Neighbours with a choice

You cannot choose your neighbours. A sentence we hear often in terms of international relations and foreign affairs. Yes, geography is not a matter of choice, but philosophy and psychology may be a matter of choice. Who resides across the border may not be in your control but how you treat the cross-border residents is definitely in your control. Thus, the real line of control between India and Pakistan is a division that has gone beyond ownership of land and occupation. The tension between the two countries has been a part of the Partition and thereafter with wars as a consequence. But frequent fire exchanges verbally and literally in the opposing posts regularly signify how uncontrollable the Line of Control (LoC) can be.
History has repeated many times and has left historical scars on the minds of many generations. Pakistanis feel that part of the occupied Kashmir in India has been undeservedly attached to a nation that was primarily divided so that a Muslim- and a Hindu-dominated motherland can live independently and freely. Indians feel that the division itself was wrong. The hardline Indian view is that the subcontinent is the motherland of 5,000-year-old Hindu civilization, where Muslims entered as foreign invaders in 12th to 16th Century AD. They feel that the Muslims should have vacated their land and gone to their parent land as the British ruling class did in 1947.
This combination of mistrust and misgiving has been exploited by the leaders of the two countries to their advantage in the past. Nothing moves a nation more than a national cause. The concept of two enemies laying their lives for saving their countries from the clutches of occupation and encroachment by enemies is enough to raise tensions to deployment of troops on borders, red alerts and even fictional "surgical strikes". Since Pakistan has been ruled by the army for almost half of its history, it is normally presumed that Pakistan's regional relations are driven by an India-Centric approach of the military top brass. However, in India it is the politicians who use the anti-Pakistan card to appeal to the masses who believe that Partition was a nefarious design of those who are now living on the other side of the border.
Logically what happened in 1947 should have been a fading memory in a generation that has either passed away or too old to really matter much in this new millennial world. But then politics is rarely logical and rational. While social media has reduced distances and removed boundaries the political propaganda has increased the psychological divide. The same tools of social media that show advancement of technology and what future may look like in 2050 also creates videos of 1950 and using "artificial intelligence" creates artificial history to infiltrate hate, repulsion and retaliation amongst people. This post-truth world on the social media has the capacity to create suicide bombers, cults, clans, gangs and armies that may totally be living in a make-believe world of virtual reality that is far from reality.
In this highly complex and technology driven world, people and countries have a choice of taking a path to peace or a path to conflict. The end of the twentieth century has seen the end of the path to peace in many parts of the world. Europe that was united to become one in the last century is divided due to Brexit; America that was trying to learn from its war adventures is ready for unarmed and armed conflict in Iran and Syria. Russia who had let go a lot of nations from its own Iron Curtain in the last century is now playing the spoiler in the Middle East.
In this context, the Indo-Pak relations turmoil is understandable if not acceptable. Firstly, the two nations are at different points of their political journey. Pakistan has just had elections and the new government has a very strong peace agenda with neighbours. India is just approaching elections and would like to repeat their past success of hate-Pakistan slogan. The two opposite stages of the political process are a big hindrance to the resumption of any dialogue between the two countries. Secondly, the new government in Pakistan has an agenda of creating regional balance with better relations with Afghanistan and Iran aside from stronger relations with China. The Indian governments have usually benefited and supported conflict between Pakistan and other neighbours. The aggressive Indian foreign policy in the past few years and the passive foreign policy by Pakistan in the same term had really helped India make its case of blaming Pakistan for every act of violence in its territory and in the neighbouring countries. This belligerence by India was almost met with indifference by Pakistan in the past. With an absence of a cogent foreign policy and stance India got away with its "Isolate Pakistan" international screaming.
Thus, when the new Pakistan government took initiative and invited India for talks the Indians were taken by surprise. Their narrative of painting Pakistan as a villain became hollow as while they were going blazing with the hate rhetoric Pakistan was offering peace and simultaneously meeting Afghanistan and Iran to build bridges in foreign relations. Many analysts believe the Rafale corruption scandal has made Prime Minister Modi go hyper in hate mongering to divert attention just the way the ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama scandal aftermath went overboard in insinuating that Pakistan-sponsored the Mumbai attacks.
General public in both nations especially the millennials live peacefully and friendly with each other in all other parts of the world. When Indians visit Pakistan they are taken aback by the love and hospitality of this nation. However even expressing these feelings back home is tough as Navjot Singh Sidhu discovered after his visit cross the border. Refusal to talks, putting barriers on sports and trade with each other is an Indian philosophy that substantiates the non-peace extremist image of the present Indian government. For vote sloganeering in the short run it may seem profitable. However, such political myopia is really sabotaging the potential of a united Sub-Continent surging ahead of a dividing Europe. In this pursuit to win the battle of the elections India might lose the war against poverty that is crucial for this region to achieve sustainable regional peace and prosperity.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])