Krishna's guarded optimism

India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna was absolutely right in asserting at a recent meeting of businessmen from the region that prospects of economic co-operation among the Saarc member-states have become captive to the security situation in South Asia. That "Divided, we may well remain boxed in, holding our future hostage to hostile mindsets", he was also right in saying so.
Given the grim backdrop of relentless anti-Pakistan propaganda the Indian foreign minister's statement indeed reflects a palpable departure from the rut - although his prognosis that the Saarc businessmen lag behind other business clusters such as Asean because of 'anti-India activities in some neighbouring countries' fails the test of an independent investigation.
Can any other country appreciate India's concerns over terrorism better than Pakistan, which itself is caught in the vortex of this curse - not entirely of its own making as quite a big chunk of it comes from across its borders in the east and the west? Terrorism brooks no borders and forgives no person, for it is the plague of modern age.
We feel Foreign Minister Krishna should have gone a little further and talked about the causes that breed terrorism in the region. Yes, a part of international terrorism has its roots in the aftermath of 9/11, and as al Qaeda spreads its operations wide across the globe India should be no exception. But a lot of what India confronts comes from within.
Dozens of sub-nationalist movements, drawing sustenance from indigenous ethnic, linguistic and religious motivations, are also in the field carrying arms of all kinds including weapons of war. Of course, as a matter of mindset India never gives up on blaming Pakistan for what it calls cross-border terrorism. But it is impossible to think that India is oblivious of the fact that this brand of terrorism has its roots in the unresolved problem of Jammu and Kashmir.
Struggle for freedom is Kashmiris' birthright, acknowledged by international community and recognised by the United Nations. India is, therefore, required to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the Kashmiris' wishes and aspirations. No doubt, freedom struggles are often dubbed by the occupant powers as foreign-funded terrorism.
One would like to believe that Foreign Minister Krishna's statement at this meeting of the Saarc member-states business captains would provide the much-needed incentive to build on what already exists on ground in the form of a bilateral co-operative construct between Pakistan and India. Considerable progress, possibly about 90 percent, was made on Kashmir during the Musharraf government, says former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri.
Then there are voices now in Srinagar that believe atmosphere is quite conducive for the resolution of Kashmir issue. So why not to revive the presently dysfunctional Composite Dialogue, now that Islamabad has rendered its maximum co-operation to help Indian investigations into the Mumbai carnage. At the same time the back-channel diplomacy should be put in higher gear, with special emissaries appointed by the two sides acting as catalysts for perceptional change of mindsets embedded as they are in more than half a century old adversarial history.
But it is business communities of Pakistan and India who can set the ball rolling. Foreign Minister Krishna is right in saying that quite often nations and governments take the path broken by the entrepreneurs, businessmen and daring individuals who have set out in difficult, and sometimes, uncharted waters. We hope his is not the lonely furrow.