Isn’t it amazing that a promise to rein in terrorists has to be periodically extracted from Pervez Musharraf? The latest to do so is British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had to repeat in front of the Pakistani dictator the commitment he had secured from him about rejecting terrorism “in all its forms”.
Surely, it is the bounden duty of every country to act against terrorism without being told to do so in so many words. But Pakistan’s case is different. It has to be compelled to act in a manner which any other country will do automatically. It is a matter of satisfaction that the international communty has at last woken up to this strange situation. But it has been a rather belated realisation.
Even during his last visit to India, Mr Blair was reluctant to equate terrorism in Kashmir with such depredations in other parts of the world. If the links in this context (which have always been evident to India) are now being more widely recognised, it is presumably because India’s latest tough stance has convinced the world that it cannot afford to ignore the obvious any longer. However, even if General Musharraf manages to convince his visitors that he is taking steps against the terrorists, it is unlikely that India will be assured, especially in view of the reports that the arrested leaders of the terrorist outfits are currently comfortably ensconced in government guest houses. Their past experience of Pakistani tactics may have told them that their present difficulties are for external consumption only. Clearly, it will take much greater evidence of sincerity from Pakistan in tackling terrorism before it will be possible for India even to begin to think in terms of a resumption of a dialogue.
A mistake which not only the US
and Britain but also some of India’s neighbours have made is to think that
a return to the table will automatically defuse the situation. That would
have been possible if Pakistan was a ‘normal’ country engaged in ‘normal’
statecraft. India’s earlier gestures like the prime minister’s Lahore trip
and unilateral measures on visa facilities etc. before the Agra summit
were based on that presumption of normality. But such ploys cannot work
with a sponsor of terrorism. It would be like negotiating with Osama bin
Laden. India’s earlier stand of not engaging in a dialogue unless Pakistan
ended cross-border terrorism has proved correct. It is a position from
which we must not resile, especially when the rest of the world seems to
have seen through the double game which Pakistan has been playing.