Ignore this jihad

Nawaz Sharif8217;s appeal to his country after its nuclear tests was high-pitched enough to sound as if a war were on, with all the trappings of austerity and an emergency. The international concomitant of this highly theatrical effort will no doubt be an appeal to Islam. Islamabad can be relied upon to try to win over the Islamic world to its bomb as an answer to India8217;s quot;Hinduquot; bomb, and exploit India8217;s newly quot;aggressivequot; Hinduism to win the sympathy of the rest of the world. Its prior warning about its tests to Saudi Arabia and Iran is sufficient indication. Not only is Islam Pakistan8217;s traditional card against India, it is its only one. On what other conceivable grounds could it begin to counterpose itself to India and expect to be taken seriously? That ploy could gain greater credibility in the world8217;s, and particularly the Islamic world8217;s, eyes now that India has come to be governed by a quot;Hindu nationalistquot; party which has given early and aggressive expression to its nationalism.

India need not bedisturbed by this 8212; it has taken Pakistan8217;s single-issue international activism in its stride in the past and scored significant diplomatic victories against it. But surely as much as anything else the BJP8217;s grand vision of India entails declining to be regarded in binary terms with Pakistan? The irony is that such a treatment has little basis in fact. The only reason Pakistan continues to be seen in comparable terms with India is because India8217;s own Pakistan fixation has let it go on quibbling with a country which is no match for it in any of the ways that count: economic strength, military might, democratic credentials, international vision and standing. It can put the current world focus on it to better use than dignifying Pakistan8217;s propaganda by challenging it in its own terms.

India8217;s world agenda, unlike Pakistan8217;s anti-India agenda couched in Islamese, is a mainstream one and it has to be seen to be so. Its nuclear tests were certainly inspired in part by the security threats to it, the one fromPakistan included. But they were inspired also by its vision of a role for itself in world affairs in which Pakistan and indeed any other single country has no part. It is a vision of a powerful state, militarily strong, yes, but economically and technologically advanced as well. Such a country, when it speaks its mind, is heard attentively and uses its influence to help fashion and maintain a world order of its vision. India has been careful so far to do nothing to justify the label of the quot;Hinduquot; bomb, except that it cannot help the fact that it was tested by a BJP-led government. But that does not guarantee that the label will not stick. It is an attractive soundbite, and sounds fine in opposition to the quot;Islamicquot; bomb, a term its owner would like to peddle. The only way that India can fight an incorrect and disadvantageous description of its own bomb is to act big. Its energies should now be focused on asserting responsibility and restraint after proving its capability, and regaining a respect which haslately suffered a setback. The world is India8217;s stage after the blasts have made it sit up and listen. What a pity it would be if India chose to thrust smallness upon itself.