A very clear-eyed and non-romanticizing piece about the current courtship between Pakistan’s mullahs and the Indian administration. I think our administration is really acting like this hopeless lover who is so enamored with this super beautiful and manipulative girl, that he keeps going back to her in hopes of being taken back, regardless of how many times she broke her heart before.
Neocon vs old con
So why did the Maulana say his conciliatory piece, make the sort of statements that had the Lahore Alumni Association dancing with joy in his host country? The logical conclusion would be that he – and his fellow travellers in Pakistan – perceive America as the more immediate threat.
America’s presence in Afghanistan means Islamabad can’t control Kabul. The Pashtun passions that have been unleashed threaten to completely destroy Islamabad’s hold over not just the NWFP but even areas of Baluchistan. While the jihad junta sorts this little problem out, it wants India to give it breathing space.
In its right mind, India wouldn’t even consider the offer. New Delhi’s waffling circuit is, however, not the appropriate exposition of India’s right mind. An argument that sees a temporary Indo-Pakistani truce to check American expansionism as a historical successor to Hindu-Muslim unity against the British empire is not just flawed, it is downright dangerous. In effect, India is being asked to choose between America and Pakistan, between the neocon man and, simply, the conman.
To take the analogy further, the amorous lover can see nothing but his beloved in everything he does and refuses to consider there might be more women around him – who might be more attractive and ultimately better for him than the one he is after. Isn’t that what is going on with India right now?
Vajpayee went there on a bus – Nawaz Sharief and Musharraf took the opportunity to shake his hands and stab his country in the back. Then he invited Musharraf to Agra – what came of that? Now everyone is getting all excited about the new overtures – does anyone really think anything is going to come out of this? Pardon me, but I am not getting excited yet.
Another bigger problem for India is that if she hopes to be a serious player in the world-politics, it doesn’t help that regardless of what song we sing, the chorus is always “Pakistan!”. We cannot pretend to be giants on the world stage when we allow ourselves to be dwarfed in our world vision by puny Pakistan. If we allow ourselves to be defined by Pakistan, we shouldn’t be surprised when the world treats us on par with Pakistan. I think it is time for the Indian administration to leave the little one behind and move on to bigger things and more important pursuits.
