EDITORIAL

Next Step In Indo-Pak Relations

  THE BJP-led government finally announced last week withdrawal of the army from forward positions on the border with Pakistan. The full-scale mobilisation of troops and equipment on the Indo-Pakistan border took place after the terrorist attack on parliament in December last year. For ten months, the unprecedented deployment continued, with ten lakh troops ranged across the international border and the line of control in Jammu & Kashmir. Enormous resources were spent on this massive operation, with one estimate saying Rs 7,000 crore were spent for the purpose.

The mobilisation of troops on both sides reflected the serious escalation in tensions between the two countries. The CPI(M) had pointed out at that time that the mobilisation of troops on the border and the resultant  confrontation would divert attention from the fundamental question of terrorist violence directed against India. The danger of military confrontation between two nuclear states would become the primary concern of the world and not the issue of terrorist violence sponsored by Pakistan-based outfits. 

Two serious terrorist attacks took place within Jammu & Kashmir during this period of border mobilisation --- the first at the Kaluchak army camp and the other at Qasimnagar in Jammu. These served to further aggravate tensions and the question arose whether such troop mobilisation could be effective in checking indiscriminate violence indulging in by hardcore terrorist gangs.

After six months of deployment, the government began arguing that the mobilisation had to continue till the Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections were over. This was clearly an afterthought to sustain what had no further justification. 

The border deployment was accompanied by steps such as reducing the diplomatic representation by sending back the Pakistani high commissioner and cutting off travel links between the two countries. The Vajpayee government took these steps primarily to get the United States to directly intervene in the Indo-Pakistan stand off. The purpose was served with a procession of US envoys, beginning with the US secretary of state Colin Powell, visiting both capitals to mediate. What this episode accomplished was that the United States was entrenched of as the sole arbiter in Indo-Pakistan relations with the approval of the Vajpayee government and the Musharraf regime. 

The BJP-led government refused to countenance any other approach. The sensible course would have been to adopt a three-pronged approach: diplomatic and political efforts to see that international pressure is mounted on Pakistan to check the activities of extremist-fundamentalist groups there; strict vigilance and effective security measures to track down and suppress the extremist outfits in Jammu & Kashmir; and finally, the starting of a political dialogue with all concerned groups in Jammu & Kashmir, offering autonomy as the basis for negotiation. 

Now that the Jammu & Kashmir elections are over, after taking the decision to withdraw troops from the international border, the government cannot avoid looking at the non-military options. Firstly, it has to resume dialogue with Pakistan at the appropriate level after taking further de-escalatory measures. This has to be done while clearly recognising that the jihadi groups in Pakistan are still active, despite President Musharraf’s declarations. After the ouster of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan is the hotbed for the extremist-fundamentalist forces. The success of the religious fundamentalist parties in the recent elections in Pakistan further underlines the danger. 

Provocative acts of violence will continue from these groups based in Pakistan. To abjure talks with Pakistan cannot be the response to them. Instead, the bilateral dialogue process must take up the issue of terrorist violence from across the border. Increasingly, world opinion recognises the danger of such elements operating in Pakistan, especially after the bomb blasts directed against foreigners in Karachi and the attacks on Christians. 

The resumption of dialogue with Pakistan has to be accompanied by a determined effort to open talks with the political forces within Jammu & Kashmir for a political settlement, and the Vajpayee government has to accept the provision of maximum autonomy as the basis for this. The formation of an elected government in the state should help that process.

The ten-month deployment of troops was sought to be utilised by the BJP to strike a strident posture of jingoism and anti-terrorist rhetoric, in the hope that it will yield political dividends. The BJP’s defeat in Uttar Pradesh in February and its rout in Jammu & Kashmir recently should convince it that such militarist postures do not evoke popular support. There is no getting away from adopting a correct political approach.