When peace is a hurdle

Before the Indian elections, Imran Khan had hoped peace could be achieved in the event of a BJP victory. Almost instantly, those hopes were pushed down the drain by a recalcitrant Modi emerging bolder and more publicly racist from an election victory. What will discipline India is not peace gestures but rather a firm and nonconformist vibe from Pakistan. Only then will Pakistan be respected. I wish we lived in Disney cartoons, where good behaviour and morals win ultimately. Until then, Pakistan would have to stay super strong and stiff-necked.

This week, for the umpteenth time, peace talks between Pakistan and India popped out of the grave. Imran Khan’s special adviser Moeed Yusuf had a good discussion with the Indian celebrity anchor, Karan Thapar. More importantly, Moeed was talking to the Indian audience.

However, there are some disturbing things and I’m afraid Imran Khan’s decision-making is going to be overwhelmed with emotions this time around again. Moeed revealed to the Indian media outlet, The Wire, that India had expressed a “desire for conversation” with Pakistan but Pakistan had its own conditions. This path is drenched with landmines and interestingly every step Pakistan takes is going to be wrong. There is no chance of luck or karma here.

India is not resurrecting this fake narrative of peace with Pakistan because India suddenly became fond of Pakistan. India doesn’t care about the people of Kashmir. The Modi regime doesn’t even care about its own people. So, let’s throw this positivity nonsense out of the window at the outset.

The conditions Pakistan has announced for talks include the immediate release of Kashmiri political prisoners, lifting of Indian military siege, restoring the occupied valley’s special status, and more. If our grey cells are working then it would instantly become obvious that these are basically Indian demands. It’s exacting a heavy toll on the Indian wallet to keep that army deployed in the valley. Kashmir before August 5, 2019, was the world’s most densely militarised region and with an additional 180,000 soldiers, the Indian economy started to bleed badly. The only profit from such an expense is global shame for India.

India wants to end this costly game. It wants to end the siege and go back to pre-annexation status quo to stop the bleeding, not of Kashmiri men, women, and children but of the Indian economy. So, for Pakistan to announce these demands, it is literally letting India off the hook.

In 1979, Zbigniew Brzeziński, the national security adviser to US president Jimmy Carter, stood in front of Afghan men and pointing to Afghanistan beyond Khyber Pass said, “That land over there is yours. You’ll go back to it one day because your fight will prevail and you’ll have your home, your mosques back again, because your cause is right and God is on your side.” In reality, it was that very man who had engineered the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. America had baited the USSR into invading Afghanistan to give the Soviets their own Vietnam. The Soviets could not continue the war after a decade and the result couldn’t be said better than how Putin described it: “The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20^th century.”

Kashmir is becoming India’s Afghanistan. The peace talks between Pakistan and India and the vacillating moves would accomplish one thing only: the slowing down of the Indian demise. Why let the enemy buy time and put itself on a ventilator? Why not force a pillow and accelerate the complete death of a suffocated enemy? This writer has complete faith in the wisdom Napoleon offered: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” This writer would very happily welcome another geopolitical tragedy.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2020.

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