[Assam] A Very Good Article--From Outlook India False Assumptions

[Chan Mahanta]

http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=1&fodname=20090204&fname=faruqui&sid=1


AHMAD FARUQUI
THE terrorist attacks in Mumbai have reignited a tiresome and 
dangerous blame game in India. Opinion leaders are having a field day 
making Pakistan look bad and India look good.

The terrorists have tarnished Pakistan's image and the Indians can 
exult in their Mumbai moment if they wish. But if that is all that 
they do, they will be doing a grave disservice to the scores of 
people who lost their lives and were wounded.

In Pavlovian fashion, Pakistan's opinion leaders continue to disavow 
any involvement in terrorism. However, international observers are 
convinced that the terrorists had Pakistani ties. Indeed, many 
suspect that their handlers were directly or indirectly connected 
with Pakistan's intelligence agencies which have long been fighting a 
proxy war with India.

There is little doubt that if Pakistan is to survive as a 
nation-state, it needs to expunge terrorism from its strategic 
culture. But what is equally true is that India, if it is to attain 
greatness in the decades to come, needs to rethink its strategic 
culture. India's leaders should see the Mumbai attack as a wake-up 
call. They are heirs to a long intellectual tradition of 
introspection. One hopes they will engage in a meaningful debate on 
the assumptions that gird their nation's domestic and international 
policies.

But will India's leaders engage in what is likely to be a painful 
process? It is hard to say. Since it gained independence from Great 
Britain in 1947, India has related to its smaller neighbours with 
magnanimity at certain times and with stinginess at others. The face 
of India which the world sees oscillates between generosity and 
hubris. Its diplomatic history is coloured by the contradictory 
comments of leadership and hegemony.

What are the false assumptions in India's policies that need revisiting? 
First, that Indians can prevail in a limited war with Pakistan. 
Between two nuclear powers, a limited war is inherently limitless.

Second, that it can continue to be an economic powerhouse without 
resolving its congenital dispute with Pakistan. The dispute has led 
to a costly diversion of resources from productive to unproductive 
sectors in both countries. While keeping its economy on a war footing 
has devastated Pakistan, it has also held India back from realising 
its true potential. Foreign investment will not flow to India under 
the shadow of a nuclear war.

Third, that the dispute with Pakistan can be resolved bilaterally and 
does not require international mediation. Given the imbalance in 
political and military power between the two countries, the problem 
has defied a solution for six long decades. It is time to involve 
another power, one that both countries can trust. The US, now under a 
new president who brings no historical baggage to his role, is best 
suited to this task and should be invited in. The creation of the 
Taliban was linked to Pakistan's desire to create strategic depth for 
itself in the event of an Indian invasion. The war against terror in 
Afghanistan, which largely revolves around the Taliban, cannot be won 
without resolving the Indo-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir.

Fourth, that India has well-trained security forces that can thwart a 
future terrorist attack. The sophistication of the terrorists in 
Mumbai was matched by the ineptness of India's security forces. New 
Delhi's weaknesses in this regard are the focus of a new report from 
the RAND Corporation which recommends numerous improvements.

Fifth, that there is no political or human rights problem in Jammu 
and Kashmir. New Delhi continues to argue that the state is an 
integral part of India and that it is governed democratically.So why 
is it that even the casual visitor to Kashmir finds himself or 
herself stranded in a garrison state? While estimates vary, the 
combination of military, paramilitary and police forces deployed in 
that state is probably in excess of half a million. The figure would 
dwarf the population which lives there, estimated at less than one 
per cent of India's population.

Sixth, that India is a secular democracy where minorities are treated 
equally with the majority community. In this regard, the Rajindar 
Sachar Committee report on the status of Indian Muslims prepared in 
2006 on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a must read. But 
it is not just the Muslims who get the raw end of the deal in India. 
There have been many instances of Christians being treated poorly and 
of Catholic missionaries being burned alive. It is time for India to 
rein in the fascist influence of those who espouse Hindutva.

Seventh, that for India to be viewed as a great power, it also needs 
to become a military power with an ability to shoot ballistic 
missiles across the seven seas. Such power play hearkens back to the 
past. It does not beckon to the future. It is sad to see yesterday's 
philosophy trumping tomorrow's, as those who voice a view of 
greatness premised on hard power appear to have prevailed over those 
who propose a view based on soft power.

Eighth, that India has purged its polity of all economic and social 
ills and that it is a rising and shining power, an 'Incredible 
India'. Just witness the howls of protest that were reported in the 
Indian media when the film, Slumdog Millionaire, got global 
recognition.

The story, seen through the eyes of a Muslim child who was orphaned 
when murderous Hindu gangs went on a rampage in the slums of Mumbai, 
was a timeless tribute to the triumph of the human spirit over 
adversity. It could have been written by Charles Dickens or Victor 
Hugo. Instead of absorbing the film's lessons, a segment of the 
Indian elite expressed their contempt for the film's raw depiction of 
the squalor and misery in India's slums where millions eke out an 
existence. If they had their way, films would put the spotlight on 
India's new economy, its Silicon Valley and its lunar rocket 
programme. If India's leaders revisit these eight assumptions, they 
can ensure that one day in the future India will be recognised as a 
great power. And if they don't, India will continue to be, as only 
Nirad C. Chaudhuri could have put it, a 'Continent of Circe', the 
Greek goddess who used a magical potion to transform her enemies into 
pigs.

The author is an associate of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at 
the University of Bradford.