Terror in the High Skies
Peace on Earth the Only Counter
The agonising but avoidable hostage drama, and the monumental incompetence or deviousness of governments, have both deeply wounded the public conscience. The hijacking brings to an end the bloodiest century in history-with over 100 million dead in war, itself taken to new technological heights.
Shocking and painful as this incident is, it calls not just for anger, condemnation and criticism, but also for thoughtful reflection on the state of our part of the world.
Official ineptitude was only too obvious in the ease with which the six hijackers got past Tribhuvan airport security, and in the 40-odd minutes during which the Airbus was in Amritsar. The authorities fumbled, losing a precious opportunity to carry out a rescue operation. Clearly, little was learned from our 16 hijackings since 1971, and the creation of a crack air commando unit.
Thus, the two-hour notice to the NSG (in place of the required 30 minutes) was wasted. Indecision, incompetence, and chalta hai laxity ruled. A handful of hijackers, armed with a couple of pistols, prevailed over the Indian "super-state".
The government failed in the first 72 hours to mobilise world opinion and move the United Nations. It was so driven by hubris-why should India talk to regimes it does not recognise?-that it missed a vital chance to bring about mediation or engage the culprits. Pomposity prevented Indian leaders from launching timely diplomacy. (Never mind that they used Pakistan's and Taliban's "good offices" to communicate with the hijackers!)
Dumbstruck by its own incompetence, and under moral pressure from incensed relatives, the government called an all-party meeting on Day 4. This too was part of a highly questionable pattern: bring in the Opposition when desperate, appeal for a "non-partisan approach", but follow your own sectarian agenda.
The electronic media launched a propaganda blitz demonising Pakistan and Islam. Even Mr Jaswant Singh played up "the Pakistan hand" because the hijackers reached Kathmandu from Pakistan.
The fact that the hijackers came from Pakistan does not mean Islamabad supported them, just as their religion does not immerse them in a grand "international conspiracy". The ground evidence is that the Taliban offered cooperation, and Islamabad handled the Lahore landing the way India wanted it to.
The truth is that there are too many people in our sub-continent who bear a deep resentment at the way the Kashmir issue has been handled. There are too many enmities, rivalries, mutual suspicions and tensions between South Asia's two biggest states for matters to be normal. South Asia is the world's only region in a state of continuous hold-cold war for half a century, which shows no signs of abating.
Too many wounds have been inflicted, and on too many innocent people by state and sub-state forces, over the past decade. Violence has become part of everyday life for too many people. All this is compounded by the highlighting of the Kashmir issue with the nuclearisation of India and Pakistan.
Pakistan has fully exploited this discontent by sponsoring terrorism. It must be resoundingly condemned, along with its Kashmiri clients. However, this cannot erase New Delhi's culpability for its Kashmir policy bordering on state terrorism, suppressing human rights, and brutalising the citizenry.
The growing alienation of Kashmiris from the government is a fact. The Centre has starved J&K of funds, while burdening it with salary increments and security spending. It has allowed the detention of Hurriyat leaders like Yasin Malik, Maulvi Abbas and Syed Ali Shah Gilani. These are not terrorists. They have been detained for two years without trial under an obnoxious, unconstitutional, law.
The super-corrupt Farooq Abdullah government is hated in the state, where public services have broken down. The appalling 12 per cent turnout in the Valley in the last elections points to a dangerous situation. Already, the insurgency is reviving, as exemplified by three major armed attacks on the army and the secretariat right in the heart of Srinagar.
The army's claim that it has "sanitised" or "pacified" Srinagar no longer holds. There could be a flare-up in Kashmir any time, which could precipitate an unspeakably horrible India-Pakistan confrontation.
This calls for a serious reappraisal of India's security and Kashmir policies. Crises like the latest cannot be prevented or resolved by purely physical (police or semi-military) methods. Even the US has found this impossible. Indian society is too differently (or loosely) organised for physical methods to succeed.
In any case, policing has its limits. Elaborate non-proliferation safeguards have not prevented states from trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Physical methods must be subordinated to political approaches of negotiation and reconciliation.
It would be epochally unwise for India to seek security while antagonising its neighbours and courting hostility. Peace with them is a precondition for our security. You cannot create hostility all around and yet be at peace with the world. The US, despite its might, is paying the price for its arrogance. It remains a hated and suspect government in many countries.
India in recent years has slavishly followed the American model of hegemony. The message nuclearisation gives is, Might is Right. That is also the meaning of India's Kashmir policy. Once such a repugnant principle is legitimised, terrorist groups can commit the same act-in the name of their Motherland.
The way forward does not lie in reinventing preventive detention or creating federal anti-terrorist squads, as Mr L.K. Advani wants to do. That can only temporarily put a lid on discontent, while actually stirring up trouble.
The only way forward is regional peace and conciliation, along with policies that promote development, welfare, pluralism and social cohesion. Peace will prevail in the skies only when we create it first on earth-on our earth.
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