India's misleading united voiceAhmed Quraishi
The Indian intelligentsia, at home and abroad, rarely dissents on the official Indian line on Pakistan. Within hours of the Mumbai blasts, Pakistan was the target of remarks by scores of Indian commentators appearing on international television networks. The unanimity of these opinions was remarkable. The Indian pundits spoke in mixed accents -- British and Indian -- but the message was the same: blame for the attacks rested with Pakistan.
Thanks to a few insensitive and hawkish Indian voices, the meticulous work of three years of people-to-people contacts between the two nations is being systematically eroded. The anti-Pakistan tirade, backed by no valid evidence, are threatening to dissipate the immense goodwill that developed within ordinary Pakistanis for their neighbours over the other side of the country's eastern borders.
There are more than 100 militant Indian organisations inside India fighting New Delhi. Most of them are non-Muslim and non-Kashmiri. All of them would love to give New Delhi a bloody nose if they got a chance. But no Indian commentator tried, if only for the sake of fairness, to include the possibility of the involvement of these forces in the blasts. It's funny. You will find more Pakistanis publicly disagreeing with Pakistan's position on Kashmir -- and being tolerated by Islamabad -- than you will find Indians publicly disagreeing with New Delhi on Kashmir. It's just one of a long list of contradictions in the world's largest democracy.
Now senior Indian officials are coming out to accuse Pakistan, in indirect ways, of involvement. Immediately after the blasts, Indians living outside their homeland, particularly those in the United States and Great Britain, came out strongly against Pakistan in an organised way. The Indian lobby in Washington DC is particularly fanatic when it comes to Pakistan. Within hours of the blasts, Ranendra Sen, Indian ambassador to the US, said the cause of the attacks "appear[ed] to emanate from our neighbourhood, which is the epicentre of global terrorism".
This was the opening salvo in an organized media trial of Pakistan in which almost no Indian 'media asset', so to speak, was left unutilised. This is a campaign of insinuations and suggestions that spares no trick in the media book to implicate Pakistan in the attacks. No trick except, of course, a direct accusation. In the absence of any concrete evidence linking Pakistan to the attacks, some hawkish elements in the Indian ruling elite are focusing now on saying and doing things that point the finger toward Pakistan without forcing New Delhi to directly accuse Islamabad.
Shayam Saran, India's foreign secretary, is a good example. Just read his recent, carefully worded statement that threw cold water on three-years of hectic backstage diplomacy to diffuse the tension between Pakistani and India. "As a result of these terrorist attacks it is becoming very difficult to take forward the peace process," he said last week.
This statement is a master-stroke; simple and lethal. It virtually freezes the peace talks with Pakistan without actually accusing Pakistan of sponsoring the Mumbai attacks. The implication is clear. The statement is not emphatic at the same time. It leaves the door open to return to the negotiation table, if the need arises.
This has to be the worst kind of manipulation on the part of a hawkish segment of the Indian ruling elite. In Pakistan, many Pakistanis feel a majority of Indians would want to resolve all outstanding disputes between the two nations. The only obstacle is a small clique of hawks in New Delhi who want to maintain an unreasonably hard-line policy toward Pakistan. All deals in the world require a win-win situation for all parties. Islamabad wants India to be equally a winner in any peace deal. But sorry, not the Indian hawks. They want a Pakistani humiliation as a precondition to any deal, if at all.
The worst part of all of this is that even the most liberal parts of the Indian intelligentsia are willing to encourage Pakistan-bashing. This, somehow, should send an ominous signal to liberal elements in Pakistan. The liberals in Pakistan pushed their government to give India more concessions in the peace negotiations. The Pakistani hawks opposed this but time and Indian actions are proving the hawks right.
One of the biggest casualties of the Mumbai attacks is the truth. New Delhi hawks want to give the impression that they are freezing the peace negotiations with Pakistan because of the Mumbai blasts. The truth is the Indian hawks have been stalling the Pakistani-Indian peace talks for months now. The Mumbai blasts have given the Indian hawks another lease on life.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=17169
The Indian intelligentsia, at home and abroad, rarely dissents on the official Indian line on Pakistan. Within hours of the Mumbai blasts, Pakistan was the target of remarks by scores of Indian commentators appearing on international television networks. The unanimity of these opinions was remarkable. The Indian pundits spoke in mixed accents -- British and Indian -- but the message was the same: blame for the attacks rested with Pakistan.
Thanks to a few insensitive and hawkish Indian voices, the meticulous work of three years of people-to-people contacts between the two nations is being systematically eroded. The anti-Pakistan tirade, backed by no valid evidence, are threatening to dissipate the immense goodwill that developed within ordinary Pakistanis for their neighbours over the other side of the country's eastern borders.
There are more than 100 militant Indian organisations inside India fighting New Delhi. Most of them are non-Muslim and non-Kashmiri. All of them would love to give New Delhi a bloody nose if they got a chance. But no Indian commentator tried, if only for the sake of fairness, to include the possibility of the involvement of these forces in the blasts. It's funny. You will find more Pakistanis publicly disagreeing with Pakistan's position on Kashmir -- and being tolerated by Islamabad -- than you will find Indians publicly disagreeing with New Delhi on Kashmir. It's just one of a long list of contradictions in the world's largest democracy.
Now senior Indian officials are coming out to accuse Pakistan, in indirect ways, of involvement. Immediately after the blasts, Indians living outside their homeland, particularly those in the United States and Great Britain, came out strongly against Pakistan in an organised way. The Indian lobby in Washington DC is particularly fanatic when it comes to Pakistan. Within hours of the blasts, Ranendra Sen, Indian ambassador to the US, said the cause of the attacks "appear[ed] to emanate from our neighbourhood, which is the epicentre of global terrorism".
This was the opening salvo in an organized media trial of Pakistan in which almost no Indian 'media asset', so to speak, was left unutilised. This is a campaign of insinuations and suggestions that spares no trick in the media book to implicate Pakistan in the attacks. No trick except, of course, a direct accusation. In the absence of any concrete evidence linking Pakistan to the attacks, some hawkish elements in the Indian ruling elite are focusing now on saying and doing things that point the finger toward Pakistan without forcing New Delhi to directly accuse Islamabad.
Shayam Saran, India's foreign secretary, is a good example. Just read his recent, carefully worded statement that threw cold water on three-years of hectic backstage diplomacy to diffuse the tension between Pakistani and India. "As a result of these terrorist attacks it is becoming very difficult to take forward the peace process," he said last week.
This statement is a master-stroke; simple and lethal. It virtually freezes the peace talks with Pakistan without actually accusing Pakistan of sponsoring the Mumbai attacks. The implication is clear. The statement is not emphatic at the same time. It leaves the door open to return to the negotiation table, if the need arises.
This has to be the worst kind of manipulation on the part of a hawkish segment of the Indian ruling elite. In Pakistan, many Pakistanis feel a majority of Indians would want to resolve all outstanding disputes between the two nations. The only obstacle is a small clique of hawks in New Delhi who want to maintain an unreasonably hard-line policy toward Pakistan. All deals in the world require a win-win situation for all parties. Islamabad wants India to be equally a winner in any peace deal. But sorry, not the Indian hawks. They want a Pakistani humiliation as a precondition to any deal, if at all.
The worst part of all of this is that even the most liberal parts of the Indian intelligentsia are willing to encourage Pakistan-bashing. This, somehow, should send an ominous signal to liberal elements in Pakistan. The liberals in Pakistan pushed their government to give India more concessions in the peace negotiations. The Pakistani hawks opposed this but time and Indian actions are proving the hawks right.
One of the biggest casualties of the Mumbai attacks is the truth. New Delhi hawks want to give the impression that they are freezing the peace negotiations with Pakistan because of the Mumbai blasts. The truth is the Indian hawks have been stalling the Pakistani-Indian peace talks for months now. The Mumbai blasts have given the Indian hawks another lease on life.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=17169
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