Indo-Pak: people need actions not promises

Carrying the passengers of divided families between India and Pakistan to Lahore from Delhi, the Samjhuta (which means “accord”) Express train was attacked and turned into rubble by terrorists using fire and suitcase bombs. The conflagrated human bodies draped about the wreckage were beyond recognition. The early morning of Monday, February 19, 2007 was another dark day in the long disputed history of Indo-Pak relations.

According to the official figures, the incident left 66 passengers dead or several and brutally injured.

Just after the incident, the leaders of both India and Pakistan strongly condemned the attack and once again proclaimed that this was not going to derail the ongoing peace process between the two rival countries.

In principal the assenting statements of the Indian and Pakistani leaders were positive. However, the statements of condolence and sympathy won’t bring back the dead or deliver contentment to those who lost their love ones.

How long will this peace process continue? When will the governments of India and Pakistan resolve their differences? And, when will the governments of both the countries provide security to their people from the acts of terrorism seen over and over again? After every dreadful incident the leaders of India and Pakistan promise to punish the culprits and eliminate terrorism. Yet, the leaders of both the countries fail to provide any timeframe.

This is not the first time that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now the current Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and their respected governments have avowed to continue peace negotiations and resolve their geo-political disputes, despite repeated incidents of terrorism.

It is a bitter reality that the game of peace and threat has been the part of the diplomacy process between the governments of India and Pakistan for the last half a century. From Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq to Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan to Shastry, Indira Ghandi to Rajiv Ghandi, the leaders of both Pakistan and India have been found voicing the need for peace and harmony, signing accords, initiating peace proposals and affirming to resolve their geo-political disputes.

Yet, there is still mistrust, threats and inflexibility and all their memorandums of understanding (MoU) have been found to be just manifestos of self interest.

It has been less than a year since, in July 2006, a series of bombs were detonated in a crowded commuter train in Mumbai killing 174 and injuring more than 400 people. The same kind of assurances to provide safety and security were made by the Indian Government followed by Pakistan’s condemnation and a declaration to work closely with Indian counterparts to find the culprits.

The most recently exploded train was a border-crossing security-sealed train where the passengers and their baggage are supposed to be checked thoroughly.

This means the terrorists must have gone through the security and immigration checks successfully before boarding the train.

On one hand the government of India and Pakistan are claiming they are going through a critical time and are making huge efforts to maintain the peace process. But on the other the responsible government agencies of India and Pakistan are failing to maintain adequate security in public places and to ensure that no one tries to sabotage their efforts of friendly relations.

The international community expects India and Pakistan to show confidence in themselves and in each other, and to move forward, working together closely to resolve their issues as soon as possible. The question is: will this be possible?

But how can the governments of India and Pakistan control terrorist activities when in almost every government agency, in both the countries, there is high level corruption? Just paying a small amount of money to the person on duty will allow anyone to get through the security checks successfully.

Maintaining security, law and order and a safe environment for every citizen is a systemic process. The population growth of the subcontinent is reaching alarming levels and the people still go without the basic necessities of daily life. Law and order, health, and social security are below acceptable standards. But the funds to provide these basic facilities to the people, which in turn will help to eliminate corruption, are being spent developing nuclear weapons and long range missiles.

Let’s take for instance, the core issue of Kashmir which lies between India and Pakistan. Both countries have been disputing its sovereignty for the last 50 years and have fought three major wars over the territory. In the last few years both countries have claimed to be sincere about resolving the dispute, yet both the parties have failed to come up with any proposal to offer to the people of Kashmir.

The years-long process of talks and negotiation must now deliver the accord. The leadership of both India and Pakistan should show courage and ability to put forward the plan on the basis of “give and take” by the parties involved.

Options like:

• declare both Indian and Pakistani controlled Kashmir an independent state with no control over it by Pakistani and Indian administration but have international monitoring forces until the Kashmiri people themselves are able to establish their own security forces;
• declare the line of control as the official border between Pakistan and India with ban on all the freedom activities within Kashmir;
• both Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir should be provided real liberty to have their own governments with no interference from India and Pakistan. Both parts of Kashmir would have soft border easy transit and trade between two parts. The details on the settlement must be worked out by all three parties; Kashmiris, Pakistanis, and Indians; or
• hand over both parts of the Kashmir to joint Indo-Pak administration.

These are just some options: one can only hope the leaders of both the countries realise that time is running out and any delay in finding a resolution will only assist those elements who don’t want the people of both nations live in peace and harmony.

The international community and the people of India and Pakistan should not have to see more innocent lives taken by terrorists. Similarly, the process of reconciliation and negotiations should be now moved on to the next phase of declaring and implementing resolutions.