New spat

Even the best intentions don't always seem to deliver the desired results where Pakistan-India relations are concerned. At present, these relations seem frozen, with the revival of the suspended composite dialogue nowhere in sight. In the midst of these tensions, Pakistan's humanitarian gesture of allowing Kulbushan Jadhav's wife and mother to meet him seems to have backfired and set off a fresh round of Indian charges against the Pakistani authorities. India has accused Pakistan of violating the agreed ground rules for the meeting. Four violations of these agreed rules have been cited by India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA): prohibiting Jadhav's family from conversing with him in their native Marathi, making the two women change their attire and remove religious symbols; preventing the Indian Deputy High Commissioner from observing the meeting, and permitting the media to harass and hector the two women. The MEA statement deplored that the meeting was held in an intimidating atmosphere that lacked credibility. Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) in response has denied the allegations as baseless and twisted, and which emerged 24 hours after the meeting when the two women had returned to India and had a meeting with MEA officials. The FO said it did not want to indulge in a meaningless battle of words on the issue. It said if the Indian concerns were serious, the guests or the Indian diplomat could have raised these in front of the media, which was readily available but at a safe distance, as requested by India. The controversy was exacerbated by Mrs Chetankul Jadhav's shoes being confiscated by the authorities on suspicion there was some metal detected in them. India has also raised objections to her bindi (traditional coloured mark on the forehead) and mangal sutra (marriage necklace) being removed. In so far as forbidding conversation in Marathi is concerned, it negates the charge that the exchange was being recorded, as in that case; the Pakistani authorities could have had the Marathi translated later.
To be fair, the Pakistani authorities, despite their goodwill humanitarian gesture in allowing Jadhav's wife and mother to meet him, had serious concerns surrounding the meeting. Foremost amongst these was the possibility of something being slipped to Jadhav that he might use to harm himself. Hence the extraordinary precautions vis-à-vis what the two women wore and carried into the meeting. Logically perhaps such extraordinary measures relate to the mutual paranoia that grips both countries when dealing with each other, given that the meeting took place through a glass partition, thereby avoiding any physical contact. Such an arrangement is not unusual for high profile prisoners, especially someone like Jadhav who is under sentence of death from a military court as a spy. Perhaps if the Pakistani authorities had spelt out to the other side the details of the arrangements, this last minute unpleasantness that spoilt a goodwill moment could have been avoided. The role of the media in both countries cannot be allowed to pass without comment. If we have complaints about our media trumpeting all too often the officially certified truth, the Indian media is arguably worse; Republic World and Times Now seem to be doing anything except journalism. The latter seems motivated by and large by extreme nationalism, which has reached fever pitch since Narendra Modi's ascent to power in 2014. Be that as it may, it nevertheless behoves us to restrain ourselves from the temptation to answer in the same vein, since rational discourse and the desire to proceed towards dialogue and normalisation of relations are badly affected by loud diatribes from either side against the other. The fraught nature of relations is underlined by reports of fresh clashes and casualties on the Line of Control, whose tenuous 2003 ceasefire is by now in tatters. And in case anyone is wondering, it is not only the media that is the culprit but also the national narrative in both countries that is unhelpful. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, no mean protagonist herself in this regard, was discomfited in the Indian parliament by the strident grilling at the hands of MPs baying for blood. Sadly, it appears Pakistan and India cannot even handle humanitarian issues and considerations in a cool, calm, rational, mature manner in the presence of the mutual hatreds that have sullied the air even more in recent years.