6 min readNew DelhiOct 19, 2024 06:26 PM IST
First published on: Oct 19, 2024 at 03:00 AM IST
As an inveterate opponent of the Modi government and its pernicious philosophy of Hindutva, and as a critic of many aspects of its foreign policy, I wish to pay tribute to the outstanding statesmanship the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, displayed on his first-ever visit to Islamabad recently. His opening statement at the SCO summit was a model of its kind because without invoking or alluding to bitter bilateral differences, he appealed to the SCO Charter to highlight our three main concerns: Terrorism, extremism and separatism. In his speech, Jaishankar added a single phrase relating to the great advantages that would flow, not excluding India-Pakistan, from “encourage(ing) trade, energy flows, connectivity, and people-to-people exchanges” in parallel with ending the three scourges mentioned earlier, succinctly summing up what all of us in favour of engagement with Pakistan have been yearning for years to highlight. The Pakistan PM, too, did not rock the boat. Against all expectations, Jaishankar then spoke briefly with his Pak counterpart, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, at a reception where all ministers talked informally to each other.
The coup was delivered when this initial courtesy was reciprocated by the seating arrangement at next day’s official lunch being altered to facilitate an “informal” conversation between the Pakistani Foreign Minister and the Indian External Affairs Minister. Over lunch, the first thaw appeared in a relationship frozen cold for close to a decade: The decision to consider sending the Indian cricket team for the Championship trophy that Pakistan is hosting next spring. True, Jaishankar’s entourage emphasised that the conversation was “very preliminary” and “need(s) to be thought through” but quickly added, “the atmospherics were good”. The last is the key to unlocking the door. We must work on the “atmospherics”, instead of mindlessly repeating the mantra “Talks and terror can’t go together”.
The Modi government and his saffron party now have their work cut out. It is, of course, for them to collectively determine the decision over the coming cricket match and the general de-freezing of the relationship, as my colleagues and I, including virtually all former High Commissioners/Ambassadors to Pakistan, have been urging. We must never forget that the Cold War did not lead to the collective suicide of humankind only because the US and the Soviet Union never broke off their multi-faceted, if unproductive, dialogue on their underlying and deep differences. Remember, too, that the Henry Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks at the Hotel Majestic (1969-1973) in Paris were not terminated because of Nixon’s 1972 Christmas bombing when North Vietnam was targeted for a fortnight by more tonnage of bombs being rained on them than both sides (Allied and Axis) had deployed during all of WWII. Tentative agreement was reached within a month (by January 1973) and the reunification of Vietnam completed by April 30, 1975. French forces had departed by October 10, 1954, the 70th anniversary of which is currently being celebrated across Vietnam, but, most significantly, with no bitterness about the Americans — the USA and communist Vietnam have now forged the best of relations.
Talks moderate hostile action; the failure to talk aggravates relationships. This does not mean any of us believe talking to Pakistan will be child’s play. But we do believe that engagement is the only path to slowly, irreversibly (but, perhaps, not completely) repairing relations between us and our neighbours. Even Canada and the US, after their war of 1812-15, still have differences. Differences between neighbours is par for the course. Dialogue towards the resolution of issues is the diplomatic way forward. That is already happening with China. It must also happen with Pakistan. After all, if we have the guts to undertake “surgical strikes” against Pakistan and an air assault at Balakot deep in Pakistan, can we not summon the courage to talk to them face-to-face across a table? In this perspective, I reiterate my oft-repeated (but not listened to) advice to structure the talks such that they are rendered “uninterrupted and uninterruptible”.
These, however, are technical considerations. The much more daunting task before the Modi government is their relentless targeting of our large, 200-million strong Muslim minority. Their politics is dependent on it. Modi’s dilemma is to reconcile seeking solutions with Pakistani Muslims while toeing his domestic line of hostility against Indian Muslims as his principal poll plank. Will he bridge the divide in the domestic interest of harmonious relations among our many different religious beliefs? In many ways, our issues with Pakistan are not external matters but domestic issues, the resolution of which lies in accepting Indian Muslims as full-fledged, patriotic and equal fellow-citizens — not screaming at any dissident, Muslim or non-Muslim, “Go to Pakistan”. The BJP’s and INDIA’s differences over Akbar and Aurangzeb may remain, but the playing out of domestic revengeful and revanchist policies is incompatible with improving relations with Pakistan. That is why I firmly believe that a normalised relationship with Pakistan is the key to domestic peace and harmony.
I must end by emphasising that these are my intimately personal views and do not reflect the Congress position. I stand completely alienated from my party and its leadership, the only position I hold being the elected PCC member from Kumbakonam town on the AICC. As Congress spokesman Pawan Khera has unambiguously stated on May 10, I “do not represent the party in any capacity whatsoever”. My views are based on having been sent to Karachi by the Morarji government to three dizzy years of welcome as India’s first-ever consul general in a city that was wrongly assumed to be hysterically inimical to Indians and non-Muslims. And my having visited Pakistan at least 40 times in the four decades that have lapsed since my posting ended to continue my engagement with the highly diverse Pakistani mind. In my octogenarian life, my deepest and most enduring wish is for normalcy between India and Pakistan. I am convinced that all but a few fanatical Pakistanis, too, want just that. Thank you, my young friend, Jaishankar, for having opened the door to leaching the bile.
The writer is a former Union minister
The Modi government and his saffron party now have their work cut out. 
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