For now, only two cheers for Modi

The terrorist attack in Pathankot, dastardly as it was, has had a positive outcome so far. After a long time, there is at last the hint of some civilian control over foreign policy in Pakistan. It is not every day that one sees a prime minister in that country preside over a meeting in which the heads of ISI and the army are present, and together unequivocally condemn a terror attack in India without conflating Kashmir.

It is quite possible that the ISI and the army are merely allowing Nawaz Sharif some temporary space at the table before resuming their covert offensive against India with even greater vigour. But it is also equally possible that the Pakistan army, whose morale is up after a highly successful Operation Zarb-e-Azb campaign that now has terrorists of all hues on the run, realises that without taking on the so-called ‘good’ terrorists targeting India, its success against the bad ones will, at best, be pyrrhic.

These terrorists , as the Americans discovered with Bin Laden and his kind, would with equal ruthlessness turn on their patrons, as they once had taken on a common enemy.

Nothing has hurt Pakistan more than homegrown terrorism and perhaps something changed after the terrible slaughter of children in an army school in Peshawar in 2014. It may take Pakistan some more time to bring its terrorists to heel, and possibly decades to neutralise the extremists it has nurtured for so long.

However, without moving against those targeting India, it most certainly will not succeed in achieving peace or political stability at home.

So far, so good Modi has done well to so far, showing uncharacteristic restraint after the Pathankot attack. The condemnation of Pakistan is muted. India has so far also not disengaged from the dialogue process that had gone into overdrive after Modi’s unscheduled and unexpected visit to Pakistan.

There are enough extremist elements within Modi’s own party who couldn’t care less and shoot their mouths off, frequently embarrassing him. The BJP’s sour ally, the Shiv Sena, continues to thrive on anti-Pakistan rhetoric. A carping Congress party is bringing up the rear, adding to Modi’s woes. He is as handicapped by these elements as Sharif has been by the army, the ISI and the fundamentalists.

Never in the history of Indo-Pakistan relations have prime ministers from the two countries needed each other more than Modi and Sharif.

Both of them have so far had patchy domestic records in office after grandly succeeding in elections that brought them to power. Both of them badly need a significant success to take the wind out of their critics’ sails and be assured of their place in history. What can be more spectacular than an enduring Indo-Pak rapprochement?

The Gujarati factor One Gujarati liberated the country from colonial rule while another contributed to its split at creation; now a third is on overdrive to reconcile the two parts and bring peace to South Asia and with it the promise of a kind of prosperity that the region has not seen in a long, long time.

Whatever our views on Modi, one needs to acknowledge that he has broken with the past and reached out to Pakistan in ways no Indian leader has ever done. He has shown an enormous appetite for risk and displayed a pugilist’s guts to pick up the pieces every time one of his efforts has backfired and has come back into the ‘peace’ ring fighting.

But Modi cannot do this all by himself. If indeed he wishes to succeed, he would do well to make peace with Pakistan an inclusive effort, by bringing on board parties of all political hues — especially the Congress. The last is well worth engaging as it has brilliant, experienced people whom Modi and India badly need.

A sharing of credit is easier when it comes to foreign policy than any domestic issue. By doing so Modi will not lose any of his lustre; instead he will shine as those with him glow. For now, however, let us give Modi two guarded cheers and reserve a third for when he makes the pursuit of peace with Pakistan an all-party inclusive effort and not just one that so far has been driven by him alone to the exclusion of everyone else.

The writer visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

COMMENT NOW