Nothing Wakes Us Up

Nothing wakes us up Udayan Namboodiri

The election manifestos of our political parties display nearcriminal apathy to the rise of Talibanism next door A number of momentous, earth-shaking events have enveloped our consciousness these past few days, making the March 30 jihadi attack on the Pakistani police training academy near Lahore seem like a run-off-themill incident involving mad mullahs and tin soldiers. Rarely does history be made on so many fronts simultaneously. But, sadly for us Indians, Pakistan continues to be that ugly hillock between us and the horizon. On the very day that TV channels on both sides of the border were bombarding viewers with images of the high drama, medical science was unfurling its biggest invention since the Viagra – the Polypill. The Polypill is a little magic bullet of a capsule costing a few pennies but promising to prevent heart attacks and strokes, wipe out blood cholesterol and generally reduce the prospect of sudden deaths by more than 50 per cent. Tragically, it will be quite a while before this wonder drug hits the shelves as none of the pharma majors are likely to invest in a drug whose processes are off-patent. Moreover, a Polypill-a-day-keeps-heart-attacksat-bay regime spells Armageddon for ‘heart institutes’ and cardiologists. Also, the G-20 Summit was held in the historic London dockyards and resulted in leaders of the top economic powers of the world (including India) committing themselves to a $ 1 trillion stimulus plan to fight the ongoing global meltdown. Queen Elizabeth II of Britain shook hands with her 12th American President. India and China got recognised as vital engines of the world’s economy. Anglo-Saxon domination over world finance was seriously challenged. Two days earlier, in another first, the Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan attended a trilateral hosted by the head of state of Turkey in Ankara to discuss ways in which the NATO forces could get better cooperation on the ground from the alliance’s two controversial allies. A lot of people clicked their tongues over the irony of the term ‘allies’. Increasingly, Pakistan and Afghanistan are ‘all lies’. Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is fast gaining notoriety as a closet Talib who may even be stabbing his western patrons in the back. This week, he introduced a Bill that threatens to snatch from Afghan women the few liberties they came to enjoy since the fall of the Taliban in November 2001. Henceforth, divorce laws will heavily discriminate against Afghan women; they will not be able to protest martial rape and cannot travel without their husbands’ permission. Draconian laws have also been proposed against the country’s 15 per cent Shiite minorities in the Bill

introduced

by

Karzai

this

week.

Domestically, the major political parties in the Indian electoral firmament released their manifestos for the upcoming election. The Congress actually unveiled its document on March 25, but the past few days have seen the BJP, Telegu Desam, Trinamool Congress, DMK and most others produce theirs. The usual promises apart, two things were common about their terrorism-oriented to-dos. 1. Ignorance: All of them betrayed an almost criminal under-estimation of the implications of having a neighbour fast losing out to Talibanism. In fact, the T-word didn’t even exist in the colourful brochures of our ‘national’ parties. 2. Defenestration: There seems to be a new crystalisation of the old, notalks-till-delivery stance which we had quite forgotten about since May 2001 Atal Bihari Vajpayee sprung a surprise by inviting Pervez Musharraf to India for the Agra Summit. Now, both the Congress and the BJP are saying that Pakistan can forget about all confidence building measures and resumption of the composite dialogue process till such time as it acts on New Delhi’s wish-list on 26/11. In short, the crucial gains made over years of bargaining are going for a six unless the US intervenes with Pakistan and ensures action. Saturday Special of February 21 had focused on the Swat Valley treaty under which the government of Pakistan virtually signed away a large chunk of territory to the Taliban. We had noted the ominous ring around the statement made by BJP leader Arun Jaitley –“Taliban only five hours away”. Many thought it was overreaction, but our prediction that the day is not far when Pakistani refugees fleeing civil war or Taliban prosecution or both would inundate our streets. That was vindicated sooner than we thought. Within two weeks, a major Indian channel interviewed Pakistanis at the Wagah border recounting tales of horror back home and also what an unlivable place Pakistan was degenerating into. Now, the March 30 shootout at Lahore comes with two important ramifications, both of which are dealt separately by our experts, viz, M. Rama Rao (Main article) and Samuel Baid (The Other Voice). The first reveals how the Pakistani military-jehad industrial system has propped up Baitullah Mehsud as its next AQ Khan. The second reveals America’s perennial self-delusion has been taken advantage of by the Pakistani Talib to extend its sway over the entire Punjab province. The Manawan Academy attack happened on the outskirts of Lahore, bang in the centre of Pakistan’s most prosperous region. It is also just across the border from India. Just five hours as the crow flies from Delhi. Just as Arun Jaitley had said . Our prognosis was bang on.

The standard response, therefore, from India is silence. Right now we are too busy with first, second and third fronts. At any rate, we are famous for reacting after a mishap has occurred. Pakistan benefits from this. On the other hand there is the United States. Good for Pakistan there too because Uncle Sam reacts in only one way. By producing cash. Last week, just as we were going to press, President Obama announced a $7.5 billion nonmilitary aid package for Pakistan over the next five years. In addition, there will be $ 3 billion as military aid. Like Mogambo, Pakistan khush huwa. Cash flowed earlier also, but the only difference now from the George W. Bush era is that there won’t be a ‘blank cheque’. The American taxpayer is entitled to accountability, said President Barack Obama. The Chairman of the US Congress’ House Armed Services Committee said during a hearing on AfPak: “As Congress and the American people are being asked to put up a significant amount of resources over a sustained period, so there must be accountability and there must be a measurable return on this investment”. Things are not going well at all for India. Despite Pakistan’s bluff being called, the world community continues to display strange unwillingness to give political support to India in her quest for justice for November 26. Islamabad’s pseudo-plaintive outcry on ‘Kashmir’ being the raison de etre of all terrorism has rekindled an old constituency in world capitals. One can be certain that in the weeks of political uncertainty that lie ahead, crucial breakthroughs will be achieved by Pakistan in the diplomatic counter-offensive.