Muddling through enmities

A cursory glance at the history of civilisation will make it evident that inter-state affairs have often been governed by expediency rather than ethics. To look at the matter dispassionately though, it would appear that this is the way it should be. Those who venture to cast doubts on this outlook would be well advised to give some time to the writings of the much-maligned Machiavelli of yore. What is totally unforgivable in a country’s affairs is the misguided attempt to turn things around, i.e., to employ expediency in dealings within the country itself, while trying to introduce ethics in its relations with the rest of the world.

If one were to attempt to single out one factor largely responsible for plunging several states, including ours, into unenviable predicaments, one would not be far off the mark if one were to point the finger at their ham-handed attempts at upending priorities in respect of ethics and expediency. Such states have successfully managed to make a royal mess of affairs both internally and internationally. The transition from the aforementioned premise to the ‘art of muddling through’ is one small step. One had long thought that we, in the Land of the Pure, hadn’t quite mastered the art of muddling through. Time and again, our governments had come to grief on issues that were susceptible to muddling through if only they had honed the art betimes. However, having seen the shenanigans of some of our political luminaries over the recent past, one now admits that one had underestimated their expertise in the game of muddling through. If anything, our chaps appear to have left the more experienced aliens far behind. If there were a Nobel Prize for muddling through, our chaps would win it hands down.

In the field of foreign affairs, we probably still lack the finesse that separates the ‘men’ from the ‘boys’. Instead of glibly muddling through, we often find our mandarins bogged down in their own verbiage. Our neighbour to the east, though, is a lot more adept at the game and often catches our mandarins on the wrong foot. Take the now on, now off ‘composite talks’, for instance, that brought to the fore the oft-employed ploy of gaining time. This ploy is fast becoming predictable. The trouble is that our chaps never catch on to it and start bending over backwards to welcome any ‘offers’ without even waiting for them to be conveyed formally.

Time is ripe for both India and Pakistan to get out of the habit of pointing fingers at each other. The two must now behave responsibly — as behooves countries of a certain stature. The world has moved far afield. Surely, it is not in the destiny of South Asia to stay mired in the quicksand of recent history. This is the 21^st century — a century that by rights should be termed Asia’s century. Both India and Pakistan have major roles to play if only they would agree to put the regional house in order. Several problems faced by the two are common. Statesmanship demands that the two rise to the occasion and pull the region out of the quagmire it finds itself in.

Hand in hand, India and Pakistan can go places. At each other’s throats, they can only provide comfort to their common foes. The choice is up to the two leaderships. If nothing else, the coarse art of muddling through would surely come in handy and why not?

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.

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