The Hindu : We support the path of peace, says Fazlur Rehman

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 19, 2003

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We support the path of peace, says Fazlur Rehman

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI July 18. Cementing his case for a bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), went beyond the Shimla Agreement, spoke of the February 1999 Lahore accord and cited the discussions in Agra.

As his hosts, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, awaited word from the Centre on whether the leadership would engage him, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, addressed a public reception organised for the Maulana and his delegation this evening. The Maulana appeared wary of the hordes of television cameras that have been pursuing him everywhere. "If you keep saying things on record, matters will get complicated,'' he said, half-appealing to the press to leave him alone.

But to the assembled gathering — the Arya Samaj activist, Swami Agnivesh, the Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Gandhian worker, Nirmala Deshpande, the CPI MP, Chaturanan Mishra, Ram Jethmalani, lawyer and a sprinkling of diplomats — the Maulana presented himself as a man India could do business with.

Speaking of the historical links and cultural ties between the people of India and Pakistan, he appeared surprised at media reports that "maulvis'' (religious leaders) could also speak of peace and dialogue. He was at pains to emphasise that the prescription for a bilateral dialogue was not a new one. ``We have to think as Asians about our future...''

The Maulana spoke of the changed geopolitical reality — that the Soviet Union was no more and there was none to maintain the political balance in the world. Thus, India and Pakistan could play a stellar role in providing some sense of balance. "We have to think afresh,'' he said in chaste Urdu.

Returning to the questions on Kashmir that had been posed to him, the Maulana said the dispute was very much there and India and Pakistan had their known positions and had even gone to war. The Leader of the Opposition in the Pakistani National Assembly made it clear that the two countries had a simple choice — the path of peace or the road to war. And, the JUI, he said, supported the path of peace. If "Kashmiris'' should put down the gun, then this required a change in attitudes. The people of Kashmir, like people everywhere, wanted peace.

The Governments of India and Pakistan, he said, had the responsibility to search for a peaceful solution to their problems. Looking beyond Shimla, Lahore and Agra, the Maulana felt there was a need to "open hearts'' in the changed circumstances. The Agra summit of 2001 was not a "failure'', but remained "incomplete'' (Nakam nahin, natamam hai).

Hailing the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's new Srinagar initiative, the Maulana saw this as a beginning to which Pakistan, too, had responded positively.

Referring to the gathering of religious and political leaders from different denominations, the JUI chief felt that such meetings could help create a conducive atmosphere between the two countries. He specifically noted the presence of Mirwaiz Farooq and the Pakistani High Commissioner, Aziz Ahmed Khan.

The Maulana saw his visit as a process, not as an event, and invited religious and political leaders to visit Pakistan. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said Kashmiris wanted peace and friendship between India and Pakistan. They could act as a "bridge'' between the two countries. "We hope this process (begun by Mr. Rehman) will go on.''

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