Support the
Indo-Pak Peace Effort
By Ras Hafiz Siddiqui
It has been quite
an interesting spring in Southern Asia We have the
ongoing cricket series between India and Pakistan
which will close soon with the final one-day tally
favoring India at the time of this writing (after
the Tests series had ended in a draw).
And on the other hand the continuing “Peace
Offensive” that both India and Pakistan have
launched simultaneously beyond the cricket field,
via visiting artistes, enhanced people-to-people
contacts and most importantly with Kashmir’s
new bus service. Giving the divided Kashmiris a
way to meet each other after decades, without the
use of passports, is nothing less than a revolutionary
step. Let us hope that small steps like these will
lead us to overcome the larger challenge before
us, which is the possibility of a permanent peace
between India and Pakistan, and a welcome final
closure to the Kashmir problem.
There are certainly many skeptics amongst us. This
writer does wonder (as do many Indians) if there
is another Kargil on the horizon! But the times
and the world has changed post 9/11. Islamist-oriented
movements are being looked upon with suspicion and
little sympathy. And the Kashmir problem has been
going on for so long that fatigue is setting in
on all sides. Thousands of lives have been lost
and hundreds of thousands have been directly impacted.
The world, especially the US is asking both India
and Pakistan to grow up and move on by receding
from their maximal positions and to look for solutions
that will satisfy their minimum requirements for
peace. And this time it might just be the suffering
Kashmiris themselves who will show the rest of us
a way out of this mess.
The Cold War is over. Not only has Washington had
a change of heart. It also does not need to pursue
the conflict dividends that came in handy while
it battled communism. But that does not mean that
America’s role has become easy, especially
with regards to problem resolution between old and
embittered enemies such as India and Pakistan. It
is very difficult to teach old warriors new tricks,
especially within these two nuclear weapons states
which have been fighting over Kashmir for the past
58 years.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just
had a recent first-hand look at the two and one
can only wonder if what she saw and heard there
has given us any reason for optimism. The offer
of F-16 planes (to both sides) will not solve the
problem. But it will certainly help thousands of
workers keep their jobs in Fort Worth, Texas where
President Bush would like to remain popular.
But returning to South Asia, the question to ask
is why are India and Pakistan choosing to be civil
to each other now? And are we dealing with a fantasy?
The nudging of two by the world community especially
the US, the European Union and even China is evident.
But “It’s the Economy Stupid”
may also have a great deal to do with it. India
wants to be a global power and Pakistan is tired
of being just poor. What has changed recently is
the growing realization between both that to achieve
their objectives there is a need for each to cooperate
with the other. India needs resources (oil and gas)
to feed its growing economic engine and realizes
that Pakistan is geographically located between
it and the Central Asian or Iranian energy suppliers.
Pakistan too will benefit from the same sources
but what it needs immediately is more water to satisfy
the thirst of its growing population and to irrigate
its increasingly dusty plains. India controls Pakistan’s
water source in Kashmir and unless more accommodations
are made, the scarcity of water in the near future
just might re-ignite old hostilities not only between
India and Pakistan but within Pakistan itself. Realism
and not the power of astrology are at work here
but will it all last?
General Pervez Musharraf, was once known as “The
Architect of Kargil.” He is in an unenviable
position today due to his stand on war against the
Al Qaeda and (surprisingly) on peace between India
and Pakistan. And unlike what the western media
portrays, it is not just one man but the higher
echelons of the Pakistan Army, the Pakistani bureaucracy
and the recovering political establishment in Pakistan
that now have a converging vested interest in wanting
to settle disputes with India. Even a number of
people in Pakistan’s religious leadership
are not being as critical of India today as they
have been in the past. A few diehards will continue
to play their same old tune but their future relevance
will be diminished if India itself can check or
prevent incidents such as the massacres of Muslims
in Gujarat. The communal fires in India and the
sectarian fires in Pakistan are devilishly similar.
Being of the democratic persuasion, I find it difficult
to give General Musharraf my unqualified support
on issues related to constitutionality. But on peace
with India I am urging Pakistani Americans to go
the distance with him. He also appears to have the
support of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
at this critical juncture (on this subject). Ms.
Bhutto has shown much statesmanship recently and
is proving to be a mature leader. And she is not
alone, as I discovered after a recent visit to South
Asia.
On December 27, 2004 I was a guest at a dinner in
Karachi, Pakistan hosted by Dr. Tariq Sohail and
Mrs. Ghazala Sohail. The Sohails run a Medical College
in Karachi and are known for their social work.
This event was held to welcome a group (on a goodwill
mission) made up of visiting Indians and Pakistanis
who now make the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom
their home (just like us). The image that I once
had about the Pakistani elite being too busy consuming
illegally imported Scotch and not caring about society
in general was laid to rest at this venue. There
to meet the visitors were the former Governor of
Sindh Province, a Lieutenant General along with
a number of leading columnists and writers for the
two largest English newspapers in Pakistan, namely
Dawn and The News along with a host of others, many
from Human Rights organizations. Everyone here appeared
to be on the same peace wavelength. A sizable number
of South Asian Christian visitors were in the group
of overseas guests along with Hindus and Muslims.
And there were no demonstrators anywhere, only concerned
human beings who wished for a long overdue peace.
But where will all of this momentum lead us? One
cannot really predict. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and General Musharraf will meet informally to talk
about many things including what to do about Kashmir.
Let us urge all Indians and Pakistanis worldwide
to pray for the success of these talks and to this
send their encouragement. Because if this writer,
a longtime Pakistani-American activist can change
his perceptions after a trip to India, so can others.
I do not know exactly when that change of heart
occurred. Was it at our ancestral family graveyard
in India when the wall started tumbling down? Or
when I walked with my aging mother though the campus
of the Aligarh Muslim University and searched for
my father’s long faded footsteps? It could
also have been at his grave in Karachi, Pakistan.
But more than likely it was when I viewed for the
first time the true faces of “the enemy”
that I actually became a little embarrassed. The
distantly familiar and cute faces belonged to my
cousin sisters N, M, G & C. whose parents never
left India for Pakistan during Partition as mine
did. I had never seen them before that day. Cousin
N was getting ready for her wedding as everyone
present at her henna ceremony looked at us with
equal wonderment. I made my personal peace with
India that day and can now understand how the Kashmiris
on this new bus service feel when they meet their
kinfolk after all these years.
In closing and once again as General Pervez Musharraf
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meet to discuss
various issues, let us Indian and Pakistani people
worldwide try to extend our support to them for
the normalization of relations between the two countries.
And if during these talks they run into difficulty
with the geography of this conflict, let us urge
them to look for a permanent solution within the
contours of its humanity, an element that we have
so callously overlooked since 1947.
(Dedicated to the memory of my late father Abdul
Hafiz Siddiqui)
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