HVK Archives: OIC's Islamabad declaration and India
OIC's Islamabad declaration and India - The Pioneer
Soumyajit Pattnaik
()
26 March 1997
Title : OIC's Islamabad declaration and India
Author : Soumyajit Pattnaik
Publication : The Pioneer
Date : March 26, 1997
Two protocols were breached on Sunday one in Islamabad and the
other in New Delhi. Vice President K R Narayanan and External
Affairs Minister IK Gujral set aside normal diplomatic protocols to
attend the Pakistan National Day function in New Delhi. Across the
border, Pakistan President Farooq Leghari, riding roughshod over
the Shimla Agreement, raised the Kashmir issue in the Organisation
of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Islamabad and engineered an
anti-India declaration by the Islamic leaders.
Under the normal circumstances, the Pakistani action would not have
merited any attention as Kashmir is the favourite whipping boy of
the political elite in Islamabad. What is perplexing is the timing
of the latest salvo fired by Leghari as it comes on the eve of the
reopening of the secretary-level talks between the two countries
after a gap of nearly three years.
The OIC action has five important implications for this country.
First, Mr Leghari's vituperative outbursts have set the Pakistan
Establishment's agenda for the forthcoming talks. President
Leghari has only reiterated Pakistan Army Chief Jehangir Karamat's
forceful assertion that Kashmir cannot be "thrown on the
backburner". It's a grim reminder to the newly elected Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that on matters relating to Kashmir,
the civilian leadership must toe the Establishment line.
Of course, it is normal for nation-states to hold aloft trial
balloons before taking the plunge for any diplomatic negotiation.
But President Leghari's action has gone beyond the trial balloon
threshold. The OIC action not only demonstrated Pakistan's
cussedness on any climbdown on Kashmir but it also fructified the
Pakistan's dogged policy to make it a larger Islamic issue.
Second, Pakistan's diplomatic skulduggery has succeeded in equating
Kashmir with Palestine and Bosnia.
So far as India is concerned, this is certainly an ominous
development as the OIC declaration talks of 'reversal' of
occupation of all Islamic lands.
The OIC Declaration in a way echoes John Foster Dulles's
formulation of rolling back of Soviet expansionism from Eastern
Europe.
India, specially, must ponder over the statements of Palestine
Authority President Yasser Arafat in Islamabad that the Kashmir
issue should be resolved through "international resolutions".
Arafat's statement is an implicit admission of the relevance of the
UN resolutions on plebiscite as one of the channels to solve the
vexed issue. So far, Arafat had desisted from going beyond the
Shimla Agreement to solve the vexed territorial issue.
Arafat's stance is intriguing as this country was at the fore-front
in lending its diplomatic and moral support to the Palestinian
cause throughout its chequered history.
Third, the presence of Iranian President Rafsanjani in the OIC
summit in Islamabad and Teheran's acquiescence to the anti-India
declaration may throw a spanner into the wheel of growing
Indo-Iranian ties. The Iranian President's presence is significant
for two reasons--it has helped in bridging the chasm between
Teheran and Islamabad over the harsh treatment meted out to the
Shias in Pakistan. Further the summit has helped Iran in shedding
its isolation in the Islamic world.
Arafat's statement taken together with the Iranian action makes it
imperative for New Delhi to reformulate a new West Asian policy.
It may be a fall out of the Israeli President Ezer Weizman's visit
to New Delhi recently. But Israel is too important a country for
New Delhi to ignore in the post-Cold War. The savants in the MEA
must do a fine balancing act in fostering ties with Israel and
other West Asian countries.
Fourthly, the presence of the Taliban second-in-command Mullah
Mohammad Rabbani in the summit as an observer has facilitated the
young zealots one step forward in mustering international
recognition.
For example, at the World Food Summit in Rome, it was the ousted
Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani who attended the conference.
Prime Minister Deve Gowda even met Mr Rabbani in Rome. India still
continues to recognise the erstwhile Afghan regime and has so far
desisted from entering into any diplomatic contacts with the
Taliban regime. In the game of one-upmanship over Afghanistan,
Pakistan has won a significant victory by allowing the Taliban
representative to attend the conference along with other Islamic
Heads of state and Heads of government.
Fifth, the OIC action may just be the beginning of a concerted move
by the Islamic countries to bring more pressure on India. India
may face similar collective Islamic diplomatic action in the UN
Human Rights Commission in Geneva and other international fora.
For the present, it is imperative for South Block to gauge the
Pakistan! mood in the forthcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks.
Mr Gujral has traversed a lot of diplomatic ground in offering the
olive branch to Islamabad. So far the only tangible move from
Pakistan has been its willingness to hold bilateral talks and the
decision to release 38 Indian children caught "illegally" fishing
in Pakistani waters. As a first step, Pakistan must take few
concrete steps to liberalise its visa restrictions. Mr Sharif also
should immediately reciprocate India's granting of the most
favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan nearly a decade ago.
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