Chance for India, Pak to rebuild together

Adversities do not necessarily produce final solutions. But they provide a different template to think about complex problems. Singh himself has urged the nation to think ‘‘out of the box’’ on Jammu and Kashmir. Consider the following:

• Foreign secretaries hotline: It was operationalised for the first time today with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran touching base with his counterpart Riaz Mohammed Khan around noon. He conveyed Indian sympathies and offered assistance even as impact of the diasater was unfolding.

• DGMO Hotline: The two DGMOs got in touch today. And the Indian side offered any assistance that may needed along the Line of Control. It was decided that local commanders can co-ordinate efforts for this purpose.

• Local commanders’ flag meetings: Jammu-Sialkot, Kargil-Olding, Uri-Chakothi and Naushera-Sadabad are the sectors where local commanders hold regular flag meetings. Sources said meetings will take place to reach an understanding on taking a humanitarian view with civilians who may have strayed across to help locate missing people.

• Intensive cooperation in relief and rescue: This issue will come up between local commanders but more avenues of cooperation can be created like setting up links between control rooms so that information can be exchanged quickly.

• Opening of routes on LoC for sending aid: Medical aid, relief and other such material can be send from the Indian side given that POK largely remains cut-off due to landslides. Certain areas may be accessible quicker from the Indian end.

• Exchange on environmental damage: This has been under discussion as one of CBMs. The sooner it is implemented, a clearer picture can be drawn up by both sides on the impact the earthquake has had on river systems and the Himalayan region.

• Joint rescue efforts: This can be organised between the two militaries so that political divisions don’t come in the way of dealing with the disaster. After all, the Indian position in the peace process has been to reduce the negative consequences to people on both sides of Kashmir because of lines drawn on the map.

• Exchange of seismic data and information: This is a strict no, no particularly in the light of the 1998 nuclear tests. But in times in like this, such information can be voluntarily shared given the fear of aftershocks and termors. An agreed mechanism in the future can help in terms of passing alerts and warnings.

As the full scale of the tragedy comes into view, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must move beyond the initial tentative response on India’s part.

Singh needs to offer the creation of joint institutions—between India and Pakistan; and the two parts of divided Kashmir—that can help manage the immediate consequences of the earthquake as well as the long-term challenge of reconstruction across the LoC.

The very mention of “joint institutions” will frighten many in New Delhi and Islamabad. After all both India and Pakistan carry so much baggage on Kashmir. It was only the other day, the Foreign Office squelched loose talk from across the border on a final settlement in Jammu and Kashmir based on the idea of “joint sovereignty”.

New Delhi insists that the entire state, including the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, is part of the nation. Islamabad pretends that the territories of J&K under its control are “independent”.

The relentless defence of these positions in both the capitals has often complicated the prospects for cooperation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. Yet, amidst a hopeful peace process launched in 2004, the two sides have overcome difficulties on such issues as travel documents for movement across the Line of Control.

There is no reason to confuse the idea of joint institutions with that of joint sovereignty. While rejecting the notion of “joint sovereignty”, India has itself proposed to Pakistan last year joint development of tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.

While they differ on all the key territorial questions J&K, Singh and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf have agreed in April on one important principle—that borders should not matter. If there was ever a moment to take that proposition seriously, it is now.