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Journalism of Courage
One of the perennial problems of India-Pakistan relations is the predictable unpredictability of its progress. This is caused by mistrust on both sides. It is perhaps not realised in Pakistan that the bulk of that mistrust has been caused by the persistent hostility to India shown by the Pakistani ruling elite, which continues to promote Kashmir as the 8220;core issue8221; which must be solved according to its own perspective. Kashmir also became a core issue for India since 8217;88 because of cross-border terrorism and we have tended to judge the weight of the mistrust by the quantum of terrorism and even infiltration from across the border, often ignoring indigenous frustrations.
But what we need to note now is the changes that now impact the situation. There is an upsurge of hope for peace among the people in both countries. They are looking for normal relations between India and Pakistan and a better life created by the enhancement of political, economical and social opportunities. They want neither war nor terrorism. But people, even in democracies, don8217;t make and execute policy although they have a great influence on it because of the impact of public opinion. The second issue is that a perception had grown in Pakistan that only a BJP-led government, in general, and an Atal Bihari Vajpayee in particular, would be able to make concessions from the Indian side for an acceptable solution to the problems between the two countries. But what is being ignored in this assessment are the limitations of space available to New Delhi 8212; for exactly the same reason that had led to the failure of the previous two initiatives under the NDA: the first coincided with a war launched by the Pakistani army, and the other resulted in the fiasco at Agra.
