From Gandhi to Modi

Posted on October 24, 2014

M Saeed Khalid

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee made a monumental error by not honouring Mahatma Gandhi before he died. After his assassination in 1948, the committee covered up its inaction by stating that the prize was for living people and it was too late to consider him. That, however, did not prevent Gandhi from winning global admiration as the apostle of non-violence.

The younger generation of Pakistanis as well as Indians may not be aware of the fact that Gandhi was killed for protecting Pakistan’s right to common assets. They should also know that the organisation behind his murder was none other than the one whose proud militant is now India’s prime minister. Incredible as India is, the Modi government has launched a campaign to honour Gandhi just as it preaches more violence against Pakistan.
This double dealing may be alright under Hindu mythology or Kautilya’s precepts of state preservation, but it has left many people horrified. Modi’s efforts aimed at enamouring the world on the one hand and his act of baring teeth to Pakistan on the other, have managed to create uneasy feelings in many capitals.
Many Indians, who were embarrassed over the election of an RSS activist despite his open hostility to secularism, feel nonplussed by his bullying of Pakistan. Given his penchant for violence against Muslims, he could easily go for war against Pakistan. Even if that calamity does not happen, Modi has succeeded in whipping up unprecedented hostility against India’s smaller neighbour without any unusual provocation by Pakistan.
Modi’s frequent characterisation of Pakistan as the enemy is being welcomed by Pakistani hawks who claim vindication in Modi’s strident talk of using the bullet. Gen Hamid Gul, the evergreen patron of hawks on our side, went as far as thanking Modi for revealing India’s real face. Seizing the opportunity of appearing in a normally satirical show on Geo TV, he solemnly called upon the Jang Group to wrap up its ‘Aman ki Asha’ project as peace cannot be realised with a declared enemy.
Where do we go from here, you start wondering. Modi’s fascination for violence can trigger a war in the Himalayas. The opposition parties in both countries are shamelessly egging their governments to teach the other side a lesson. The PPP’s apprentice leader has warned Modi that unlike Muslims in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Pakistan cannot be browbeaten by threats of use of force.
That, in any case, may not be Modi’s real aim. We should focus more on his apparent objective of breaking Kashmiri resistance to Indian rule. He would like to finish the Kashmir issue once for all. His preferred options are: manipulating elections to put the BJP in power in Jammu and Kashmir, tinkering with Article 370 of the Indian constitution, and making life unbearable for Kashmiri Muslims so they finally submit to India’s domination.
The immediate effect of Modi’s jingoism can be seen among members of the tiny peace lobby in India. Saying a kind word about Pakistan is deemed unpatriotic. The media is competing in berating Pakistan – the harder the better. Their hysteria is not new but it has become more threatening. The media on our side is trying to keep pace, helping to raise tensions.
The Nawaz Sharif government, from 1997 to 1999 and the Musharraf rule that followed, were able to work successfully with the BJP and then Congress governments to create an unprecedented level of understanding and cooperation between the two countries.
The effects of Pakistan-India détente were also visible in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with people and goods moving across the LoC. But then came the two steps backward. The downslide had started long before the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai and confirmed after the Sharm el Shaikh meeting between Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani. It was as if the Congress-led government got cold feet about the dialogue process. Mumbai became a reason to formally freeze the moves towards normalisation.
Since the Mumbai attacks, India wants to place the issue of terrorism at the top of the agenda whereas it is mutually accepted as one of the subjects to be tackled in the dialogue process. Conversely, India under Modi wants to marginalise Kashmir in the talks whereas it is one of the agreed subjects. Is Modi taking a tough line only to return to the talks after elections in Kashmir?
As for champions of a tough line against Pakistan, let them not forget that those who refuse to learn from history end up learning from their own follies. The newly arrived atavists in Delhi will also learn that the way to resolve the Kashmir issue is not by shunning the genuine Kashmiri leaders but engaging them. To retaliate against Pakistan’s contacts with Hurriyet leaders is counterproductive. Even though India and Pakistan are the state parties to the dispute, Kashmiris form the crux of the solution. Don’t run away from the reality, Mr Modi.