[sacw] WSJ op-ed on South Asia's ghosts

[Harsh Kapoor]

July 21, 1999
FYI
(South Asia Citizens web)
Please visit the website of Citizens Against India Pakistan War in Kargil,
Kashmir
[http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/Kargil/Kargilindex.html]
--------------------------------------------

Source:
The Wall Street Journal
July 21, 1999
International Commentary

ONLY ECONOMICS CAN BURY SOUTH ASIA'S GHOSTS
By Vineeta Kumar, an Indian economic journalist and consultant in Manila.

The Kargil misadventure is coming to an end. But India and Pakistan
continue to spar along the border that divides Kashmir, and there is no
assurance that incidents like this summer's prolonged battle at Kargil
will not be repeated in the future. The human costs have been enormous and
resources that could have been used for so many important and pressing
purposes have been wasted in lighting up the night sky above Kargil's
Tiger Hill.

There have been intangible costs as well. Both countries have lost
credibility in the eyes of the world. Watching Pakistan and India blow up
human capital and fight for territorial advantages 5,000 meters above sea
level on peaks that are covered with snow nine months of the year,
everyone sees the two as obsessed with petty, short-term gains and
oblivious to the widespread misery of their people. This is not a good
omen for a stricken region that is still dependent on donors for aid and
financial assistance. It is also not a good advertisement for foreign
investors, who see governments pursuing misplaced priorities and form a
dim view of future prospects in both countries.

Yet these costs are surely avoidable in the future, if India and Pakistan
let economics resolve what current politics cannot. In this respect, it
was encouraging to see Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif begin his
July 12 address to the nation with a promise to improve the economy and
provide a better standard of living for his people. He did well to admit
that in the past 50 years, regimes in Pakistan and India have failed to
provide even the basic human necessities to their citizenry and so are
home to the largest collection of deprived and poor people in the world.
He was particularly right to invite India to join in bilateral
negotiations and take the road to peace to solve all bilateral problems,
including Kashmir.

All Mr. Sharif has to do now is take the next step. Following his own
logic of priorities for the Subcontinent, he must see how the policy
toward India of settle-Kashmir-first-and-everything-else-later runs
counter to his stated development goals. As long as resolution of the
Kashmir issue is a Pakistani precondition, bilateral trade and commercial
exchange with India cannot go forward. Indeed, the entire South Asia
region, despite its remarkable and enviable stock of natural and human
resources, will slide further down the ladder on the development index.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan will continue to allocate enormous sums to
their defense sectors and stock up weapons of mass mutual destruction.
They will waste another 50 years without successfully tackling the
problems of poverty, squalor, illiteracy, child labor, female
exploitation, environmental degradation, urban slums and
semi-starvation--all leading to the underdevelopment of our coming
generations.

That is not the only aspect of the "Kashmir first" approach that should
alarm leaders in both countries. They will be playing dangerously into the
hands of the fundamentalists and fascists. These forces thrive on
religious emotions, and giving a higher priority to Kashmir translates
into greater hold for them on peoples' attention. It is not difficult to
imagine Kashmir being presented as the acid test for the future survival
of global Islam. Calls have already gone out to all faithful Muslims to
participate in this holy war, the jihad, and prove their Islamic purity by
becoming martyrs. This must have put enormous pressure on the large number
of secular Pakistani citizens who, unfortunately, do not have a voice in
their country. They are silenced because the entire discourse, the entire
agenda for debate on the future of the Subcontinent and relations between
India and Pakistan, is usurped by fundamentalists.

A similar danger lurks in India as well. The sight of returning bodies
from the military conflict in Kargil has provoked some of the largest
demonstrations of public support in recent history. There are reports
already--though mercifully only a few--of provocateurs going into
Muslim-dominated areas in some Indian cities and shouting anti-Muslim
slogans. The fundamentalists in India, whom Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee defied head on when he visited Pakistan earlier this year, are
equally eager to raise the communal ante and advance their agenda. If the
fundamentalists in the two countries were to seize peoples' support and
get into power, anything could be possible. These groups are ruthless in
the pursuit of their single point agendas, as all fascists and
fundamentalists are, and given a chance they will make the communal
question the central one in the Subcontinent. The future of the region and
even of Asia could then be at stake.

The way out is to give economics a fair chance. This means putting the
Kashmir issue on hold for the next 20 years while all energies in India
and Pakistan are devoted to economic development. Their leaders should
sign a no-war pact and agree to open up the borders and encourage trade
and other commercial links. A South Asia Free Trade Area already exists in
agreements, and target dates have been set. All the other neighbors are
ready and willing to go forward. So if the leaders of the two countries
can give economics a chance for the next two decades and agree to a no-war
pact, the region can be transformed.

It could at least begin to achieve its potential, through the joint
development of energy sources, linking the energy surplus areas of Central
Asia to energy deficit economies of South Asia, regional environment
projects, transport corridors and the like. Peace will help attract
foreign investment to the region.

In time, the Kashmir issue could be brought up again in all its
complexity. And it may not seem so complex after two decades of economic
development. The prosperity it spread could transform perceptions among
the vast majority of Indians and Pakistanis. They and their leaders might
begin looking differently at outstanding bilateral problems, including
Kashmir.

Surely, Indian leaders, more confident of voter support after delivering
economic prosperity, would feel more secure about contemplating a
referendum in Kashmir. A more educated and self-confident India could see
the futility of maintaining such a large armed presence in Kashmir and
take steps to safeguard human rights in the valley.

A more prosperous people of Kashmir, meanwhile, would be in a better
position to define their cause, in the quest for greater autonomy, or,
indeed, freedom. Given increasing tourist incomes and more normal contacts
with both India and Pakistan, a greater dose of provincial autonomy could
suddenly look adequate to them. In any case, the discussion and debate
will be taken out of the fundamentalist context in which it is being
conducted today, and with the hawks in Pakistan and India finally put in
their place, a new beginning could be made.

Fortunately, the current prime ministers do seem to realize the importance
of delivering a better living standard for their people and have
recognized that the ravages of another war are best avoided. Only a few
die-hards have come out in support of a more rigid and uncompromising
stand. It is clear that the majority of people would rather get on with
improving their lot than chase the elusive satisfaction of changing the
Line of Control along their disputed border. Slowly, public opinion is
changing.

It will take leadership to make economic development the single point
agenda for any future negotiations between the two countries. But if India
and Pakistan act now, a prospering and dynamic South Asia can cut itself
away from its past ghosts, and decide to bury them forever.

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