"Year of Reconciliation" Bluff and Bluster

Gopi Nath Raina Editor, Koshur Samachar

Another year has gone in the long and dark winter that Kashmiri Pandits are passing through with long and dark that night hold out hope of a dawn breaking out. The Central Government, on which all hopes must necessarily be pinned, is far too busy counting Dollars, Pounds, Marks and Yen that someone might throw into the begging bowl of a once proud country. It is left with little time to think of measures to remove the miseries of defenceless sections of Kashmiris uprooted from their homes in the Kashmir valley and now eking out a living by hard work at exploitative wages or on governmental doles, mostly the former. But benumbed though they are in their frustration, they did not go into a tizzy at the threatened march into Kashmir across the Line of Actual Control which the world was persuaded to expect on 11 February, 1992.

It is a matter of some regret that the same cannot be said of the Government of the mighty country called India. It demonstrated for all the world to see how lily-livered it is when in a knee-jerk reaction verging on panic it went about calling upon all and sundry to tame its neighbouring bully called Pakistan. It urged the Security Council members, the European Community members and possibly some other nations as well to do something before Pakistan sends in the marchers under the leadership of none other than the renegade Amanullah Khan who is so pathetically trying to proclaim that he is his own master and not a puppet at the end of a Pakistani puppeteer's very strong string. One is bewildered at New Delhi's move and also left with a feeling of pity for the government on the way it helped, by its inane action, the very objective that Pakistan is striving for: to get other countries involved in this purely bilateral matter. Could they not foresee that it was bound to twin out to be a damp squib. Instead of running helter skelter, would it not have been more politic-leave alone the question of dignity to just face the whole affair calmly and deal with the marchers as the situation demanded that is if any luckless ones showed the determination to carry out their suicidal errand at the behest of the Pakistani government? As it is, tables have now been turned on India by the dexterous handling of the episode by the Pakistani authorities who have put up a show of preventing the marchers from approaching the Line of Actual Control, even firing on them, in order to maintain "peace" on the border! Before our issue is out, encomiums will be showered on the "statesmanship" shown by Pakistani leaders, they will be exhorted to continue to show forbearance for some more time and in the meantime India will be "advised" in all friendliness to start talks with Pakistan in a meaningful way to "settle" the Kashmir question in the interest of preserving peace in the sub-continent. So much for India's diplomacy.

If, however, one were to measure the success of a policy only in terms of what it prevented, not what it accomplished, then the Government can claim credit for preventing a hapless horde of hired people from crossing into Kashmir and upsetting Amaanullah Khan's plans. But how long it can prevent the crossing of the more determined variety of militants and their mentors, among them, the Afghan Mujahideen, is difficult to say because the "alert" that had been sounded has surely expired now. Before long it will be back to the normal business of the terrorists crossing over with arms and ammunition as they have been doing for years under the very nose of the security forces. It is there that the Centre must do some hard thinking before the snow bound passes open again in the next one or two months. For no Pakistani government will prevent the ingress of the real terrorists into India. No, not even in the "year of reconciliation" that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants this year to be. From experience India has to learn that such pious protestations by Pakistan cannot be depended upon. What Pakistan can certainly be depended upon is to indulge in a lot more bluff and bullying. And India should learn fast how to deal with bullies if it wishes to survive as an independent, secular, and forward looking nation. It must be strong enough to not only defend itself but also inspire the fear of God in the minds of bullies who mouth friendship for Narasimha Rao at Davos and within hours call for a general hartal only to run down India.

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Courtesy: Gopi Nath Raina Editor, Koshur Samachar and February 1992, Koshur Samachar