The haughty and belligerent tone of an Indian Minister who appeared on the CNN on Sunday was typical of the mood currently prevailing in New Delhi. The minister huffed and puffed as he made the grotesque claim that thousands of civilians and security personnel had died at the hands of terrorists in Indian-Occupied Kashmir! As if this brazen faced fabrication was not enough, the Minister went on to make the odious assertion that India had been a victim of terrorism in the last fifteen years! With an unabashed display of lack of compunction, the Minister avoided to tell the truth about the root cause of the conflict in the subcontinent - the festering issue of Kashmir - which has resulted in the death of well over 75,000 innocent Kashmiris at the hands of the Indian army and para-military forces and led to full-fledged sub-continental conflagration in the past.
The exercise of the right of self-determination by the Kashmiris - envisaged under UN resolutions - has been systematically denied for well over 50 years now and its denial and resultant consequences have launched Pakistan and India on a perennial collision course. The current escalation in tension, which has pitched Indian and Pakistani troops perilously face-to-face against one another and could lead to a full-blown confrontation, is a direct result of the denial of this right. Neither inflammatory speeches nor florid rhetoric can detract anyone from this undeniable reality.
In the face of growing provocation and mounting tension, Pakistan has behaved with becoming restraint and a marked spirit of conciliation, though it is clear that any act of military adventurism on the part of India will get a befitting riposte from Islamabad. It has arrested members of the groups accused of the attack on the Indian Parliament as a gesture of goodwill and without adequate proof of their involvement, and has gone a step farther by freezing their funds. President Musharraf has also expressed his willingness to meet the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, anywhere and at any time to resolve issues plaguing relations between the two countries. President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have also made earnest urgings to restrain New Delhi and Islamabad from resorting to an armed combat to settle scores. Their strivings continue as well as Indian military buildup on Pakistani borders.
There are also other voices of reason which tend to confirm that sanity is not the exclusive preserve of a few in the West. Says Kuldip Nayyer, well-known Indian journalist: “New Delhi has committed a blunder. Whatever pressure has been building up for the two governments to come to the negotiating table - Vajpayee went to Lahore and Musharraf came to Agra - it was because of the occasional meeting between people’s delegations at different levels from both countries. A weak and tenuous link - but a link all the same - has been gaining strength in the past few years. Even that has been stopped….”
A comment in The Hindu, a popular Indian paper, reads: “… it does not behove a country of the size, strength and prestige - further enhanced due to the developments in recent months - of India to betray any signs of nervousness.
“Let us not over dramatize and glorify the desperate act of a few mad men. …Another temptation India must guard against is to imitate Israel’s methods of fighting the Palestinian…. Not only because India is too big and a responsible country to adopt Israel as its role model but also because despite almost total dependence on financial and arms support from America, Israel’s anti-terrorist experiment, with all its bravado, is a conspicuous failure. Moreover, Israel has written off the entire Muslim world which India has not and need not.”
And now an excerpt from DAWN, Pakistan’s leading newspaper: “…Far from furthering the cause of liberation, the activities of these groups have diminished the appeal of Kashmiri nationalism and provided Indian security forces with an excuse for an increased - and increasingly repressive - presence in the territory. Regardless of who was responsible for the attack in New Delhi, Pakistan ought to dismantle training camps for militants and deny extremist groups access to funds and weaponry. It should do so not so much in response to Indian demands but as a domestic safeguard….”
Well-meaning and reassuring comments. General Musharraf has acted sanely by arresting the members of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad. Would the Indian leaders act likewise? It was time they realized that they can’t fool the world with their cock-and-bull stories about Pakistan’s acts of terrorism in Kashmir and India. The sooner, the better.