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| Can Pakistan give shape to Imran's ideas? | | | It is a sane voice from Pakistan.It is a lonely
voice from India's immediate neighbour.It is a voice from a cricketeer turned politician,Imran Khan.One needs to mark the change in him and in his mind.Till he visited India as a cricketeer,years ago, Imran would hate India and the Indians.The reason was bloodshed during the partition of 1947.He experienced change when he received love and affection not only from the Indian cricketeers but from people in India also.Whether as a result of this change or on account of his changed vision as a politician Imran has favoured promotion of cordial Indo-Pak relations.To him the two neighbours can live as friends once the Kashmir issue was put on the back burner.One may not treat his commitment to end militancy in Pakistan if his party,Tehreek-e-Insaaf,was voted to power as mere pre-poll manifesto or a political prank.He seems to be serious about it because he says that terrorism can have no place in Pakistan because the activities of these terrorists usually cause tension in the already fragile relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.He said that the level of trust deficit between the two sides is so high that even if Kashmiri militants attack some Indian state New Delhi is quick to hold Pakistan responsible.He wants steps to be taken by Islamabad that prevent terrorists from repeating Mumbai terrorist strike of 2008. Imran Khan does not deny that Kashmir is an issue,rather the main issue,between India and Pakistan.And whenever the two sides start the process of dialogue for normalising the relations and for reducing trust deficit the Kashmir issue retards this process.He has suggested that the process of dialogue for confidence building could make adequate progress once the Kashmir issue was put on the back burner.One may call Imran Khan's suggestions unpalatable for the establishment in Islamabad,for the Pakistani Army and the ISI but his idea is worth experimenting on.The events that have taken place right from 1947,when Pakistan was born,have revealed that the successive Governments in Pakistan besides main political leaders have been aiming at securing Kashmir's incorporation with Pakistan.This very idea and urge resulted in the tribal invasion on Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, infiltration and war in 1965,the 1971 war, the ongoing pakistan sponsored proxy war which was started from 1988 and the Kargil episode of 1999.Despite series of bilateral meetings and agre ements the wedge between the two has not narrowed down. One may not attach much importance to Imran's utternces but one is forced to appreciate his ideas and suggestions.To him all theconfidence building measures,free trade,more people to people contact and other linkages between the two sides were bound to prove result-oriented if the Kashmir issue was put on the back burner.He does not want Pakistan to treat Kashmir as a settled issue.He admits it is an issue but once it was kept on the sidelines the two sides could move forward in removing trust deficit.He is right when he says that if Kashmir is an issue it needs not to be settled militarily as history bears testimony to the fact that despite four wars Kashmir issue is still alive and Pakistan has not been able settle it.He has fears that if the Kashmir issue was not put on the back burner by Pakistan any Mumbai type attack could force India to suspend if not abandon the process of dialogue.Once it happened it may simply bring the two nuclear countries on a path of confrontation resulting in added tension and violence within the Indian subcontinent.In view of the plitical instability and economic crisis in Pakistan it should be Islamabad's top priority to move forward by adopting a flexible attitude in the ongoing bilateral parleys.Islamabad should give weightage to peace and progress that could be possible if it givs up its obsession with Kashmir.If Imran Khan is able to carry a major section of people in Pakistan with him he may be instrumental for a tension free Indo-Pak ties that hold a key to peace and progress in the South Asian region |
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