[Reader-list] "Secret face of the real Pakistan"

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Kshamendra

I would have only a few things to say to this article posted by you.

1) It's extremely important to understand that in any nation, there are
human beings who are different from each other. And these would be different
in their views and thoughts as well. And they may not necessarily believe in
what the government believes in. This is important to understand for any
nation, be it Pakistan, India, China (yes, even China) or any other nation.

There are voices in Pakistan which seek peace with India, similarly as there
are voices in India which seek peace with Pakistan. And there are voices in
Pakistan which seek war with India (ala Hafeez Sayeed of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa)
as there are voices in India which seek war with Pakistan. There are voices
in both nations also which seek indifference from each other. And there
would be voices which would be confused in dealing with each other. There
would be others who haven't heard about the issue at all, or may not be
concerned about it.

To state that Pakistan or India is a monolith is wrong. The writer seems to
have thought that the entire civil society believes in peace with Pakistan,
but that unfortunately, is not the case. Even if it were so, the civil
society doesn't constitute the entire population of India, and thus one
can't say India as a whole wants peace with Pakistan. But then again, that
also doesn't mean India wants war with Pakistan, since the same people also
have not demanded a war. There are people on this forum who may think of a
war with Pakistan (covert or non-covert), just as those who may think of
peace with them. And so would be the case in Pakistan.

So for every High Court chief justice stating that India is an enemy, there
would be an Asma Jehangir who would think India is a potential friend.

2) As far as the acts of Pakistani state and certain section of citizens in
that nation are concerned, yes they are effecting us. But I think we can
hardly do anything as such with them. And I am speaking the truth. The
unfortunate problem is that Indian politicians don't have the guts to state
so before the Indian public, which has to realize this through bomb blasts.

What the Indian govt. can do is reform the police in terms of its working
and ethics, and depoliticize it. The Indian govt. can also ensure better
coordination and working of the intelligence machinery and can thus achieve
better results by strengthening it as well as improving its functioning.
Critically, it would have to make Muslims a key part in this fight against
terror (not the George Bush way, but the Indian way). And justice must be
delivered in cases where Muslims have suffered, and not just for reducing
causes of terror.

But what we can do stops here and begs us to think. We can't ask for
sanctions against Pakistan, for nobody will support us. And sanctions will
only affect the people, not the army or the terror groups who act against
us. Plus sanctions will only increase the legitimacy of anti-India groups in
Pakistan. Equally, neither can we bombard the terror groups for we then risk
a war with Pakistan. And the UN can't do anything.

Then what can be done?

Two things. And here we have to realize it. The nexus of the Pakistan army
and terror must be exposed. It is already exposed in the media even in the
US. Now it must be exposed to the world citizens as a whole. The effects of
this can be quite large. The Pakistan Army and their actions which have
supported terrorism must be brought among the public at large and pressure
must be applied by all people across the world to force Pakistan to take
action against these groups. It's tough for us, but it is one of the two
most important steps in the fight against terror. This can also force
countries to stop militarily aiding Pakistan, particularly the US and other
European countries, as well as to an extent, China. This should be our first
major step. It's a diplomatic offensive, but not so much against a nation,
as against those groups in Pakistan which seek to destroy the lives of
innocents in our country, as also the lives of citizens in Pakistan itself,
by teaching them useless things and inciting them to commit violence.

The second is something only the citizens of Pakistan can do, not us. A
civil movement which fights against terror groups and secures back the power
through democratic and legitimate means is the other way to dismantle the
terror infrastructure built on that side of the border. That is the only
ultimate solution. This can't be achieved by just people around the world,
but only by Pakistani citizens. It's when they come out and fight and speak
out against the terror groups that this can be tackled and dealt with on a
final basis.

Rakesh