Pakistan and prejudice

Neo

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Comment by Karan Thapar

If Pakistan shows it’s willing to act, we need to be encouraging. This means we should distinguish between those who could be friends and others who will always be inimical. Let’s appreciate the shades of grey — reality is rarely black or white

How do you compliment someone you distrust without seeming to drop your guard?

That may not be the perfect analogy but it pretty much approximates the position India finds itself in after Pakistan’s response to the Mumbai terror dossier. The foreign minister called it a “positive development”. But that taciturn phrase ignores both the detailed nature of the investigation Pakistan conducted and the candour with which it revealed its findings. In fact, Mr Mukherjee’s language doesn’t even convey the sense of pleasant surprise with which most Indians greeted our neighbour’s response.

Pakistan may not have done all we want and there is, of course, a lot more it must do. But Pakistan has done much more than we anticipated. And if speculation from across the border can be trusted, it’s quite possible Pakistan has done more than it publicly revealed. Reports suggest Rehman Malik informed our high commissioner of additional measures which were not communicated at his press conference. No doubt we’ll find out about them through deliberate leaks.

Meanwhile, the press is concerned about three issues Pakistan side-stepped and we need to ask how much they actually matter. First, it has refused to extradite the accused. Rehman Malik did not even mention the matter. But could we have expected anything else? India and Pakistan don’t have an extradition treaty and we know that handing over suspects could put the Zardari government in peril. Furthermore, neither the US nor the UK supports this demand.

Second, Pakistan has not accepted — and, certainly, it will not investigate our claim — that official agencies, possibly including the ISI, were involved. But then, again, how could it have? That would be tantamount to the Pakistani government accepting guilt and prosecuting itself! This apart, the Indian dossier did not establish such a link and all the major powers that’ve seen it have said so publicly.

Third, it seems the trial will be in-camera. As far as I can tell, that’s also how Ajmal Kasab is being handled in India. So why should similar treatment in Pakistan be deemed inadequate? Ultimately, what matters is bringing the accused to justice and not the quality of the trial, provided, of course, it doesn’t lead to acquittal or the dropping of serious charges.

Next come the thirty questions Pakistan has posed and Mr Malik’s comment that without receiving assistance from New Delhi, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Islamabad to proceed with prosecution and ensure conviction. How can anyone doubt that? If we want the accused declared guilty and sentenced, we have to co-operate. It, therefore, follows that if Pakistan’s questions are not political or polemical, they must be answered fully and reasonably quickly.

Finally, there is the issue of local involvement. Frankly, this matter should not have had to be raised by Islamabad. We owe it to ourselves to be honest and upfront. It did not need Narendra Modi — whose motives might be questionable — to ask how something of this scale could have happened without someone in Mumbai being involved. Many others have raised the same question. No matter what the political compulsions, our government’s reticence is neither acceptable nor even expedient.

In the weeks that follow, we will hear multiple and often contradictory voices from Pakistan. Of itself that should not perturb us. After all, we’re no different.

Similarly, the media will carry countless stories, of which many will be half-baked, a few deliberate disinformation and some pure lies. In fact, this will happen on both sides of the border. Again, we need to be careful about what we believe. Just because a Pakistani paper claims their government is contemplating X or Y doesn’t make it true. Don’t we read similar speculation in our own only to discover how untrue it is?

Above all, whilst it’s judicious to be sceptical, it’s not sensible to be prejudiced. If Pakistan shows it’s willing to act, we need to be encouraging. This means we should distinguish between those who could be friends and others who will always be inimical. Let’s appreciate the shades of grey — reality is rarely black or white.

The writer is a leading Indian television commentator and interviewer
 

A.V.

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An excellent read!
yes a very good read.i ust read it in the times of india yesterday before going to bed thought of posting it today but you just made it earlier.

thnx
 

ahmedsid

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Karan Thapar is a good writer and and an even better talker. I hope there are more like him and thanks for posting this.
 

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