Men who made war, speak peace

But how is this to be achieved given the intractable hostility between thetwo countries? As the retired brigadier, Rao Abid Hamid, who had alsoattended the Convention, put it, never has the situation been as bad asnow.“It’s so ironic that despite the blood-letting and barbarism of thePartition, things were comparatively much better in the 1950s. Evenpost-1965, there was more optimism. Over the last 10-15 years, theatmosphere has got vitiated. Everywhere, amazing peace initiatives aretaking place. Madeleine Albright flies into North Korea. Why are our twonations condemned to remain in this state of hostility for all time? To mymind, by sitting back and saying that this is our fate, we are onlyexhibiting cowardice.”

It is easier to invest in war as the formidable build up in militaryhardware in both India and Pakistan testify to than to invest in peace.While some in the Pakistani delegation believe that the emphasis on Kashmirshould be toned down to encourage the process of dialogue, Lt. Gen. NassirAkhtar does not agree. “Kashmir is a core issue. We need to sit down andsettle it once and for all. Military initiatives can only follow politicalones.” He believes that India must seize the moment and talk to GeneralPervez Musharraf. “It’s a golden opportunity for India, because bothmilitary and political authority is now vested in one person. This makesachieving consensus in Pakistan that much easier,” he observes.

Admiral L. Ramdas, India’s former chief of the Naval Staff, who has beeninvolved in peace initiatives on the sub-continent for several years now,and who participated in the present Convention, believes that a seriousimpediment to the process of normalising relations between the two countriesis General Musharraf’s attitude of rejecting out of hand the Simla Agreementand the Lahore Declaration. “He says he wants a dialogue. But hisgovernment should surely stand by the agreements that have been entered intowith India. Otherwise, where is the credibility in the process? One way ofbreaking ice is for Musharraf to say, `Okay, we’ll pick up the threads fromwhere we left off.”

But Admiral Ramdas also rues the increasingly anti-Pakistan sentiment thatis being generated in the country. It becomes more and more difficult to actrationally in an atmosphere like this that’s precisely why dialoguebecomes an absolute imperative. “The moment we start talking, the chancesof our shooting each other becomes much less. We must talk, talk and talkagain.” There have been some significant attempts at Track II diplomacy oflate, according to him. As recently as September, the Pakistan-India PeoplesForum for Peace and Democracy organised a Pakistan visit for a high leveldelegation, comprising former foreign secretaries Salman Haidar and M.K.Rasgotra, former ambassadors Ranganathan, Nazareth and Manorama Bhalla.

Admiral Ramdas believes that there must be more of such initiatives, whichwill in turn create a groundswell of popular opinion in favour of peace.Brigadier Hamid believes that demonstrations of compassion also go some wayin furthering this process. As coordinator in the Human Rights Commission ofPakistan (HRCP), he was directly involved in arranging for Roop Lal’srelease earlier this year and this is his side of the story: “I came toknow of Roop Lal through a petition from his daughter, Sumita, who was sixmonths old when he left home. He was on Death Row, after serving 25 years inPakistani jails. I met him a number of times in prison. Within ten days ofthe Pokharan explosion in 1998, one of his colleagues supposedly a spywas hanged. Roop Lal sent out a desperate appeal. On behalf of the HRCP, Imade an appeal on this case to General Jehangir Karamat, then chief ofPakistan Army Staff. I believe Jehangir Karamat did something remarkable:Roop Lala was taken off Death Row and his sentence was commuted to lifeimprisonment. Remember, people considered as `dangerous prisoners’ arerarely released. Most of them remain anonymous, without lawyers, and thereis not one to talk on their behalf. They feel as if they are dying, bit bybit, every day of their lives. This is therefore quite a freak case. Sincethere was only a year left for Roop Lal to complete his sentence, the HRCPmade a formal appeal asking for the rest of his sentence to be waived.

General Musharraf waived it and arrangements were made to send him home.”There is one thing that disturbs Brigadier Hamid, “I told Roop Lal that Iknow that he has suffered greatly and he must say what he has to say, but Iasked him to play a positive role in helping to normalise the peace process.Unfortunately, he preferred to draw a certain mileage out of this.”Admiral Ramdas believes that a great deal must be done at the level of civilsociety. “It’s very tragic, the state of school curricula. Lessons inPakistan directly attack India Hindus and India are virtually synonymousin these texts. Here, our government is introducing such absurdities asVedic astrology, and subverting an established system that has, by andlarge, been secular.”

While denuclearisation is an urgent requirement, demilitarisation, accordingto most, could only be a distant objective and can only follow concretepolitical initiatives. Says Brigadier Hamid, “I think the last time the twochiefs of our respective armies met was two years ago. Our DGMOs speakoccasionally, Pakistani Rangers and the BSF officers occasionally consulteach other, but there has been no exchange of active soldiers between thetwo countries for several years now.”

Admiral Ramdas believes that before you talk of demilitarisation, you needto demilitarise the mind. “For starters, the Armed Forces in India andPakistan must be acquainted with the UN charter of Human Rights, and theGeneva Convention. The DGMOs must talk once a week to each other to test thehot line. Sadly, the hot line has become a cold line today!”

Nirmala Deshpande remains optimistic that things are changing for thebetter. “We are now on the way to a big peace movement on thesubcontinent,” she says. A personal experience gives her cause for hope.When the Kargil hostilities broke out she had wanted to people in bothcountries to participate simultaneously in a peace march. “It seemedimpossible. I couldn’t get through to anyone in Pakistan easily. With greatdifficulty, I got through to Tahir Mohammad Khan, a Baluchi activist and aformer minister in the Bhutto government. And as we organised our peacemarch here, 3,000 to 4,000 people in Quetta also marched for peace. It canhappen, the people will make it happen. We must trust ourselves.”