Pakistan: A Visit In More Hopeful Times

Nilotpal Basu

IT is often said that about our relationship with our North Western neighbour Pakistan should be based on the premise that the history and the geography of the two countries cannot be wished away.  My experience during the ten days from May 13 to 20, 2005, for the first time ever in Pakistan, was a startling vindication of this theme.  From the point I touched down on the new spanky Allama Iqbal International Airport at Lahore on May 13, and left on the 23rd evening, I was overwhelmed by this experience.  It was an experience which Comrade Hannan Mollah, my colleague on this trip and I jointly went through.

We were in Pakistan as part of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation for the Special Parliamentary Forum of South Asian Parliament on the theme “Evolving South Asian Fraternity” from May 15 to 20 in Islamabad and Bhurban – one and a half hour drive from the capital in the picturesque hill station. The event was organised by South Asian Free Media Association, a regional NGO comprising media persons and recognised by the SAARC.

The South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) has been now active for the last few years as a major spearhead to facilitate people to people exchanges primarily between India and Pakistan and generally in the South Asian Regional setting. There is no doubt that the initiation and involvement of a politically neutral body like SAFMA has proved to be a very appropriate forum entity for the free flow of ideas and inputs towards a more durable regional framework.  And, our experience of attending this event only confirmed this.  Of course, the greater benefit was the first hand experience of a change in the atmosphere in Pakistan and the boundless enthusiasm of people which we came across when in dialogue with fellow parliamentarians of Pakistan or the several common men and women, be they working journalists, tea shop owners, common shopkeepers, students, people in the establishment and so on and so forth.  It was really a unique experience with so much of warmth and hospitality and keen excitement for a durable peace and fraternal relations with us and our people.

THE EVENT

It was difficult to imagine the atmosphere perhaps even a couple of days earlier when the event started on the morning of 15th in Islamabad with the Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly as the Chief Guest of the Inaugural Session. The Speaker fondly remembered his interaction with the Indian parliamentarians and the Speaker when he had came to our country a few months earlier on the invitation of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee.  He highlighted the need for parliamentarians from different countries of South Asia – as public representatives to interact and deliberate on issues of common interest and concern.

The event itself and participation was very broad-based and representative. It saw the participation of about 70 MPs from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka representing 34 political parties. The Indian delegation had MPs from all major national and regional political parties – the Congress, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, RSP, RJD, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Akali Dal, Telugu Desam, Lok Jan Shakti, Janata Dal (U) and National Conference. Similarly, the delegations of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also included almost all major political parties. 

Unfortunately, the parliamentary delegation from Nepal could not reach Islamabad for the Royal Administration had stopped members of the now dissolved National Legislature from proceeding to this event despite the SAFMA secretary general having personally requested the king to allow the parliamentarians to reach Pakistan. Of course, the Conference collectively deplored this vindictive action of the Nepal regime and collectively called for the restoration of parliamentary democracy with the final declaration.

The spirit of the speeches of the speakers in the inaugural session representing different political parties including myself had a common thread – the imperatives of a more united and integrated South Asia to secure a future of peaceful fraternity and cooperative relations to secure the best interest of our peoples across the region. The most refreshing and reassuring aspect of the interventions was that nobody tried to wish away the fact that there were differences in perception and difficulties and concerns which, however, needed to be surmounted at all costs.

The inaugural session was followed by very engaging sessions from May 16 to 20, on different sub themes with the morning session of the 20th dedicated to the adoption of a final declaration.

THE SUB-THEMES

The South Asian Parliament became all the more interesting for the fact that discussions were held on several sub themes addressing the question of Evolving South Asian Fraternity.

May 16, the second day in the picturesque setting of Bhurban the discussion was initiated by Dr Akmal Hussain, a noted progressive economist from Pakistan on South Asia Vision. His presentation was very exciting where he attempted to interweave the economic, political, social, cultural and civilisational stance to demonstrate that a united and cooperative South Asia can maximize the benefits for the people of the region. He recommended a much more open trade and economic relationship across the South Asian region.  He particularly urged the two big nations India and Pakistan to take a pragmatic view and highlighted the need for the two to approach issues of political dispute with a sense of pragmatism on a give and take basis.  He painstakingly revisited the issues of possible synergy in the economic, social and cultural cooperation towards a more integrated South Asia which would be based on cooperative relationships.  This session was chaired by me.  A number of extremely useful contributions were made by senior parliamentarians like Sherry Rehman of Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Ashwani Kumar from Congress and Ravi Shanker Prasad of BJP, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, leader of the opposition in Pakistan National Assembly, Abu Hena of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. An interesting feature of the session was the recognition of difficulties while the imperatives were for overcoming them.  There was a broad consensus on the need for promoting the principle of inclusion given the rich diversity in terms of the religious persuasions, cultural traits, social stratification, working levels of economic and social stratification and composite and pluralistic nature of the civilization.  The overriding need for addressing the issues of poverty, employment, health and nutrition concerns of overwhelming sections of the people of the region. The other principle on which there was a meeting, was the need for continuing engagement and dialogue to overcome conflicts and differences and the irrelevance of military solutions to these problems. Maulana Fazalur Rehman very aptly highlighted the machinations of US imperalism in the region and drew the imperatives of parliamentarians to force respective governments to adopt a course of reconciliation on bilateral and regional basis.

Third day of the Conference discussed two sub themes – “Economic Cooperation in South Asia” and “Water issues and the Energy Grid”.  The discussion on these sub themes were triggered by excellent key note papers by Shri Ramaswami Iyer, a very respected expert on wider issues from India and Dr Mahendra Lana of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who has worked extensively on the feasibility of South Asian Electricity Grid.  Shri Iyer’s paper highlighted the difficulties of managing water resources of international rivers where paradigm of water sharing posed challenges and hinted at a possible paradigm towards joint integrative management. He detailed out the experience of Indus Water Treaty and the Ganges Water Treaty. Dr Lama’s paper highlighted the South Asian Grid and underlined the possibility of using the huge hydro power potential of Nepal and Bhutan and how the export of this power could lead to enhanced export earning for this power maintained kingdoms while lending stability to the accentuated power needs of the whole region particularly India which has a rapidly growing economy severely constrained by its electricity and power needs. Apart from this Dr Lama’s paper also touched upon the need for hydro cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector and the possibility of maximizing gas and pipeline infrastructure.  The actual deliberations saw very lively debate on how to reconcile contending claims on water resources.

The discussion on the “South Asian Parliament” saw the most sharply conflicting viewpoints.  This was initiated by S D Muni of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), strongly arguing for a South Asian Parliament while Aitzaz Ahsan from the PPP urging caution and circumspection indicating the time has not yet come for such an ambitious project. The later view had perhaps greater support and that was reflected in the final declaration. The second half of the 18th was chaired by the chairperson of the Pakistan National Human Rights Commission, Asma Jahangir who is also the UN rapporteur for the UN on human rights issue. Iqbal Haider, the general secretary of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan presented a detailed ‘Human Rights Code’ for South Asia which vigorously argued for building institutions to exercise vigilance over governments in observing human rights in keeping with the UN Human Rights Charter and Paris principles of 1991.  It highlighted the South Asian contacts emphasizing the need to protect human rights which face challenges.  There was a huge degree of unanimity on this subject and it was proposed that this course will be sought to be forwarded to the SAARC Summit for adoption and subsequent observance.

The discussion on the 19th again had two very important sub themes – “Cooperative Security in South Asia” and “Right to know and independence of Media”.  The discussions were initiated by two important papers by Izaz Haider and Dr  C Rajamohan.  The debate strongly refused to endorse the justification of governments on military expenditure to ensure security.  The interventions dwelled on the need for institutionalized conflict resolution mechanism and peaceful engagements which could lead to release of resources which remain locked up in defence budgets and could be redeployed for purposeful constructive development oriented activities and addressing poverty, health and education related concerns towards a collective improvement in the quality of life of the citizens.  The discussion strongly advocated the imperatives of raising confidence building measures to institutionalised collective dispute settlement structures.   

Finally, the morning of May 20 saw vibrant engaging and at times discordant debate to come to a unanimous final declaration. The spirit of the debate was real because it did not try to push under the carpet contentious issues but at the same time pragmatic enough to evolve common grounds to overcome contentious positions.  The theme during the course of all five days was that SAARC process will have to be strengthened and the question of regional cooperation across South Asia was too important to be left alone to the respective governments alone. Therefore the imperative of working out a parliamentary dimension to the SAARC process was an idea which everybody tended to embrace. People and their concerns should be the core of the SAARC process is what was generally agreed to.  And parliamentarians – as representatives of their respective peoples was most eminently suited to contribute more meaningful process.

THE CLOSING SESSION

The closing session was held on the 20th evening in Islamabad.  It was significant because it reflected a greater comprehension of the challenges and the imperatives of overcoming them.  Several senior parliamentarians spoke on the event but the highlight of the evening was the intervention by Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, foreign minister of Pakistan and president Pervez Musharraf.  Both Kasuri and Musharraf mainly dealt with the question of Indo-Pak peace process and the need for the two larger nations and economies to improve their relationship in the interest of the peoples of these two countries and the stabilising role this relationship can play on the broader question of South Asian Regional Cooperation. It was significant that within this overall theme, Kasuri highlighted the broad support for the peace process and its irreversible nature fairly echoing the sentiments articulated by prime minister, Manmohan Singh earlier in the Indian parliament.  President Musharraf also dealing with the question of dispute over Jammu and Kashmir agreed that there could not be any solution along religious lines and advocated a solution which could be acceptable to both the countries.

STRIVING FOR PEACE &  PULPABLE EXPERIENCE

I have not been in Pakistan in the past.  But this visit – the interactions that we had with the wide spectrum of people ranging from politicians to opinion makers, media persons to shopkeepers, students – girls and boys, human right activists and common men on the street leave me entirely convinced that if at any point in history of our two nations peace had the brightest chance to endure it is now.  The emphatic assertion on the need for cooperative relations is appearing to be much assertive than the few discordant voices that I heard during my stay in Pakistan.  The failed attempted military solution in Kargil appears to be informing opinion on both sides of the border to the absolute irrelevance of such a course which cost both the countries in terms of wasted resources

Our visit to Taxila and Harappa the seats of our great shared civilisational past of learning and enlightenment and of course modernism are standing testimonies to rich lessons of inclusion and assimilation.  The rich Pakistani cultural tradition with strong Sufi traditions of music of Baba Bulleshah which have been taken forward by great contemporary singers like Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Noorjahan create visions of a composite and plural culture which will create a real potential environment for unleashing the creative potentials of our great peoples.

The peoples of the two countries want to live in peace and harmony.  The peoples have to remain vigilant and ensure that politicians and governments do not fail us. The priority has to be a much more free flow of people across the borders and tourism by further relaxing the visa regimes, the actual first hand knowledge of realities across the border can become the biggest moving force to bring down walls of distrust that have been constructed through years of disinformation.