Different states react differently to similar situations. When Israel is subjected to terrorist attacks, which is very often, the State reacts immediately and with force each time. In India, two days after Pakistan-backed terrorists kill innocent civilians in Srinagar, we send an official delegation to talk about cooperation in the war against terrorism with the sponsors of terrorism. There is no pretence of postponing the meeting. It is as incongruous as the London Police seeking the help of Jack the Ripper to find Jack the Ripper. <br /> <br /> The Iranians, too, have a lesson to teach. As the world watches, they have shown that if you know what you want, you have the rules on your side and have the courage to stand up to all pressures, the other side will ultimately blink first. One does not have to roll over and play dead at the first opportunity. <br /> <br /> Talking with the Pakistanis about curbing terrorism is a dialogue of the deaf. We say stop the violence; they agree, but say that Indian security forces must stop killing innocents. We say stop the infiltration; they demand the withdrawal of Indian troops. We call it terrorism; they call it a freedom struggle. When a terrorist is killed, they call him a martyr. They glorify their suicide terrorists by calling them fidayeen; alas, unthinkingly we do likewise. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Pakistan has no intention of rolling back its jehadi infrastructure. This is a vital low-cost weapon they have. So the embers are kept bur ning with vicious anti-India, anti-Israel and anti-US campaigns that get detailed coverage in the thriving jehadi press. The campaign to curtail the jehadi outfits and control madrassas is an elaborate charade. <br /> <br /> What really happens is that the Pakistani intelligence establishment periodically does a cleaning operation and shuts down some outfits to launch new ones to prevent anyone from becoming too powerful. This is mistakenly seen as an example of enlightened moderation. In reality, these are just revolving door tactics: exit an old outfit and enter a new one in a different costume. <br /> <br /> All is not too well with the Musharraf realm as election year approaches. Suddenly, the throne is looking vulnerable with Washington now beginning to grumble sotto voce that Musharraf is not doing enough in the global war on terror. There is irritation with endless Musharraf double-speak along with assistance to the Taliban and a growing realisation that democracy in Pakistan may not be such a bad option. The jehadis are complaining that Musharraf has sold Pakistan to the Americans and lost Kashmir to the Hindus. Balochistan and Waziristan are in ferment. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile in Pakistan, Sunnis kill Shias, Deobandhis kill Barelvis, Shias and Ahmediyas while they shed crocodile tears for the Kashmiris. And far away, in London, their political voice gagged in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have issued their magna carta, which seeks and hopes to curb the Pakistan armed forces substantially. Whether this remains yet another Pakistani dream for democracy or becomes a reality depends on how seriously the rest of the world takes this Charter of Democracy. <br /> <br /> Left to himself, Musharraf would only be too eager to revoke his promises to Pakistanis once again and is working on a scheme to continue as Pakistan's dictator in democratic clothing beyond 2007. Any agreement on Kashmir now, in any form, will give Musharraf a victory that he badly needs, and ensure his continuance in perpetuity. <br /> <br /> In this context, for Indians to scurry around and offer palliatives to Musharraf is completely misplaced. Terminologies like autonomy, selfgovernance, self-rule, joint sovereignty and open borders are being bandied around like some magic solution. How can there be autonomy for Kashmir and not for Haryana? Can there be self-rule in Kashmir but not in Assam? In any case, are not all states in India selfruled by the people of the state? How can there be joint sovereignty with Pakistan when it cannot even grant us MFN status or screen Hindi films? And what is this rubbish about soft or open borders with someone who regularly sends armed terrorists across? How can we accuse Pakistan of aiding terrorism in India and also have open borders? <br /> <br /> The Prime Minister's visit to Srinagar was greeted by a shutdown and a boycott by that group of the 'unelected and unelectables' called the Hurriyat. Violence and a rebuff must have been anticipated. So when the visit was cut short by a day, Pak TV smirked and the jehadi underworld gloated. It is not just what a government does but how it does it that is important. <br /> <br /> After the Hurriyat leaders' long sojourn in Pakistan earlier this year, they had met the PM in New Delhi. An arrangement of a cycle of meetings in Islamabad, New Delhi and Srinagar, making it appear a tripartite discussion with the Hurriyat as the third party, has hopefully been abandoned. New Delhi should now be talking with only those who had the courage and the wisdom to participate in the electoral process. <br /> <br /> Human beings have the great facility to rationalise situations and pursue a manifestly futile path on occasion. Talking to these so-called moderates is one such rationalisation. The Hurriyat is a secessionist organisation put together by Pakistan. Have we ever heard of a moderate secessionist or a patriotic traitor? And how can there be a meeting of minds with secessionists? Not one of the Hurriyat leaders had the courage to condemn the murderers of innocent civilians. This is not surprising because some of them do not even have the courage to name the murderers of their own fathers. <br /> <br /> One could however, pity the Hurriyat for it lives under constant threat - obey or else. It fears its own extremists more than its mentors across. That is why it needs the protection of the Indian State - one of the ironies of the Kashmir question. <br /> <br /> The other irony of the situation in Kashmir is that all socio-economic indicators compare favourably with the rest of the country. Its per capita income is slightly lower than the national average; its literacy level is on par; its population below poverty line is the best in the country; it receives the largest resource transfer and grants from the central government. Places like Hyderpora, Rajbagh and Barzulla look completely transformed, as palaces owned by locals have mushroomed in Srinagar - wages of insurgency or profits of office, apparently. <br /> <br /> It is, therefore, not a case of resource crunch in Kashmir. It is abysmally poor governance despite a bloated bureaucracy that simply milks the system. There is little attention to provision of good roads, adequate power or even sanitation. Correct this, provide law and order and a large portion of the grievances will disappear. <br /> After all these years of relentless animosity, Pakistan finds itself rated very highly as a failed State by a US think-tank. Obviously, such endless animosity is debilitating. A situation of this kind in our neighbourhood will naturally affect us as well. The solution does not lie in seemingly magnanimous gestures that strengthen the stranglehold of the Pakistan army. This would be a retrograde step for India. Such gestures are sometimes used by victorious States as a weapon of real politik, but in the Indo-Pak context, this stage does not exist. Such gestures are, therefore, invariably portrayed in Islamabad as appeasement. <br /> <br /> The reality of the situation is that there are no quick solutions and it is a long haul, chiefly because an increasingly 'jehadised' Pakistan army must somehow renege from its Faustian bargain and retrieve its soul from Mephistopheles. <br /> <br /> </font> <font size="2" class="greytext1"> <em>The author is Advisor to Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. <br /> <br /> Source: The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, June 6, 2006 <br /> </em> <br /> <br /> <br /> <em>* Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Observer Research Foundation.</em> <br />
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