Pakistan-India
Relations: You May Open Your Eyes Now*
By Saleem Akhtar
Chicago, IL
Regrettably, we have arrived at
a point where Gen. Musharraf’s entire India
policy can be summed up in three words: pleading
and pretending. Pleading for negotiated settlement
of all outstanding disputes with India and pretending
that it is really happening.
Let’s look at recently published news. According
to United Press International report titled “India
ruins Pakistan's F-16 shopping spree”:
New Delhi, India, Dec. 22 (UPI): India on Wednesday
claimed partial victory in spoiling Pakistan's
F-16 jets shopping spree by saying that Belgium
had agreed to New Delhi's request not to sell
the fighter jets to Islamabad…. Given the
sensitivity of the geo-political situation in
South Asia, the Belgian government took a conscious
decision not to sell F-16 fighter aircraft to
Pakistan," Mukherjee announced amid thumping
of desks by the lawmakers.
What was Pakistan’s response? A sheepish
note of disagreement uttered under his breath
by Pakistan’s otherwise articulate spokesperson
Masood Khan:
Khan described Pakistan's program as modest compared
to that of New Delhi, which it said spends billions
of dollars on weapons. "We do not want to
match India gun-for-gun, missile-for-missile,
aircraft-for-aircraft," he said.
This is not an isolated incident. This is how
India has come to conduct its business with Pakistan.
India’s main goal in engaging in limited
negotiations with Pakistan is to cut Pakistan
to its size by normalizing relations on India’s
terms, which include getting LoC recognized as
an international boundary, appropriation of water
and water sources (keeping in mind that water
is becoming a scarce resource), and effectively
blocking Pakistan’s efforts to bolster its
defense capabilities.
By getting Belgium not to sell F-16 fighter aircraft
to Pakistan, India has accomplished three goals:
It has established a veto power over Pakistan’s
defense-related acquisition outreach, it has taken
a major first step toward giving itself the power
to define the defense and foreign policy of the
whole region, and it has placed Pakistan in a
position where despite all these provocations
and outright undermining of Pakistan’s national
interests, Pakistan can no longer retaliate in
any fashion; it cannot even walk away from the
negotiating table.
Pakistan under Musharraf is the weakest ever,
though Musharraf alone has caused not all this
weakness. But it is on Gen Musharraf’s watch
that one of his coalition partners, MQM Chief
Altaf Hussain, has repudiated the “two-nation”
theory and indirectly supported India’s
position on LoC and other related matters.
According to the Press Information Bureau, Government
of India, this is what the Indian Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh has recently told the Lok Sabha
and Rajya Sabha:
“I emphasized to President Musharraf the
criticality of his fulfilling the reassurance
of January 6, 2004 that any territory under Pakistan's
control would not be used to support terrorism
in any manner…. I made it clear to President
Musharraf that while we are willing to look at
various options, we would not agree to any redrawing
of boundaries, or another partition of the country…”
And how did Pakistan react to this crystal clear
statement by the Indian Prime Minister that “we
would not agree to any redrawing of boundaries,
or another partition of the country”? According
to internationally published reports Pakistan’s
response was: “We understand that the Indian
PM's statement is welcoming," Masood Khan,
Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman, told the
state-run Pakistan Television (PTV).
Not all Pakistanis are buying Pakistan Foreign
Office’s optimistic spin, and Gen Musharraf
knows that. That’s why he sought to enlist
the support of PAKPAC, a group of Pakistani-Americans:
"Perceptions that I sold out on Kashmir and
backtracked on our stated positions, I have not
done anything of that sort. I am not the kind
to backtrack but I am the kind to back track when
the other side is backtracking," he said,
addressing a dinner reception of Pakistani-American
Public Affairs Committee here on Thursday night.
Even in this speech he was bending backward to
get India to agree to “any” solution
of the Kashmir problem. This pleading was not
lost on Indians. That’s why, in its Dec
24 issue, the Times of India billed his speech
as “Pakistan ready to soften its Kashmir
stand: Pervez”. His weaknesses were obvious
even through his disclaimers.
Pakistanis and Pakistani-Americans alike need
to wake up and face some tough facts.
First, Pakistan has fallen behind economically,
politically, diplomatically, and even culturally.
As a nation, Pakistan is neither willing to accept
this fact nor deal with its consequences. Honest
Pakistanis are barely trying to get out of the
denial phase.
In a recent article titled “Going Nowhere”,
Imran Khan has finally acknowledged: “In
the last year my two visits to India have come
as a bit of a shock. India has overtaken Pakistan
in per capita income while its economy is growing
robustly at 8%. Delhi is being cleaned up, while
Bombay is one of the most expensive real estates
in the world. Poverty is decreasing. But above
all and what is most striking is the growing self-belief
of Indians. The Pakistan complex is gone and the
Indians see themselves as a future superpower,
as, indeed, does the world. They view their future
with optimism and hope.”
Second, the whole world is experiencing the dual
phenomena of globalization and regionalization
of economies and polities. The European Union
(EU), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) are examples of regionalization of economy.
This regionalization implies free movement of
capital, labor and culture. India will be the
main beneficiary of this regional integration
of economy and culture. A general trend in that
direction, particularly in the area of culture,
with Bollywood as the cultural capital of the
entire region, is already in evidence.
Third, Pakistan is losing confidence and competence
in combating Indian moves on the global chessboard.
Dr. Shireen M. Mazari, Director General of the
Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, wistfully
writes: “Pakistan, meanwhile, in its pursuit
of peace in South Asia seems to have gone so far
out on a limb in its tolerance of Indian excesses,
as to perhaps damage its own interests on some
crucial issues relating to Kashmir and the water
problem. Take the fencing along the LoC. We barely
said anything on it till it was almost nearing
completion – and then we raised a mild protest
with India”.
Fourth, yes, it was “a rare visit to the
White House on a Saturday by a foreign leader”,
and it had an impressive list of participants,
including the President and Vice President of
the United States. Also, there were many words
of applause for Gen. Musharraf, personally. But
Gen Musharraf didn’t get anything beyond
that. As reported in the New York Times on Dec
5, 2004:
Mr. Bush also made no announcement of any impending
American agreement to sell surveillance airplanes,
antitank missiles and other weapons to Pakistan.
The senior official declined to answer any questions
about the American position on those sales, which
include F-16 fighter jets, saying, "It came
up, as it has in past meetings, and probably will
in future meetings."
Gen. Musharraf’s India policy has failed,
in part, because his US policy has failed. Now
it is incumbent upon every concerned Pakistani
to think of creative ways to snatch victory from
the jaws of defeat. But any alternative solution
must meet the triple criteria of sovereign equality,
justice and peace.
*This is a summary of the comments made at a recent
meeting in Chicago of the Pakistan American Democratic
Forum (PADF), a grassroots organization founded
in 1982.
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