Singapore sling

Only those who have visited Kashmir can see this cruel contrast between the nostalgic beauty and power of its scenery and the frightened ...

Only those who have visited Kashmir can see this cruel contrast between the nostalgic beauty and power of its scenery and the frightened dark eyes of its countless poor,8221; wrote Josef Korbel, a UN diplomat, in his book Danger of Kashmir. The author also happens to be the father of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Madam Albright has not visited Kashmir, but the image the Valley evokes for her is not one of frightened dark eyes. It is the masked fear of fundamentalism, of terror and revenge, controlled from across the border. 8220;Acts of terrorism must stop immediately because such actions make the Kashmir conflict more, not less, difficult to resolve,8221; she is reported to have said after her meeting with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in Singapore. Recognising Pakistan as a subcontinental destabiliser was only the audible note in the newly animated Delhi-Washington relationship. The larger text of the talks was one of appreciation and understanding. Appreciation about the Indianrestraint, the restraint of the powerful, in the face of extra-territorial aggression with an overtly fundamentalist edge. Understanding of the real security threat India faces from a democratically underdeveloped, militarily unpredictable, fanatically volatile, and economically fragile neighbour. There is indeed a qualitative shift in the Indo-US views of each other, and it has not happened suddenly.

A great deal of the credit should go to this government, a government with a heavy nationalist adjective, which has quietly defied that fashionable, actually prehistoric, baggage of the Indian establishment: anti-Americanism. This particular ism only highlighted Indian policy wonks8217; remoteness from the post-Cold War global reality in which bipolar stereotypes were replaced by national interests. When the BJP government radioactivated its nationalist credentials at Pokharan, the American reaction was predictably American, and there was the danger of Saddam-like anti-Americanism courting lumpen nationalism. Thatdidn8217;t happen because the ruling leadership didn8217;t lose its sanity after a heavy dose of enriched nationalism. And Jaswant Singh8217;s quiet diplomacy with Strobe Talbott kept the American engagement8217; going, rather positively. To the world8217;s collective sigh, Kargil didn8217;t end up as the logical culmination of Pokharan.

The distance between Pokharan and Kargil seems to have convinced Washington that India, the most vibrant democracy in Asia, is worthy of being a member in the 8220;community of democracies8221;. For, it is the spirit of democracy and the strength of civil society that contributed to the great Indian restraint on Kargil. Actually, Kargil for the world meant more than that. It was a blatant display of state-sponsored Islamic fundamentalism, which in the age of Osama bin Laden has a deadly relevance far beyond the snowpeaks of Kargil. The mutually shared fear of militant Islamism has not only contributed to the American rethinking. It has provided India with an opportunity to redefine its own relationshipwith America in the context of the new world order where most of the post-Wall concerns like nukes, environment, information and human rights are subordinated to the biggest of all concerns, economics. The Singapore handshake between Singh and Albright may not be a historic addition to the Clinton presidency8217;s achievements in peacemaking. It certainly marks a convergence of national interests.