20 Feb 2008, 2246 hrs IST,
Pakistan has decided in favour of peoples’ power, ending the darkness of dictatorial President who has been reduced to saying “he is willing to work with anyone”. Pervez Musharraf has become the most untrustworthy Pakistani. India must rejoice at this.
With Allah on the peoples’ side, Nawaz Sharif is all set to take revenge against the chief architect of the Kargil war who toppled him in an October 1999 coup just months later. There is a limit to how much a former Prime Minister can be humiliated. Democracies often respect former rulers but a power-drunk Musharraf did everything imaginable to ensure Sharif’s political demise, short of executing him like General Zia did to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Banishing Sharif to Saudi Arabia, Musharraf thought the Saudi royals would ensure he remained there for the rest of his life. Instead, he returned with a bang, even if he was bundled back onto a plane the first time round.
Time to take a few lessons: Don’t think power is permanent. And never abuse it. Allah intervenes even before the Pakistan army and the US can react.
Having finally made it into Pakistan, Sharif was nowhere close to returning to power. Benazir Bhutto was a sure bet as the next Prime Minister. Charming, courageous, pro-west, the US’s first choice and of course as villainous to India as a Pakistani leader is supposed to be. Her assassination stunned supporters and foes alike.
Her widower, Asif Zardari, has taken over the reins of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) but no one thinks he has led the party to victory. It is Bhutto’s legacy and public anger towards Musharraf that has made it the largest single party. Sharif’s Muslim League (N) has also benefited from this anger; otherwise the PPP would have won a clear majority. Zardari will certainly stake his claim as Prime Minister and it has to been seen what will be Sharif’s stand.
With one of these two men at the helm of affairs and a bruised Musharraf waiting for his chance to strike back, what lies in store for India? Our major concerns are stopping hostilities in Kashmir, controlling gun-totting jihadis and mullahs and ending trans- border terrorism. The electoral defeat of the religious hate-mongers and Islamists provides some hope. But will the army change its colours?
Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has acted and spoken sensibly so far, but it is just the beginning. The overpowering army presence and the defeated Islamists will keep silent till an opportunity arrives in the form of democratic squabbles and power-sharing conflicts.
Every time a new government is formed in Islamabad, Delhi thinks things will change. After the initial pleasantries, the same black clouds of mistrust, terror strikes and hate assaults have returned no matter whether it was Sharif or Bhutto in power. Sharif’s last stint in power was marked by a genuine desire to improve ties. The Lahore bus initiative was one such serious attempt. I was on that bus and at Wagha, Sharif came to personally welcome Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But Musharraf did not and later refused to salute our Prime Minister. This was avenged by our Air Chief Tipnis who didn’t salute Musharraf when he came to Agra for talks as President.
Just when people in both countries thought something positive may result, Sharif was toppled. As the cliché goes, it is the army and the US which decide the fate of this Islamic republic with Allah often taking a backseat as he watches the sordid dramas.
Even if against all expectations, the army defers to its democratic rulers, what about the American strategists controlling the destiny of this besieged country. Pakistan has been reaping a harvest of hate since its creation amid an unprecedented bloodbath. Text books and the propaganda machine have spread misinformation about Hindus and even schools with a large number of Hindu students are forcibly taught Islamiyat lessons. During Bhutto’s regime lessons about Ramayana and Mahabharata were removed from the school curriculum and Pakistan history began with eulogies for Arab invaders like Mohammad bin Qasim, Ghazni and Gauri. Can all this be reversed?
Pakistani Hindus feel secure with the PPP; many of its office bearers have been Hindus. I met a PPP leader Amin Faheem at the Sind Club in Karachi where he greeted us with a Ram Ram ji . We reciprocated with a salaam . Sindhis, Balochis and Pathans have never been comfortable with Punjabi domination and these areas have witnessed a lot of rebellion which was crushed by the rulers in Islamabad. Sharing of gas, Indus water and infrastructure have been the key points of discord .Employment and developmental schemes have heavily favoured Punjab, with other areas being discriminated against because of “insurgencies and disloyalties”.
With a change imminent in Washington, Pakistan’s fortunes could also change. For the US, its own interests are foremost and it will not hesitate to abandon Musharraf if it finds Washington can be served better by an elected Prime Minister if Kayani agrees to a non-interfering role.
This would help India to concentrate on peace efforts and on eliminating trans-border Islamic terrorist threats.
The chances of this do not look very bright as a coalition between a predominantly Sindhi party and a Punjabi-dominated outfit is unlikely to last long. The failure of such a democratic experiment is likely to give a fillip to terror against India and will boost the ISI’s machinations further.
We have a stake in strengthening democracy in Pakistan and in ensuring that minorities, especially Hindus, are treated fairly. Most Hindus vote for political parties hoping to earn their “protection” which is hardly available when it is needed. Abduction of Hindu girls and their forcible conversion is rampant and goes mostly unreported.
Hindu women prefer not to sport bindis to avoid being targeted in public places. Hindu men use Muslim skull caps to mingle with the mainstream and liberally use expressions like Inshaallah and Salaam Walekum . Even in the few Karachi temples that remain, I have seen priests sporting skull caps. So much is the hatred for anything Hindu that Amarkote, the place near Mirpur Khas where Akbar was born, has been renamed Umarkot. I looked in every bookshop in Lahore and Karachi for a book on the Hindus of Pakistan but was disappointed. There was not even a picture post card of any Hindu place like the famous Sadhu Bela or Katas Raj.
During the last 24 hours I tried to find out how many Hindus have contested elections in Pakistan. I could find only two people – one in Umarkot and the other in Mirpur Khas. None of the Indian journalists who went to cover the Pakistan elections did any story on the Hindu electorate of this Islamic republic. None asked any Pakistani politician waxing eloquent on democracy about the Hindus in their country. It’s democracy for Muslims alone; the minorities are as invisible as they were decades ago.
If Pakistan can have democracy for a few years, things could change. PPP leaders like Makhdoom Amin Faheem and barrister Aitzaz Ahsan have raised hopes about having a non-discriminatory polity. Ahsan gave me his masterpiece, The Indus Saga -from Pataliputra to Partition, at a party at his sprawling bungalow in Karachi. In the book, he speaks candidly about Pakistan’s civilisational moors in Mohenjodaro, Krishna and Ram. Hate has to give way to understanding and amity. That alone can rejuvenate a country widely regarded as a failed state with everyone foreseeing Pakistan breaking into Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province.
It is in our own interest to see our neighbour prosper on the basis of basic human values. It is un-Indian to revel in a neighbour’s plight. Seeing Pakistan progress democratically would be to ensure our own unhindered growth.
The author is the editor of Panchjanya, a Hindi weekly brought out by the RSS. The views expressed are his personal.
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