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Opinion
Why Pakistan is Obsessed with Kashmir
by Amulya Ganguli
If Pakistan
cannot envisage "long-lasting peace" with India unless the Kashmir
problem is solved, as the country's Foreign Secretary Abdul Basit has
said, the reason has less to do with its concern for the "wishes of the
(Kashmiri) people" than with the question of Pakistan's own survival as
a nation.
Having already lost East Pakistan that became Bangladesh in 1971, the
ruling establishment in Islamabad is scared of allowing Kashmir to slip
out of its grasp as well. Hence, the persistent attempts to foment
subversion in the valley and also organize large-scale incursions by
both the mujahideen and the army, as in Kargil.
The jehadi attacks on the Indian parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai in
2008, apart from random acts of terrorism, are also intended to weaken
India so that it will become easier to wrest Kashmir from it.
The fear in Islamabad is that if India succeeds in holding on to
Kashmir, then Pakistan will slowly start unraveling. The reason is
that, first, a "long-lasting peace" based on the fading of hopes of
securing Kashmir will undermine the army's dominance over Pakistan. If
India is no longer seen as a major military threat, the army will lose
its raison d'etre.
But the second reason is more potent. Pakistan had expected to make up
for the loss of its eastern wing by annexing Kashmir. It would have been
a great morale booster for a country which has always been paranoid
about coming second to India, whether in cricket or in diplomacy.
The inability to make any headway in Kashmir will confirm the
present-day reality that Pakistan can no longer claim parity with India.
The earlier hyphenation, encouraged by America, is gone. India has
forged ahead as a vibrant multicultural democracy while Pakistan is seen
as the nursery of Islamic terror.
Not only that, it is also perceived to be coming apart at the seams with
the army having to use helicopter gunships to retain control over its
north-west while Balochistan is in the grip of an insurgency with or
without India's help. It is worth recalling that even the religious
extremists of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the
north-west had pointed out during their conflict with the Pakistan Army
that India has never used helicopters to control the unrest in Kashmir.
The difference between a democracy and a virtual military dictatorship
was evident even to the fundamentalists.
There are other causes of disquiet in the Pakistani establishment. It is
that a "long-lasting" peace will enable India to exercise its "soft"
power via its cultural influence, of which the most overwhelming will be
Bollywood movies and Hindi film songs.
There is a revealing passage in Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif's book,
"A Case of Exploding Mangoes", on General Zia-ul Haq's death, in which
the hero (or anti-hero), Ali Shigri, is travelling in a car driven by
Major Kiyani of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The latter "reaches
into his glove compartment", the passage says, "and starts rummaging for
a tape. 'Asha or Lata', he asks". It may be mentioned that General
Pervez Ashfaq Kayani headed ISI before he became Pakistan's army chief.
Since the two-nation theory was based on exploiting supposed
Hindu-Muslim incompatibility, Pakistan's efforts throughout its history
of six decades have been to assert its distinctive identity. It is for
this purpose that it designated itself as an Islamic republic despite
Jinnah's obvious preference for a secular state, as outlined in his Aug
11, 1947, speech.
Any resolution of the Kashmir problem on India's terms will mean that
the widely admired Indian secularism will influence Pakistani society.
The result will be a curbing of the excessive emphasis on religion,
which was encouraged by General Zia, leading to the emergence of
extremist groups.
As suspected by India, the clandestine links between the army and these
elements have helped the latter to thrive since the military regards
them as "strategic assets" in the event of a war with India. The removal
of the Kashmir issue from the India-Pakistan equation will mean that the
militant fundamentalists will be orphaned by the withdrawal of support
from the army.
In addition to secular concepts, Indian democracy is also likely to act
as an inspirational model for Pakistan. Its experiments with the system
haven't been successful till now because of the army's frequent
interventions and its overpowering presence based on the exploitation of
the anti-Indian bogey. The army's return to the barracks will boost
democracy.
No one can say how real is the Pakistani fear of Indian (read Hindu)
cultural dominance because the two communities lived side by side for
centuries before the partition of 1947 and still do in India. As is
obvious from the sub-continent's past history and India's present
experience, the identities of neither have been diluted-as they haven't
been in the cases of other minorities in India such as the Sikhs or the
Christians or even a minuscule one like the Parsis.
In all likelihood, therefore, it is the roots of the composite culture
for which South Asia has long been known which will be further
strengthened.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)
August 9,
2009
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