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A positive gesture from Pakistan
THE POLITICAL COURAGE exuded by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, in addressing India's concerns raises the visions of a truly promising turn in the crisis-ridden bilateral relationship. The welcome steps, which he announced in his internationally televised address during the weekend, range from the banning of two anti- India terrorist organisations to a declaration that any form of terrorism to promote the Kashmir ``cause'' will not be tolerated by the Pakistani state. By staying the course and taking irreversible actions to translate these and other new policies into a definitive reality, he can foster the long-term interests of Pakistan as a terrorism-free zone and as a fraternal neighbour of India. It is a positive sign, therefore, that New Delhi has taken note of what it surely regards as the India-friendly aspects of Gen. Musharraf's prescriptions for a radically new Pakistan. Understandably, however, New Delhi has at the same time rejected his portrayal of India as a purveyor of ``state terrorism'' in Kashmir. Also reaffirmed is official India's opposition to Pakistan's renewed plea for America's intercession in the overall process of resolving the Kashmir dispute.
On balance, though, daunting indeed were the circumstances in which Gen. Musharraf skilfully tried to meet the demands that India made in the context of the recent terrorist outrage at the Parliament House in New Delhi. In a critical sense, the United States and the United Kingdom were breathing down his neck and urging him to think of a broad framework for Pakistan's future interactions with India in an atmosphere free from the politics of terror. Now, appearing to ride the crest of these challenges themselves, Gen. Musharraf has really managed to create some new political and diplomatic space for himself. By and large, he seems to have succeeded in redefining the terms for defusing the present dangerous tensions on the India-Pakistan front. So, given the overall peace-evocative thrust of Gen. Musharraf's speech, India will be well advised to reciprocate his gesture by ordering an immediate de-escalation of the military mobilisation near the border with Pakistan. For India, a diplomatic re-engagement with Pakistan ought to be a meaningful priority of the highest order in this unusually positive situation of near-epochal importance.
By announcing a categorical ban on the activities of both the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the two Pakistan-based terrorist organisations implicated in last month's assault on India's Parliament, Gen. Musharraf has certainly met a prime Indian demand. If the LeT and the JeM outfits are furious with the Pakistan President, the reason can be traced to the genuine fears of these terrorist organisations that he might act decisively against them under the watchful eyes of a newly awakened world. Gen. Musharraf has pointedly responded to several specifics of India's check-list of what Pakistan should do. In a balancing act, he will not hand over to India any of the Pakistani fugitives who figure in a list of terrorists and criminals whose extradition New Delhi has repeatedly sought. Yet, he is willing to consider the transfer of non-Pakistani conspirators who might still be at large in his country. No less significant is the assurance about bringing to justice any Pakistani group whose complicity in last month's attack on India's Parliament could be established. In a larger perspective, Gen. Musharraf's compulsions go beyond the need for a new equation with India in the present global anti-terror milieu. Of far-reaching scope in this context are the reforms that he has announced so as to rescue the Pakistani society from the practitioners of a false theology of terrorism itself. A stable and modernising Pakistan will be in India's best interests as well. Gen. Musharraf's efforts towards this end are, therefore, as important as a brave new vision of peace that India and Pakistan might be able to project.
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