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PM's Sharm el-Sheik coup alters
subcontinental reality
Sach Kanwal Singh
 For
the last few days, ever since Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
met his Pakistan counterpart at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheik, Egypt, the joint statement issued by New Delhi and
Islamabad ahs tied up India in knots.
Buckling under
pressure, and with its ruse to dodge peace talks called off, India
had to declare that there was little sense in not talking by making
excuses about unsolved problem of terrorism. It was also forced to
admit a link up with the terror in Balochistan, and the move is now
being seen as a major victory for Pakistan.
As India's rigth-wing
Hindutva spouting party, the BJP, which has made a virtue out of the
country's enmity with Pakistan, attacked the goevrnemt, alleging it
to be weak, it seemed even the ruling party, Congress, was not ready
to defend the PM, but things seem to be changing now. The Congress
has now openly backed PM Singh and Manmohan Singh is expected to
pack in some punches when he speaks in Parliament on Wednesday.
But the moot
question is, even if Prime Minister Singh makes an honest forward,
will Indian agencies and domestic rabid BJP-RSS style opposition
allow any moves forward in the direction of a lasting peace? It may
be that some external forces have compelled a shift of strategy and
direction in the engagement between India and her troubled western
neighbour.
Ever since the
Mumabi terror attacks,
India
had suspended the composite dialogue this had caused great
consternation. The meeting in Egypt has turned out to be a virtual
feast
of concord.
Sikhs can well understand the outraged cries of the saffron parivar
which has translated patriotism into rabid nationalism and an
anti-minority plank.
PM Singh has
made a brave move by not mincing any words in formulating the new
stratgy by removing the linkage between the “Composite Dialogue” the
two nations have been engaged in, and their own battles against
terrorism.
Terrorism is
neither India’s special concern -- it is that of others too -- or
Pakistan’s special responsibility -- again, it is that of others
too. Pakistan is facing its responsibilities, and it is only fair
that India moves forward.
The Sharm
el-Sheikh statement records a convergence of perceptions between the
two countries in bringing to justice the perpetrators of last
November’s terrorist outrage in Mumbai. The political hysteria seems
to be born of a quite different cause.
An official
statement issued after a high-level political engagement between
national governments does not have references devoid of either logic
or syntax an it is foolish for some sections in
India
to say that the reference to the trouble in Balochistan
province
of Pakistan was just a stray remark. But this has shocked and
horrified the Indian intelligence community.
India should be
candid enough and address
Pakistan
concerns on this score, and PM Singh has done the right thing by
addressing the issue.
The template for
high-level political engagement between India and Pakistan has for
years seemingly been cast in stone. The Sharm el-Sheikh declaration
alters that reality.
29
July 2009
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