It is an established fact that in Pakistan there are two power poles, the elected Government and the army. Ever since creation of Pakistan in 1947, her army has held unquestioned sway over Pakistan’s domestic as well as foreign policy. The main reason is that 80 per cent of Pakistan army consists of ethnic Punjabis who have developed powerful lobby to control state affairs. Additionally, Pakistani bureaucracy has close connection with the army and the feudal lords of Punjab. In this way the creamy layer of civilian administration bears considerable allegiance to the army and the triumvirate together enjoys unlimited power.
The position of the elected Government in Islamabad is somewhat tenuous because the source of real power in somewhere else. Pakistan army has never considered parliament as the supreme authority. The past two stints of Nawaz Sharif were in fact an effort to assert the authority of the constitutional Government. In both of those attempts Nawaz Sharif could not meet with success. Now for the third time, he is again desirous of asserting the authority of the elected Government as is generally the case with democratic countries all over the world. How far will he succeed in his third attempt remains to be seen? All we can say is that he is desperately trying to see to it that the civilian Government functions as it should function according to the desk book rules of popular Government.
There are many sensible people in the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan who can visualize the right course for Pakistan’s India related policy. Ever since the creation of Pakistan, the rulers of that country have been feeding their youth from very early age with anti-India propaganda. The malicious picture painted about India by the Pakistani leadership for Pakistani youth at the impressionable age remains with them for the entire period of his lives. The history of the sub-continent is distorted and falsified. No occasion is given to the Pakistani youth to examine the veracity of propagandist history which Pakistani youth are required to read. This scenario makes one think that Pakistan has been created for nothing but to become the engine house of hatred towards India. Most unfortunately, perpetrators of this villainy have used religion as the instrument of sharpening their anti-India vitriolic. This gave rise to an extremely fanatical band of religious leaders who managed support of the army overtly or covertly to carry forward the anti-India hate campaign. The situation was ripe for raising religious legions for jihad. Non-state actors were enrolled, trained in handling sophisticated arms and then asked to proceed on jihad along the lines of “gazavatul Hind” or the (holy) military campaign against India.
Now that Pakistan is face to face with its Frankenstein, and the religious extremists and terrorists have engaged the entire State of Pakistan not only the army, the think tank in Pakistan Parliament has begun to realize that before demonizing India Pakistan would do well to make some introspection and self appraisal as far as her policy towards India is concerned. The unscheduled but much criticized visit of Prime Minister Modi to Pakistan while on his return journey from Kabul has opened the eyes of many among Pakistan’s parliamentarians that there is the dire need of revising Pakistan’s relentlessly hostile policy towards India.
The report of Pakistan’s Parliamentary Panel on External Affairs, of which we have a copy, has touched on various aspects of relation with India spanning from security, to trade, culture and border safety etc. The report actually opens a new window upon Pakistani rulers of what could be the shape and form of Indo-Pak relations if Pakistan desisted from resorting to the use of violence and patronizing non-state actors. It is for the first time that a Parliamentary Panel has cautioned Pakistan that patronizing jihadis and prompting them to sneak into Indian Territory to fight the Indian soldiers has caused much damage to Pakistan’s Kashmir cause. It says that by pushing armed jihadis and suicide bombers across the LoC, Pakistan has earned the ire of international community and the question of so-called Kashmir has lost its credibility and validity with world community. The panel speaks of fostering cultural relations to enable intellectuals, artists, journalists, media persons and sportsmen interact and contribute to mutual understanding. The report, in a sense, is an indictment of Pakistan’s perpetual hostile policy adopted by the military rulers who scuttle peace moves whenever the popular leadership attempts to give it credence. The report gives an insight into how the right thinking people in Pakistan’s parliament would want to shape the course of bilateral relations with India. However, while we appreciate the right-thinking approach of the Pakistan’s Parliamentary Panel, we are very much skeptical whether the report would be digestible to the Pakistani army, religious extremists and the hawks in political parities of Pakistan. The repot will be debated enthusiastically in various circles in Pakistan and we expect that rational and saner segment in Pakistan will attach due importance to this report.
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