Border bluster

Gladioli bouquets wilt as they should and the cadence of Urdu shairi fades away. The challenge for both India and Pakistan and their respective prime ministers, is really to keep the spirit of that brave new moment at Wagah alive, amidst the compulsions, despite the compulsions, of domestic politics. Those opposed to this initiative were quick to point out that the possibility of normalising relations between the two countries is well nigh impossible given the 51 years of implacable hostility between them. On Sunday, both prime ministers made statements that seemed to prove the cynics right. Vajpayee, speaking in New Delhi while inaugurating the Bhagwan Mahavir Kendra, stated that the nation is 8220;determined not to lose our land in future8221;. In Islamabad Sharif, at a function in memory of the founder of the newspapers, Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt, stated that 8220;there could come a time when talks have to be suspended if no concrete development is made on the Kashmir issue.8221;

To read these statements as signsthat things could soon go back to the bad old days of sabre-rattling between the two countries would be as gross a distortion as imagining that there would be only sweetness and light after Prime Minister Vajpayee8217;s February 20 visit to Lahore. Political realities in both countries are far too complex for such facile assumptions. The fact is that the prime ministers of both countries have distinct political constituencies. To expect them to go against the grain in their responses would be foolish in the extreme. While Vajpayee needs to reassure his compatriots that his government has not signed away India8217;s territorial integrity, Sharif has to be sensitive to the paranoia over Kashmir that is so much a part of the Pakistani mindset. Not many know that the Nawa-e-Waqt has always espoused the most hardline positions vis-a-vis India. Therefore when Sharif attends a function in the memory of its founder, Hameed Nizami, it should surprise no one that he strongly invokes the 8220;interests of Kashmiris and theaspirations of Pakistanis8221;.

But having said this, both prime ministers must take care to ensure that the elusive messenger of peace, who has made a tentative appearance in the sub-continent, is not shot in the foot. This is an extremely sensitive period, one that needs to be negotiated with confidence and courage rather than with uncertainty and fear. The idea is to lift the veil of suspicion that has so far dogged the process of dialogue, and both leaders as they signed the Lahore Resolution a little over a week ago publicly acknowledged this. Indeed, genuine dialogue can never take place without transparency and trust, and there can be no solution to any issue, including the vexed Kashmir one, without genuine dialogue as Vaj-payee underlined so strongly on Sunday. The world, and the people of both nations, applauded the gesture at Wagah. Now they are waiting to see how the scenario unfolds. Careless words and gestures must not be allowed to compromise this vital process of peace.