Saluting The Moderates

When the Kargil war began, most Indians were more interested in the World Cup. But as the coffins began to arrive, the mood darkened. Indians began to feel betrayed and anger against Pakistan mounted. The mood darkened further when Pakistan's Islamic fanatics began to issue blood-curdling threats of ëholy war' against India. A spate of murders of innocent Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir in July demonstrated what these brave warriors meant by war'.

All this played into the hands of India's small but strategically located group of hyper-nationalists. First, the government forbade cable operators to show Pakistan TV. Then it remembered the Internet and barred access to several Pakistani newspapers. Lastly, some bjp and Shiv Sena goons decided to harass and humiliate no less well-loved a person than Dilip Kumar, in the golden autumn of his life.

This hardening of sentiment needs to be arrested. At a time when Pakistan is struggling to absorb the shock of its misadventure in Kargil, it is more vital than ever for Indians to remember that the country doesn't consist just of military adventurers, Islamic zealots and murdering 'mujahideen'. It also contains people who do not want war with India, who do not wear ideological blinkers and, most important, are prepared to speak out and be heard, despite the oppressiveness of their government. These people make up the majority in Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif has himself attributed part of his huge mandate in the last elections to his promise to work for peace with India. A lady who got off the bus from Lahore in the early days of the Kargil war echoed this, saying that Indo-Pak conflicts concerned people at the top and were of little concern to ordinary people. But the most sustained and telling evidence comes from a paper Pramod Mahajan banned, Dawn.

Dawn covered every daily briefing given by the Indian armed forces and members of the government. It did this because it believed that its readers had a right to hear both sides of the story. With a lone and that too a sporadic exception, not a single Indian newspaper published Pakistan's bulletins during the entire war.

Through the war, its editorials were models of reason and restraint. One example 'its comment on July 14 on Sharif's telecast account of his Washington visit' shows how the editors viewed the conflict. 'The people of Pakistan did not want war. They were not even consulted over Kargil. It was official hype, noisy and crude, which aroused popular expectations and spread the belief that India's jugular in Kashmir was about to be cut. When the diplomatic chickens came home to roost and Pakistan was left isolated in the international arena, there was a flurry of moves to cut Pakistan's losses and find a face-saving way out of what was threatening to turn into a major disaster. This culminated in the prime minister's dash to Washington.'

Articles published on its op-ed page reflect a similar disenchantment with the lack of accountability of Pakistan's leaders. Writing on July 18, Lt Gen Afzal Mahmood commented: 'No doubt, it (the Kargil foray) was a brilliantly conceived and executed tactical move but did the prime minister and his advisers fully grasp its strategic dimensions? Did they really believe that by posing a serious threat to the Srinagar-Leh highway and by threatening to cut off supplies to the Leh-based India's 3 Mountain Division the mujahideen would not provoke India into a violent reaction?' Another commentator, F. S. Aijazuddin, reflected an understanding of India's sense of betrayal that has no counterpart in the Indian press: 'To understand the intensity of India's reaction to Kargil, one needs to step back, to return to Lahore during prime minister Vajpayee's visit in February. It needs to be remembered that his intrusion into Pakistani territory was at our specific invitation. His original plan had been to stand like any inquisitive Indian tourist at the Wagah border. When told that it was against our customs to greet visitors at the doorstep without inviting them into the house, he crossed the border, ignoring the apparent snub of being received at the border by his counterpart but not by the Pakistani defence chiefs.... He allowed himself to be used as part of an elaborate masque organised at the Pakistan Day monument, where he was photographed with the Pakistani flag and the soaring monument as prominent backdrops.... And later that afternoon, when he spoke mellifluously in the garden of Government House to the country's elite, he must have believed that he had been able to achieve a psychological breakthrough' (July 15).

And finally there is anger at the humiliation that Pakistan's leaders have made it suffer: 'We made every conceivable mistake. Initially, we maintained that Tiger Hills was on our side of the LoC. Who were we trying to bluff? Later, we are told that Kargil was in retaliation as India had violated the LoC on three previous occasions and had seized our territory. This is news to most ordinary Pakistanis.... We are told incessantly that the Kargil freedom fighters are genuine Kashmiri freedom fighters. However, is it reasonable to believe that freedom fighters can fight at 15,000 feet above sea level without Pakistan rations, clothing, logistics, ammunition and intelligence support? Again, who are we fooling?... We have always been victims of our own make-believe world. For example, our current school history books report as 'history' that Bangladesh was created against the will of its people by Indian armed intervention! Say this to a Bangladeshi and watch his reaction' (M.P. Bhandara, July 21).