Beyond a bizarre tale

THE DRAMATIC RETURN to India of a `prodigal' hijacker, an advocate of political hatred against New Delhi during a bygone period in its relationship with Pakistan, triggers some complex questions about the Vajpayee administration's diplomatic game plan in dealing with Islamabad over the Kashmir dispute. The former desperado, Mr. Mohammad Hashim Qureshi, has now come to India after a voluntary exile in Europe. The exile itself was a sequel to a prison term he served in Pakistan after having played the lead role in hijacking an Indian Airlines plane, which was on a domestic flight within Jammu and Kashmir, to Lahore in the undivided Pakistan of early 1971. He also played a pivotal role in blowing up the aircraft in mysterious circumstances several days after having allowed the passengers and crew to disembark. His post-hijack conversation with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's rising leader of that period, only irked New Delhi and lent some political dimension to Mr. Qureshi's despicable action. However, in the latest bizarre twist to that tale, the old hijacker has now punctuated his home-coming with a self-proclaimed support for the ongoing Kashmir-related peace initiative of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. It is this aspect that deserves scrutiny.

Given the evolving dynamics of the moves by both India and Pakistan within the past several weeks to address the fragile situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the timing of Mr. Qureshi's arrival in New Delhi last week may need to be fully accounted for. The question is whether this event is the direct result of some back-channel diplomacy or at least backstage moves by some external supporters of the current peace initiative by India. The question whether Mr. Qureshi should now stand trial in India for his role in the 1971 hijack is important not only in itself but also as a possible determinant of the atmospherics on the New Delhi-Islamabad diplomatic front. Mr. Qureshi's confident belief that he cannot be tried and punished twice for the same offence transcends a tricky question of international law in an extraordinary case such as his. Independent of the mandatory provisions of India's laws in regard to a crime committed nearly three decades ago, the `importance' of being Mr. Qureshi is that his current political views impinge directly on the issues in the relentless India-Pakistan `psycho-war'. His `standing' as a founder of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front is a relevant factor in this regard, in addition to his new `image' as a Kashmiri nationalist with an apparently even-handed attitude towards both India and Pakistan.

For the hawks in New Delhi's establishment with an implacable suspicion of Islamabad, it can be a matter of some propaganda utility (perhaps also of diplomatic value) that Mr. Qureshi has appealed to the people in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to launch a struggle to liberate themselves from their present masters there. In one sense, the recent move by Pakistan to withdraw some of its troops from its side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir has already brought the PoK in unusual international spotlight. However, the Vajpayee administration will do well to eschew any temptation to view Mr. Qureshi and other `Kashmiri leaders' of his line of thinking as players capable of exposing Pakistan's perceived double standards on the political future of the people on either side of the LoC. This note of caution is called for, if only because New Delhi now appears to be taking a particularly dim view once again of Pakistan's intentions. Understandable is New Delhi's dismay that Islamabad is doing nothing to condemn at least the threats held out by militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba to target the Prime Minister's Office in South Block. But India can and must re-engage Pakistan, looking beyond the murky climate.

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Section  : Opinion
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