Indo-Pak talks- an eye wash

(Written on February 10, 2010 by K.N. Pandita)

Of late India has been demonstrating more inconsistency in her regional policy with special reference to Kashmir.

Her volte-face on stalled Indo-Pak talks reflects pressure from Washington. India has baulked many a time in the past and this is not new.  It is not called resilience; it is indecision as well as inconsistency.

Washington moves towards exit strategy in Afghan imbroglio notwithstanding her decimating drone attacks and bribing of Taliban conduits.

Ever since US-Pak camaraderie began for war on terror, Kashmir has been persistently dragged into its vortex as a component in the deal.  Pakistan made it a bargaining chip. George Bush did not submit to Pakistani blackmail but Obama is a different story. Aware of New Delhi’s endemic indecisiveness, Obama administration mounted pressure, and New Delhi showed signs of acquiescence.

After Pakistan army chief Kiani succeeded in registering Pentagon’s outright support to the exclusion of President Zardari, he and ISI revisited their Kashmir policy. Now it was a two-pronged strategy; to undo cease-fire status on Indo-Pak border and activate jihadi infiltration and subversion in Kashmir.

The message from across the border has been well received by Kashmiri separatist and secessionist leadership which have so far successfully launched a spate of protest rallies and boycotts. Srinagar and some other towns have been witnessing hartals and mobocracy.

By not protesting anymore on US accelerated drone attacks on TTP inside Pakistan territory, and collaborating with the US-NATO forces in destroying TTP hideouts and resistance in Waziristan,  Pakistan Army finds leverage in pushing Kashmir issue with Obama administration.

New Delhi has not reacted to Pakistani leadership’s contention that international pressure has forced India to agree to resumption of stalled talks with Islamabad.   Its mildest reaction was a very casual statement from home ministry sources that India knew Pakistan had provided proof of al-dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in 26/11 to the Pakistani court haring the case filed by Islamabad government.

But an overall assessment of the situation indicates that like all Indo-Pak meetings at high or lower levels, nothing substantial has to be expected from proposed foreign secretary-level meeting.

Soon after New Delhi announced willingness to resume talks, Pakistani leaders wasted no time in telling home audience that India was forced by world community to resume talks, and that Pakistan’s stand on the subject was vindicated.

Then there came very clear and emphatic reference to Kashmir dispute and Pakistani leaders including the foreign minister said that Kashmir was the core issue to be discussed.

These antics did not augur well for a dialogue that had been stalled for last eighteen months. Nevertheless, from Indian side there was no reaction. India is happy to eat the humble pie.

But something that has not gone unnoticed in New Delhi’s eyes is the large conclave of Pakistan-based anti-India militant outfits which met in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, last week where open threats were doled out against India. The jihadis of LeT, JM and HM exuded as much of anti-India venom as they could, and vowed to wage armed and unrelenting jihad in Kashmir till it was wrested from India.

Apart from this, the jihadi organizations staged a large scale Kashmir-day demonstration in the capital of Pakistan hoping to send a message across the country that Kashmir jihad was not in the control of Pakistani authorities. This is ISI’s standard pattern.

Islamabad has not officially reacted to this large scale anti-India meet on her soil. Its silence on the event shows that its war on terror is limited to Southern Waziristan only and is not extended to the jihadis preparing for war in Kashmir. Thus, in its own words “non-state actors” receiving all logistical support on Pakistani soil and overt facilities from Pakistani official agencies are planning an armed attack on India.

While Washington is pushing India for resumption of talks with Pakistan, it has closed its eyes on what is happening on Pakistani soil by way of initiating a full-fledged jihad in Kashmir.

Never before has India been dealt such a big blackmailing as of now. Why does New Delhi take it? This is the real question.  Are we having such a strong pro-US and pro-Pakistan lobby in this country that our government is ready to pocket all insults heaped on her? Are we going to surrender Kashmir in full or in part, in one way or the other, to buy reprieve from jihadi onslaught? Is there no single person among our horde of political leaders who can stand up and say that jihad or no jihad, India will see to it that Kashmir remains an integral part of the Union?

And what is the so-called elected government of Jammu and Kashmir doing? The chief minister has learnt a mantra which he is not tired of chanting wherever he goes. He says talk to Pakistan and Pakistan is a party to Kashmir dispute. Whose language is he speaking? His grandfather’s or of those who want the blood of his state? Why does not a single leader of integrity from among the people of the state rise and give a clarion call that once for all Kashmir should be dropped from the agenda of Indo-Pak talks? Why has no Indian leader the guts to tell the US to manage her affairs with Pakistan without clubbing India or Kashmir with its parleys? How long will this nation of a thousand million people, the one fourth of world population, accept to be bullied and blackmailed?

Americans speak one language in Islamabad and another in New Delhi. The US says it wants strategic alliance with India in the Indian Ocean region, but excludes India from Afghanistan peace conference in London. It appreciates India’s economic support to beleaguered Afghanistan but succumbs to Pakistan’s pressure of excluding India from any role in Afghan reconciliation and rehabilitation. It pontificates that India, despite attacks by jihadis, is showing tremendous restraint but at the same time is providing billions-worth arms and ammunition to Pakistan besides the promised 5.7 billion dollars by way of aid, most of which Pakistan will divert to boost her defense capabilities and preparedness against India.

Not only that, the US has developed an understanding with Islamabad in allowing China establish a military base in Pakistan, upgrade the Karakorum Highway and develop further the Gawadar port in Makran coast. These are not the signs of true friendship and strategic alliance.

Our present foreign policy is dismally incapable of serving national interests especially vis-à-vis Pakistan and the US. Never before was Kashmir under such close siege of the two so-called anti-terror allies.  Its very adverse fallout is visible in what is going on in Kashmir valley.  And not inadvertently, the ruling coalition in Kashmir takes no umbrage.
(The writer is the former Director of the Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University).