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Monday Musings: India, Pakistan, madness and the search for sanity
India must differentiate between the Pakistan Government and the Pakistan Army/ISI which need to be isolated, says a 1971 war hero.
Live images of war, the bravery of soldiers, armies on the march, tanks rolling and bombers taking off and dropping bombs on enemy territory, are all very thrilling on television. Children love to play with guns, pretending that they are killing enemies- in our case, the Pakistanis.
We, ourselves, have enjoyed watching wars on TV, ever since the first, live broadcast by CNN of the 1990 Persian Gulf War. India and Pakistan have had numerous armed conflicts and the recent dogfight in the air was as good as an advanced version of an India-Pakistan cricket match. One retired military brass actually kept scores during a TV debate and said, “India has won this round 2:1 with the return of our captured MiG 21 pilot.”
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to have a lengthy discussion on the latest India-Pakistan high drama with a 1971 war hero who had participated in the liberation of Bangladesh. This was a former Western Army Commander who had a graphic, first-hand account of that war. The issue we were discussing was what now, after Pulwama and Balakot. How should India proceed from here on in dealing with Pakistan?
While Pakistan’s animosity towards India has remained a constant in the last 70 years, India, too, has faltered, floundered and erred in dealing with our beloved Kashmir over the decades. What is new in recent decades is terrorism aided and abetted by Pakistan, political instability in Kashmir, and, tragically, the deep alienation of a large section of Kashmiris from India.
Last week, the well-known India-Pakistan expert C Christine Fair made some pertinent observations during a TV debate: a) That, Pakistan got away with the Pulwama murders because the focus shifted to the captured Indian pilot; b) emboldened by its nuclear umbrella, the Pakistan Army/ISI will continue to support terror attacks against India; c) China will remain a mute spectator and d) India will attack Pak terror outfits in a limited way while seeking support from the international community and while demanding Pakistan’s isolation.
The former army commander was in agreement with this perspective. He was also of the view that India lacked a consistent Kashmir strategy over the decades- accentuated by the change in government in 2014- and that India mostly did fire-fighting after a terror strike here and a terror strike there.
The retired General was of the view that India should have been kinder to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan who committed to releasing our captured pilot “the very next day”. His view was that India needs to differentiate between the democratically-elected Pakistan Government (which we must support) and the Pakistan Army/ISI who are the real troublemakers, and who need to be isolated.
He disagreed with the Government’s threat that it would stop the flow of waters to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty “because that would hurt the people of Pakistan and not the Pakistan Army.”
The Bangladesh war hero was clear that India must support democracy in Pakistan; build bridges with the Government and the people of Pakistan, and seek to expose and isolate the Pakistan Army/ISI.
He was also of the view that India must repeatedly acquaint its young population of the heroic victory of Humanism over Barbarism in the 1971 war. In this regard, he cited the well-known scholar Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s observation that “India’s 1971 armed intervention in East Pakistan- undertaken for a mixture of reasons- is widely and fairly regarded as one of the world’s most successful cases of humanitarian intervention against genocide.”
Rather than enjoying the spectacle of war on television, the people of India need to be proactive in de-escalating tensions with Pakistan. The politicians want to do exactly opposite, for political gains.
We, the people of India and Pakistan must never forget Saadat Hasan Manto’s tragi-comedy story ‘Toba Tek Singh’ when the governments of India and Pakistan sought to exchange Hindu, Muslim and Sikh lunatics in the aftermath of the horrific Partition.
