The Hindu Business Line : The General who won hearts

Amid the one-dayer, the sherwani diplomacy, and the general goodwill and cheer, the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf's visit has set India and Pakistan on a new path of peace. This visit also signified a change — on India's part , to deal with a military man, and in the General himself; it was a very different Musharraf who was here. Even if all Indo-Pakistani problems have not been solved, at least a very sincere beginning has been made, says Rasheeda Bhagat.

THE EXTREME cordiality that marked the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf's visit suggested two things: One, it announced to the world the confidence of the Indian leadership in dealing with its troublesome neighbour. Gone is the childish stubbornness of the past when India had taken the stand, particularly after the July 2001 Agra fiasco, that it will talk only to the elected representatives of Pakistan, and not its military chief. Thanks to this new maturity, New Delhi seems to have decided: "We want to improve relations with Pakistan and are ready to talk to anybody who wants to hold a dialogue with us. What the political affiliation or lineage of that individual is an internal matter of Pakistan."

Two, the change in the General's own demeanour. Gone is the cockiness of the past, and the man who had kept mouthing the `flexibility' mantra displayed remarkable flexibility and maturity himself. To his credit it must be said that Gen Musharraf kept reiterating during his three-day visit to India that "the world has changed after 9/11" and this reality will have to be kept in mind as India and Pakistan grapple with the baggage of acrimony carried over half a century.

So amidst the one-dayer, the sherwani diplomacy, the delectable meals prepared for the General and his wife, Begum Sehba, and the ambience of goodwill and cheer, Gen Musharraf set about the task of doing something that was denied to him during his last visit: Visiting Ajmer. Right from the start, and at the Ajmer dargah too, he said that he had come to India with much hope and a message of peace.

And as he left Delhi on Monday, he graciously said that he had achieved much more than he had expected. Sceptics will question what this `achievement' is; for, after all, if you take substantive issues, it is not as though all Indo-Pakistani problems have been solved and we can shake hands and live happily ever after as the best of friends and neighbours.

The joint declaration talked about increasing the frequency of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, implementing quickly the Khokrapur-Munabao rail link, re-opening consulates in Karachi and Mumbai, improving bilateral trade ties, and so on. These issues are already a part of the ongoing peace process. What was different was the General talking about the need for encouraging soft borders between the two parts of Kashmir, even while reiterating that this cannot be a final solution.

He could overcome Pakistanis' reluctance to talk of normalising and strengthening business and trade relations, by saying, during the meet with editors, that in a world which is talking more about economic development and business ties, India and Pakistan could not be left behind.

Many will recall that till recently every Pakistani leader has been saying that "We cannot talk of strengthening business and other ties, without resolving the Kashmir issue first". But this time a relaxed and beaming Pakistani President said that the time has come to improve Indo-Pakistani ties on all fronts, even as we continue to grapple with the Kashmir issue. He admitted that this was the most difficult issue to resolve and would take time.

On its part, India too has realised that it cannot sweep Kashmir under the carpet; but for Kashmir it would not have fought three wars with Pakistan and come so dangerously close to a fourth in Kargil in 1999. Also, without improving ties with Pakistan, it cannot don the mantle of the superior and undisputed leader of South Asia — a role it has earned and richly deserves.

So, has the leadership of the two countries suddenly become so pragmatic and mature and understanding of each other's compulsions? Of course not.

Undoubtedly it is the growing constituency for peace on both sides of the border, demonstrated unequivocally to the two leaderships during the India-Pakistan cricket series, first in Pakistan and now in India, and then by the overwhelming desire of Kashmiris on both sides to risk their lives and yet undertake the bus rides across the Jammu and Kashmir border, that has opened their eyes.

The politicians of both the countries, as well as the Pakistan Army, which is entrenched in power now, have read the writing on the wall. Exhausted by long years of acrimony and closed borders, instead of joining their leaders in showering abuse on the people across the Line of Control, Indians and Pakistanis have clearly expressed a desire to shed hatred and move forward.

Clearly, they are asking for a relaxed visa regime where Indians can travel freely to Pakistani cities, to get a taste of the renowned Lahori hospitality or to shop in Karachi and, more important, visit the umpteen places of pilgrimage which have been off-limits for several decades.

On their part, Pakistanis are eager to visit a Mumbai or Delhi and see for themselves the economic powerhouse that India is slowly becoming, not to mention their inexplicable fascination for Bollywood and Mumbai and Delhi's nightlife. Mumbai or Delhi may not be Paris or Bangkok, but their glittering pubs and bars and swinging discos and night clubs have their own charm.

It is amazing how the entire forward move on the peace front would not have happened if the General had not virtually invited himself to India.

Under the ploy of innocently seeking an invitation to watch an Indo-Pak cricket match in India, he quickly dismissed weak attempts by New Delhi to have him watch the match in an inconspicuous locale like Kochi and plumped for Delhi, where he could not only be under full media glare but also meet the people who matter in the Indian polity.

It would be uncharitable not to give the Pakistan President full marks for meeting not only the BJP president, Mr L. K. Advani, but also the former Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

His meeting Mr Advani was natural and in accordance with protocol, as he is also the Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha.

That Mr Advani was a refugee from Sindh gave Gen Musharraf an opportunity to display a touch of generosity towards the man who had queered the pitch in Agra not so long ago; the General brought Mr Advani a priceless gift of his childhood memories all wrapped up in a photo album.

But his real gesture and grace was in seeking a meeting with Mr Vajpayee and driving up to the former Prime Minister's house. For Mr Vajpayee, sidelined by his own party, rejected by the Sangh Parivar and recently trashed by the RSS chief, Mr S. Sudarshan, it must surely have been a poignant moment.

Nobody would know better than him, as his predecessor P. V. Narasimha Rao discovered before him, that when you are in power, the whole world waits at your door. But if you are still sought out when out in the cold, and that too by an adversary, you send out a strong message — that you have that something which cannot be consigned to history.

The rough and tumble of Indian politics denied Mr Vajpayee yet another term as Prime Minister and with it went a chance to smoke the peace pipe with Pakistan. But history will vouchsafe a place for the man who opened the new chapter in Indo-Pak ties, by first riding the bus to Lahore, and then, despite Kargil, inviting Gen Musharraf for the Agra summit. That the sapling of peace he planted cannot but grow into a tree sooner than later is clear, even to the most sceptical of Indo-Pak relations observers.

A clear signal of this is the fact that the Manmohan Singh Government has done nothing very different from the predecessor NDA regime in taking forward the composite Indo-Pak peace dialogue.

Of course, wide-eyed Pakistanis can no longer say with awe that "a Hindutva (read BJP) sarkar hamarey sath aman chaahti hai (a Hindutva government wants peace with us).

But they, as well as their President, know that what Mr Vajpayee started six years ago, will have to be taken forward by successive Indian governments, whether cast in the saffron, coalition or dynastic mould. There is no other choice. The road from Amritsar to Lahore may have to go through Srinagar, but there is no stopping it.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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