Walk the talk

Start with a promise to coexist as amiable neighbours even if the prospect of becoming friends seems remote

They meet; they share cliched pleasantries (and tea); they pretend-talk; and they promise to do the same thing again soon. That is the perception one gets from any of the talks, on any level, between Pakistan and India in the recent history of very awkward attempts to have talks that lack substance and clarity. The March 3 meeting of foreign secretaries Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was a damp squib — interestingly — as expected. Despite tremendous media hype, the dormancy on the official side seems to have become the key element, which the former foreign minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, put rather succinctly: “The foreign secretary-level talks are just talks about talks.”

The jarring omission is a postmarked time frame to initiate a multifactorial dialogue process. How did having a substantive dialogue become such a huge deal between two countries that need more than most countries to have a process of discourse that would incorporate solid plans to address the thorny issue of non-cooperation on long-standing issues? As the already frayed relations between Pakistan and India appear to have hit an all-time low recently, the half-hearted attempts to have talks that touch on not more than bilateral issues, you-did-this, and you-promise-not-to-do-that is inutile. Something’s gotta give, and not a talk too soon.

India is in a better position today to initiate a peace process with Pakistan, as long-term peace in the region is intricately interconnected with the two ‘traditional’ (another misplaced adjectivising of the Pakistan-India dynamic) rivals having a smooth relationship. What would it take for Pakistan and India to become secure about the Line of Control (LoC) as the parameter that is to be respected not merely as the temporary border that separates Kashmir into the ‘Pakistan-Occupied’ and ‘Indian-Occupied’ disputed territory, but also as a boundary that should not require so much manpower and ammunition to protect? The loss of life is the darkest aspect of the cross-border fighting, and the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty is thicker than the layer of ice enveloping the beautiful but scarred terrain of Kashmir. Until when?

Pakistan must open a line of communication to respond to constant concerns and outrage from India on the former’s apparent lack of interest to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. The decision to grant bail to the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, last December exhibited a display of insensitivity and imprudence on Pakistan’s part when the scars of 2008 are still fresh in India. In the same vein, India must ensure a categorical investigation into the Samjhauta Express tragedy. Too many lives were lost in acts of terrorism that may have been carried out by non-state actors but the seal of nationality makes it incumbent on the two nations to guarantee conclusive probes and trials.

To forge a new road map to establish long-lasting peace in the region, and in order to divert the resources that are used ostensibly to protect the two nations from each other, towards uplifting the millions suffering from economic hardships, Pakistan and India must stop the blame game. With immediate effect. While most rational analysts of the Pakistan-India dynamic deem it ludicrous for Pakistan to blame India for inflaming unrest in Balochistan and Fata, it would also be judicious for India to keep its nationalistic war hysteria subdued, and the LoC tension-free. Pakistan needs to comprehend the inanity of the idea of an extremist TTP plotting against Pakistan in cahoots with the BJP-dominated India. And India needs to understand the necessity of having an expiration date on the political and military subjugation of Kashmir.

Plans for economic and trade cooperation must replace jingoistic slogans. The one-upmanship over security issues must go. Stop undermining one another. Do not allow non-state actors to delineate the status quo. Do not let the ghosts of history lead to a billion-plus Pakistanis and Indians to think of each other as enemies forever. Start with a promise to coexist as amiable neighbours even if the prospect of becoming friends seems as remote as Pluto entering the league of planets any time soon.

A very happy Holi to all.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  6^th,  2015.

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