also be savory leading to win win situation for the people of two countries.

They deserve a fair deal after all as they have already paid very heavy price of the poor judgments of their leaders.

The delegates of the two countries should keep in the foreground the track record of such process initiated in the past. Such dialogue processes like Composite Dialogues were also initiated earlier by the governments but hawks on both sides succeeded in derailing the same to the utter disappointment of the peoples. The non-state actors or state actors threw spanner in the works when they attacked Indian Parliament and later Mumbai carnage. Resultantly, there was no progress in the relations between the two countries and were dangerously close to war instead. Brinkmanship, not diplomacy, continued to override their relations based on the callous narrative of India’s losses are Pakistani gains and vice versa.

The pursuit of this policy at the behest of the hawks has been abjectly responsible for inflicting poverty, disease and miseries on the peoples of unimaginative proportion. How long the people will continue to suffer? Their ordeal must come to an end. Hawks must not succeed this time because it is a now or never situation. Stakes are very high and the endeavors of the respective leaders should measure up to the statesmanship devoted to extricating the two nations out of the morass of mistrust and acrimony and putting them on the even path of trust and friendliness.

Pleasingly, Pakistan’s political parties are generally supportive of good neighbourly relations with India on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest. Opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah has welcomed the visit of the Indian foreign minister to Pakistan and assured all possible cooperation to the government for the promotion of friendly relations with India. PTI chief has also expressed similar views during his recent visit to India urging PM Modi to continue the dialogue process unabatedly no matter how many hurdles may come in the way. The enemies of the people will put spoke in the wheel like in the past but they should not succeed in their perfidious designs from now and on.

Pakistani National Security advisor’s meeting with his Indian counterpart in Bangkok recently clearly suggested the security establishments of the two countries also see redemption in normalisation rather than in the escalation of tension. Hopefully, chronic bickering and hatred will be relic of the past in future. The environment is enabling, manifestations of shared vision are swirling and the top diplomatic level meeting next month between the two countries is a prelude to a result oriented outcome. Optimism this time is well placed in the face of favourable variables indeed.

Ironically, India at the outset vigorously pursued the policy of destabilising Pakistan in a bid to prove the world that the creation of the new country, Pakistan, was not viable politically, economically and ideologically. Pakistan, on the other hand, was desperate in getting arms from any quarters it could get to meet the challenges of security threat emanating from India. The Cold War rivalry between Western Block and the Communist Block provided the much needed opportunity to Pakistan to get arms after signing defence pacts meant for the “containment of communism”. Pakistan’s whole focus was to scuttle the designs of India against Pakistan’s security and joining of the defence pacts was necessitated to meet its pressing security requirements. Pakistan was forced to join defence pacts despite the founding fathers’ policy statement in favour of non-aligned foreign policy.

Security establishments of both the countries, ironically, had been impeding, by default, the initiatives of the elected governments to decrease tension to focus their energies and resources to raise the quality of life of the peoples. Resultantly, the relations between the two countries remained mired in mistrust and hatred stripping off peoples’ dreams of quality life. Happily, the present security establishment in Pakistan is on the same page so far as the normalisation of relations between the two countries is concerned. The international community is also eager to see the two nuclear powered nations as good neighbours.

The other dimension of dialogue process in the perspective of international community is its impact on the war on terror as the scourge is now exploding the portals of the world capitals. International community views the good relations of India and Pakistan as an important component of counter- terrorism strategy at the global level. For, their meeting of the hearts and minds will shrink the space for terrorists and their patrons who have been engaged in the bloody business of implementing their insidious ideology through enslavement, intimidation and elimination.

Pakistan and India are neighbours and destines intertwined. Fully realising the absolute necessity of good neighbourly relations, the founder of the nation, Quaid-e- Azam, underscored the importance of this cardinal principle while talking to US ambassador Alling before independence. He said, ‘Pakistan and India will be an association of like Canada and America.’ It was the vision that clearly envisaged the indispensability of cordial relations between India and Pakistan to make progress in leaps and bounds in all walks of national life. Because, confrontation and acrimony create enough fault lines to dampen the prospects of making strides towards socio-economic development. Haplessly, both the countries have failed to reap the full potentials of the independence simply because they detracted from the visions of the founding fathers. It will be naivety of the highest order if Pakistan and India continue to tread on the same tracks hoping different and pleasant results. They should corroborate their sense of proportion keeping in view the interests of the peoples of the two countries. They must learn from the history and re-write it. They must seize the moment and make the qualitative difference in building mutually beneficial relations.

The leadership of the two countries cannot afford to slip away this opportunity because future of tens of corers of people is at stake and therefore any modicum of laxity or inaptness on their part will be deemed as unforgiving if not a heinous crime. Majority of people have been living below the poverty line in India and Pakistan since partition because of the imposition of unilateral security doctrine.

If India and Pakistan had been living as good neighbours the issue of poverty would have been addressed to a large extent long ago. The two countries would surely have attained the status of at least middle order developed nations if not the near developed nations by now.

Hopefully, sanity will prevail and the two governments, India and Pakistan, will seek out good working relations not to further delay the dawn of prosperity, peace and security in the subcontinent. May God help and guide the leaders of India and Pakistan to resurrect this region as an emblem of peace, prosperity and peaceful co-existence.

muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com