Reading the runes
Expeditious disposal of cases linked to Mumbai attacks will certainly help in reducing tension between India& Pakistan
The interpretation of symbols, be they written or temporal, is how we make sense of the world around us, the foundation of understanding — or misunderstanding. Making sense of the multiple symbolic messages that have passed between Pakistan and India in the last week is fraught with pitfalls, but the underlying tonalities appear to be positive, even if that positivity may take some time to seep into formal diplomatic processes. The attack on Army Public School in Peshawar prompted an almost immediate reaction from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — and it was roundly condemnatory. He used Twitter to let the world know his position, and consolidated it by ordering a two-minute silence in the Indian parliament as well as every school in the country. The morning of December 17 saw the world’s media awash with images of Indian schoolchildren paying dignified condolence to a deeply traumatised Pakistan. Bollywood celebrities similarly shared their sorrow at the dreadful events and there was, if briefly, a sense of engagement at the purely human level between India and Pakistan. Parlaying raw emotion into hard-nosed political reality is a difficult task rarely accomplished. It is possible that in coming weeks and months the rulers of India and Pakistan will listen to their myriad peoples and heed what they hear; but only possible rather than a certainty.
On the heels of reciprocity came what is being variously interpreted as a faux pas, a deliberate act of provocation or simply an unhappy coincidence. The release on bail of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was ill-timed to say the very least, whatever the reason behind it. The grounds of his release are uncertain, though his lawyer said that the evidence against his client was “unclear”. He is one of seven men arrested in the wake of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and alleged to be the operational mastermind. The federal government reacted with what in political terms was the speed of light and had him back behind bars in 24 hours, but there will have been damage in terms of loss of confidence and dismay on the Indian side. He was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order and the government is to appeal against his bail — it has 30 days’ grace before having to face the same dilemma once again.
On the balance of probability, we may view this as an unfortunate coincidence rather than something done with malice-aforethought. The application for bail was made on December 10, a week before the attack in Peshawar which Lakhvi’s defence team was presumably unaware of; and the court was merely going through due process — which was unhappily coincident with the most appalling act of terrorism in national history. Accidents really do happen.
That said, the wheels of justice in the Mumbai case are grinding exceeding slow, and both the courts and successive governments have been accused of foot-dragging and not just by India. As ever, the quality of evidence in the cases of all those under trial has been challenged, and police procedures in Pakistan are notoriously flawed — a reality that undermines countless cases that come before the anti-terrorism courts and which leave the courts little option in law but to dismiss the cases. The failure to resolve the multiple issues that surround the Mumbai attacks is, Kashmir aside, the single greatest impediment to a real lessening of tensions between India and Pakistan. The war on the Siachen glacier is another, but like Kashmir that is not susceptible to early resolution.
If Pakistan truly wanted to make a gesture to India that was incontrovertibly pacific, then the expeditious disposal of the cases linked to the Mumbai attacks would go a very long way towards reducing tension. This is within the bounds of ‘doable’ and were it accomplished may unlock other doors as well. Reading runes is an imprecise art, understanding — correctly — what they say a matter often of luck rather than judgment.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2014.
On the heels of reciprocity came what is being variously interpreted as a faux pas, a deliberate act of provocation or simply an unhappy coincidence. The release on bail of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was ill-timed to say the very least, whatever the reason behind it. The grounds of his release are uncertain, though his lawyer said that the evidence against his client was “unclear”. He is one of seven men arrested in the wake of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and alleged to be the operational mastermind. The federal government reacted with what in political terms was the speed of light and had him back behind bars in 24 hours, but there will have been damage in terms of loss of confidence and dismay on the Indian side. He was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order and the government is to appeal against his bail — it has 30 days’ grace before having to face the same dilemma once again.
On the balance of probability, we may view this as an unfortunate coincidence rather than something done with malice-aforethought. The application for bail was made on December 10, a week before the attack in Peshawar which Lakhvi’s defence team was presumably unaware of; and the court was merely going through due process — which was unhappily coincident with the most appalling act of terrorism in national history. Accidents really do happen.
That said, the wheels of justice in the Mumbai case are grinding exceeding slow, and both the courts and successive governments have been accused of foot-dragging and not just by India. As ever, the quality of evidence in the cases of all those under trial has been challenged, and police procedures in Pakistan are notoriously flawed — a reality that undermines countless cases that come before the anti-terrorism courts and which leave the courts little option in law but to dismiss the cases. The failure to resolve the multiple issues that surround the Mumbai attacks is, Kashmir aside, the single greatest impediment to a real lessening of tensions between India and Pakistan. The war on the Siachen glacier is another, but like Kashmir that is not susceptible to early resolution.
If Pakistan truly wanted to make a gesture to India that was incontrovertibly pacific, then the expeditious disposal of the cases linked to the Mumbai attacks would go a very long way towards reducing tension. This is within the bounds of ‘doable’ and were it accomplished may unlock other doors as well. Reading runes is an imprecise art, understanding — correctly — what they say a matter often of luck rather than judgment.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2014.