Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 4, 2002
Like many Indians, I am bemused
to find that we are still engaged in verbal bombast, notwithstanding the
high rhetoric following the Kaluchak massacre last month. Even reputed
defence analysts seem clueless about what will constitute the proverbial
last straw for the NDA regime. Pakistan meanwhile has offered fresh humiliation
with the abduction and thrashing of an official of our high commission
in Islamabad.
Whichever way one looks at it, Pakistan
more than any other country is the breeding ground of Islamic terrorism.
It cannot genuinely crack down on religious schools and training camps
without seriously compromising its own survival. It may consent to US action
against the Taliban in Afghanistan, but it will assiduously keep the Al
Qaeda-terror infrastructure intact and ensure that there is no real progress
in the international war against terrorism. All talk of rogue ISI elements
funding and protecting terrorists is a canard; the Pakistani state is the
fountainhead of all mischief.
I view General Pervez Musharraf's
reassurance to the Western world last week, via an interview to CNN, that
there was no question of a nuclear conflict with India as confirmation
of this assessment. Pakistani army officers may openly profess jihad, but
there is no question that they will let nuclear or armed installations
fall out of their control. Were such a situation to arise, it would seriously
endanger Pakistan, not India, and lead to the final break-up of that country.
Actually, not many in India take the nuclear threat seriously; it is seen
as a cheap ploy to frighten us from going to war. Hence citizens are anxious
to know to what extent the Government intends to bow to international pressure,
especially Washington's, in the matter of safeguarding national interest,
pride and honour. The Cabinet must realise that there is no concert of
Indian and American interests, and stop dreaming that a mythical Hercules
will come and solve its problems.
Whatever script the White House
wrote after September 11, it has gone awry in several respects that undermine
its ability to control events in the region. Washington may have needed
a military foothold in Pakistan before taking on the Osama-Omar regime
in Kabul. But the speed of the Taliban's collapse called for a major overhaul
of American strategy, which hasn't even begun to happen. Washington does
accept that Afghanistan is no longer a rogue nation, but a victim country
needing international support to rebuild its society. But American policy-makers
are extremely reluctant to acknowledge that the mass migration of the Al
Qaeda terror machine to Pakistan has created a conflict of interests with
Islamabad.
It is certainly embarrassing for
President Bush to admit that General Musharraf made a fool of him and airlifted
Osama et al from Kunduz with American cooperation! But if he is serious
about bringing the perpetrators of September 11 to justice, this is a pill
he will have to swallow. He need not worry about Musharraf diverting troops
from the Afghan border; Al Qaeda operatives are safely ensconced in major
Pakistani cities, perhaps even in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)!
Washington might do well to utilise
the forthcoming visits of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage to offer unstinting support to New
Delhi in crushing the terrorist camps in Occupied Kashmir. Rather than
kidding India that it can solve the menace in the subcontinent, the White
House should ask India to cure Washington's headaches by cracking down
on Islamic fundamentalism in the region. India alone can do the job here.
Once the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) issue is settled to our satisfaction,
we can tackle ISI-funded fundamentalism in states like Assam, West Bengal,
Rajasthan, not to mention the madrasas mushrooming along the India-Nepal
border. America would be making a serious mistake if it rests its entire
anti-terrorism strategy around General Musharraf and his survival in office.
The main trouble here is that the political leadership in the West is still
unable to come to terms with the nature of Islamic fundamentalism, and
the nature of the effort needed to combat it. Most analyses and reportage
focus on Islamic fundamentalism's recruitment drive among third world Muslim
countries, or converts or migrants in European countries.
This ignores the fact that most
of the perpetrators of September 11 came from rich Arab families, and were
inspired by the Islamic ideal of submission of all nations to Islam. Further,
there is no public recognition that, even today, Saudi Arabian dollars
are funding the madrasas blooming in our part of the world, and bringing
with it the radical and purist Wahabi Islam that cannot live quietly with
other creeds and social groups.
The international community should
immediately stop pampering Pakistan on the issue of J&K. Rather than
pester India with calls for dialogue and concessions, it must unequivocally
state that even though the subcontinent was divided on the basis of religion,
this does not entitle Pakistan to continue to claim Indian territory beyond
the cut-off date of 1947. Both the terms of Partition and the Instrument
of Accession of J&K are legal and complete documents; no legal luminary
anywhere in the world has been able to fault them. The irrevocable nature
of the accession has been repeatedly endorsed by the people of J&K
through periodic elections. The world must now call a spade a spade and
tell the good General where he gets off.
Sadly, within the country, the BJP
has singularly failed to live up to the expectations generated by its nationalist
rhetoric. During his recent visit to Gujarat, the Prime Minister arraigned
Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of rajdharma (the duty of a ruler).
It is now Mr. Vajpayee's turn to be told that dharma involves active engagement
on behalf of the social and moral order one wishes to uphold. This means
that the ruler must have no qualms in employing any method, including war,
to protect the people. Any failure or shortcoming in this respect would
be a major breach of the ruler's dharma.
Since the BJP came to power, we
have had a massacre of pilgrims at the Amarnath shrine, an attack at Red
Fort in Delhi, bombs detected in North Block and Sena Bhavan, an attack
on Parliament, an attack on the J&K Assembly, an attack on the families
of armed personnel at Kaluchak, the Chittisingpora massacre of Sikhs in
J&K, attacks on temples in Jammu, to mention only the most audacious.
Each time, the Government displayed an inexplicable reluctance to take
punitive action against the camps in PoK. I am unable to appreciate the
demand for reducing infiltration across the border, leaving Pakistan at
liberty to increase the influx at its convenience.
After Kaluchak, the rhetoric pole-vaulted
to the extent that the Prime Minister visited Jammu and Srinagar and briefly
postponed his Manali retreat. Today, the non-action of the past two weeks
is making ordinary citizens ask if the Government is vacillating because
it is afraid of Pakistan, or because it is unable to stand up to diplomatic
pressure from world powers. It ill-behoves a country of India's size and
stature to be ridiculed in this manner, especially by its own citizens.
