B.K. Chum
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”
By resuming their stalled bilateral talks last week, India and Pakistan have acted on the first part of, to repeat what a 6th century BC Chinese philosopher and political theorist had sermonised. Though a welcome start, given their perennially tense relationship marked by wars, it is too hazardous to predict how long they will take to traverse the thousand miles journey for normalizing their relations.
The development needs to be examined in the backdrop of the insistence by Islamabad that Kashmir should be a priority item of the bilateral agenda while New Delhi wanted the bilateral talks to be centered on Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism. At present, one can only conjecture about the reasons behind the two neighbours abandoning their rigid stands for reaching an agreement for resuming their long-stalled bilateral talks. These talks have now been rechristened “comprehensive bilateral dialogue” by incorporating both sides point of view. It is a laudable start in their endeavour to resolve the issues plaguing the two countries relationship.
The change in their till recently adamant stands on resuming talks was seemingly brought about by three factors. The first factor, apparently, was Washington’s intervention which wants a united global action to counter the Islamic State. The second factor was the IS’s threat to expand its violent actions worldwide from their Syria-Iraq base to the Indian subcontinental region. To repeat what an English daily had reported, “In its December 3 “Black flags manifesto”, ISIS has vowed to expand its fight to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and (several other countries). President (sic!) Narendra Modi is a right-wing Hindu nationalist who worships weapons and is preparing his people for a future war against Muslims”.
There are already indications that, besides Jammu and Kashmir, there has been growing presence of ISIS in Pakistan. Realising that the worried Washington wants united global action to counter the ISIS and will help the targeted countries, including Pakistan which has itself become the home grown terrorists target, the Pakistani Army chief Raheel Sharif recently visited the US. He met senior US defence authorities. These developments will further help the Pakistan Army establishment to tighten its stranglehold on the Nawaz Sharif’s civilian government inferring that the Army is on board the current India-Pakistan dialogue process.
With India, already a victim of the Pakistan-based terrorists’ actions, especially in Jammu and Kashmir which also now faces ISIS threat, General Officer Commanding of Army’s 15 Corps Lt. General Satish Dua recently said “The ISIS is a live threat that cannot be ignored. It is a cause of concern and we are monitoring it”. He was replying to a question about the possibility of IS forging an alliance with terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. “Security forces and intelligence agencies are monitoring this”, he said.
During his New York visit in September, Modi, in a strategically positive move, focused on global cooperation to fight the IS during his meetings, among others, with Jordan, Egypt, and Sweden leaders. He stressed the need of delinking terror from religion given the perception that it is primarily the Islamic bodies which have been indulging in terror actions including in Muslim majority countries like Pakistan.
Conflict of interest makes politicians act contrary to what they profess. This has also happened in the case of the Modi government’s postures in international forums and on the home front on countering terrorism. The prime minister’s laudable stand at international forums is in direct conflict with his discriminatory attitude in dealing with the terror actions of Muslim and Hindu fringe in the home country. Some examples.
Terrorists, it is said, have no religion. But it is primarily the Muslims fringe which has come to be treated as perpetrators of terror actions. Successive Indian governments, including the present Modi-led government, have been taking actions against such elements. But there have been cases where the extremist Hindu fringe has also indulged in terror actions. Previous governments have proceeded against some of the perpetrators. But the Modi government has often tried to protect the extremist Hindu fringe which has been charged with terrorist actions. Some such cases need to be recalled.
It is imperative not only for Modi but also for the country that the prime minister reigns the hotheaded Hindutva elements and also sustains his reconciliatory image adopted after BJP’s massive defeat in Bihar Assembly elections. (IPA)
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