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Journalism of Courage
The optimism expressed by Prime Minister Vajpayee to the highest military leadership of the country, assembled for the annual Combined Commanders8217; Conference, is welcome. The obvious comment of even the most cynical would be to remember that expectations, or policy for that matter, have to be based on pragmatism which must remain the basis of pursuing national interests. Even more important is the reality that, in matters that concern more than one party, pragmatism has to be practiced by both sides. For example, the prime minister is right to say that in the matter of settling the boundary issue with China, 8220;we should be willing to take pragmatic decisions8221;. One may be tempted to conclude that this may mark a new shift in the formal position since it is articulated at the defence meeting of the top brass.
Depending on how Beijing responds to the dialogue just commenced between the special representatives of both sides, this may hold new promise for the future. But that future would require our pragmatism and their pragmatism to be nudged along paths leading to greater convergence toward the final points of agreement. We also need to be careful about unwarranted optimism starting to queer the pitch even before the field is ready for play. Meanwhile, there can be no doubt that both countries need to make every possible effort to ensure that peace along the border is maintained in letter and spirit. Greater progress in the demarcation of the Line of Actual Control, therefore, is the need of the hour. One can only hope that the delays in that demarcation in the eastern and western sectors are not by themselves a tactic to force concessions on the larger territorial issues.
