Between The Lines
Road to nowhere
IT is difficult to say whether the assembly elections in several states are a semi-final. The voters were agitated and angry over the terror attack on Mumbai and it's difficult to say how they would have voted in normal times. Few months are left for the final, the Lok Sabha polls. Much will depend on the people's mood.
The BJP has made it clear that its election plank will be Mumbai, which is
understandable. What is not understandable is L.K. Advani's absence from the all-party meeting called by the prime minister to discuss Mumbai and the aftermath. The BJP's leaders at the meeting only criticised the government.
Advani's presence would have sent a message that India was united. What happened at Mumbai has challenged the ethos of pluralism and the idea of India. Election is a means, not the end in itself. The end is the governance through which the country's ideals are protected.
Still the BJP has not given up its parochial agenda. When the fire of terrorism was raging, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was stomping in northern India, articulating national chauvinism. The party published joint advertisements in Mumbai newspapers blaming the government for surrendering to terror.
Here was the time to raise people's morale for a united response. Advani and other BJP leaders should recall how former President Clinton offered his services to President Bush following the destruction of the twin towers.
Surprisingly, the RSS has urged unity. The BJP still has not realised that India's faith in pluralism is not a matter of policy but a commitment. The BJP saw how the semi-final it won before the last Lok Sabha election resulted in a victory for the Congress.
There is no justification for the foreign minister's warning that the military option was open. India has sent a list of some 20 people who have reportedly taken refuge in Pakistan after committing acts of sabotage in India. Certain names had also been sent in 1993.
The point is not the repetition of names but Mukherjee's ultimatum within 24 hours of dispatching the list. Islamabad should have been given ample time to consider the names. Talking of military option in the same breath does not speak well of our respect for the sovereignty of Pakistan.
True, India has every right to bomb the training camps in Pakistan or Kashmir. Vajpayee was also pressed on that point during the Kargil war, but he refused to allow the bombing because he feared that hostilities could escalate.
In any case, military action is not the option that New Delhi should consider. Cutting off diplomatic relations with Pakistan, and stopping railway and air connections are harsh measures, but more than adequate to show anger by a nation which feels outraged. However intransigent Pakistan is, there is no alternative to peace to bring it around.
The biggest casualty will be India-Pakistan relations. They have deteriorated to such an extent that even the eventuality of a full-scale war is not ruled out. Voices of reason in both countries are very few, and they are hardly heard when anger takes hold.
Maybe things could have been sorted out if there had been confidence between the two countries. When Manmohan Singh requested Zardari to send the ISI chief to New Delhi, the prime minister assumed that Zardari would agree to it. He did.
It's another matter that some forces in Pakistan, nipped the effort in the bud. Had the ISI chief come, it would have established the joint mechanism to fight terrorism that the two countries have been talking about. Since there is no confidence between the two, Pakistan does not take into account even the confession made by the terrorist apprehended in Mumbai.
Whether he was trained at Muzaffarabad or came by boat from Karachi, it was for Pakistan to find out. By this time it should have searched Karachi thoroughly to satisfy India.
The new organisation in place of Lashkar-e-Toibba and Jaish-e-Muhmammad should have been banned. Islamabad should have invited a team from New Delhi to check for itself how far Pakistan had gone. It would have given New Delhi proof of Islamabad assuaging India's feelings.
It is a pity that people-to-people contact builds up goodwill inch by inch, but Mumbai-like incidents destroy it in a jiffy. The anti-friendship elements are too strong to allow the common man's wish to live in a secure and peaceful environment.
Within India, the disillusionment with politicians is understandable, but not with politics. Anger should not lead us to lose faith in democracy.
In our effort to curb terrorism, we should not take any step which may restrict individual freedom. The test of a nation's faith in democracy comes when it is challenged by undemocratic forces.
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