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Afghan dimension of Pak’s pitch for peace with India
SM Krishna’s biggest challenge since he assumed the reins of the Indian Foreign Office has arrived. The US-educated politico has faced many a battle at home. But the turf this time is unfamiliar and unfriendly.
Krishna’s isn’t his first visit to Pakistan. He has been there early—on a Track-2 mission in 1999. Sharif then was the Prime Minister and Benazir Bhutto the Leader of Opposition. Terrorism even then was a threat. But it hadn’t devastated the jerrybuilt Indo-Pak relations the way it did in recent years — especially after 26/11.
Wants Pak's writ in Kabul
Bhutto has since been assassinated, Sharif’s in the opposition and Musharraf in exile after a long rule. Asif Zardari and Yusuf Raza Gilani’s civilian setup is the one with which India’s interfacing. But the real power rests with the inscrutable General Kayani, the Pak Army chief whose sole obsession these days is to establish Pakistan’s writ in Afghanistan behind the back of the Americans who are unable to hide their hurry to leave the war-ravaged country.
Changing colours?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is showing signs of having read the writing on the wall and is reportedly willing to play ball with Islamabad. If things work out the way Kayani desires, the endgame might be against India’s security interests and its objective of a reasonable presence in that country.
A section of the Pakistani policy makers are already going around arguing that their stakes in Afghanistan were comparable with India’s in Sri Lanka and Nepal. The sooner New Delhi moved to rollback this perception and flagged with the Americans the danger — in terms of the global fight against terror — of sub-letting Afghanistan to Pakistan.
In this backdrop, Krishna’s brief in the talks he’d hold on July 15 with Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi is to find ways to building trust. From the Indian standpoint, the only way forward is tough action against fountainheads of terror that freely roam the streets of Lahore and other parts of Pakistan.
Will Pakistan deliver? Is the Pak Army really on board with Gilani to mend fences with India? The faujis in Rawalpindi indeed want a tranquil eastern border till they realize their objective of turning Afghanistan into a safe strategic depth option. The US discomfiture — and that of NATO participants— over prolonging their presence in the Hindukush region is the opening the Pak military leadership has for long aspired.
Given the Pak Army’s chronic distrust of and hostility towards India, not many on the Indian side are optimistic about a sustained, fruitful engagement. But there are a few who believe New Delhi would do well if it could lock Islamabad into some kind of a code of conduct to check and contain terrorism.
The limited elbow – room it has in pursuing peace has forced the UPA regime to keep expectations at the minimal. It feels the revival of street protests in Kashmir has a lot to do with the Foreign Minister-level talks —- afford as they do an opportunity to Pakistan to raise the issue bilaterally and propagate it internationally.
(7 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
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USA are finding out the hard way,that occupying and holding positions in Afghanistan is impossible!Like USA, Pakistan too wants a puppet government in Afghanistan,so that if a war breaks out between India and the Pak+China axis,Afghan land becomes a fall-back option!
Sam Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 4:05 am
How can we help the persecuted people in Pakistan.
Especially Hindus/Sikhs.
What are the practical ways to do it, without actually hurting them.
Will external help be considered with suspicion ?
Please post any ideas..
[Reply]
Vikram Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 4:20 am
How can you help any non muslim or for that matter any deemed non muslims like Ahmadiyas or any peaceloving sufi muslim in an increasingly wahabbist fundamentalist country like Pakistan– by offering him asylum in your own. Un becharo ko to allah bhi nahi bacha sakta insaan kya cheez hai
Any external help from non muslim countries will just be used as a pretext by many to drop all remaining inhibitions of being civilized and the atrocities will increase in vigor. It would also be fully state sanctioned. Atrocities on Christains might be held back due to the evangalicals in US putting pressure via the US govt who in turn put the screw on the Aid tap. But what leverage do we have ! In fact even talkign about developing a leverage leads to criticism from the ****-loving bleeding heart liberals in India. Jai ho
[Reply]
Rajiv Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Its too late. Just like once a species, falls below a certain number, it becomes extinct.
Similarly, minorities , particularly Hindus, are on way to become extinct.
India should have offered Indian citizenship to Pak Hindus on humanitarian and religious persecution grounds. But since India is a practicing secular state, we could not be seen as helping someone on religious grounds, so we consigned the Pk Hindus to the fanatical inferno of Pakistan.
I think, India should have found a way to offer citizenship to persecuted Hindus in Pak , but if you restrict that to only Hindus , then you are not a secular state.
USA offers refugee status to people of all religions, not just christians.
[Reply]
Sam Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 6:13 am
How about financing the persecuted Hindu/Sikhs to leave to USA ?
how about an organization which helps with this process ?
or how about sending money, purely humanitarian purposes.
how about getting Hindus/sikhs move illegally to India and helping them getting legalized
( B’desh muslims are able to do it, who are not even persecuted in that country)
There should be a way to help,,,just do not despair and give up.
if one door closes, let us see if another door is open..