Daily Times

It is getting apparent that the attitude of the world has changed towards Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks of 2008. Though the change cannot be called an about-face, it falls squarely in the context of one drifting away from the other. Perhaps Pakistan has yet to acknowledge the drift, the omens of which are now numerous.

Though Pakistan denies any official involvement (or laxity) in the Mumbai attacks, it faces problems in refuting the allegation that the perpetrators were Pakistanis operating through some facilitators’ clandestine help, which, in either way, alludes to the presence of some originators of the plan attached to its soil. Pakistan has not come clean on it. One of the reasons may be that Pakistan has yet to calculate the cost of such allegations. Another reason may be that Pakistan has yet to compute the price of its inaction on the matter (in clearing its name). Pakistan is still mired in a state of denial, which is no solution.

It is not what India can do to force Pakistan to come clean on the matter; it is the realisation in Pakistan about the wrong perpetrated against civilians of a neighbouring country, India, irrespective of whether or not Pakistan has a dispute with it. To the citizens of Pakistan, the government of Pakistan should not show any complacency that could signify Pakistan’s proclivity for promoting terrorism in neighbouring countries be it India or Afghanistan, even indirectly. Nevertheless, a common citizen of Pakistan cannot stand aloof of the situation because of three reasons. First, any counter action done by either India or Afghanistan may also affect a common Pakistani citizen. Secondly, resorting to terrorism, even indirectly, means using unfair means that cannot be appreciated by a conscious mind. Thirdly, it is unethical to contest a case through acts of terrorism.

Two wrongs cannot make a right. If some Indians did set the Samjhota Express on fire in 2007, no carte blanche can be given to any group in or any loose association to Pakistan to level the score on its own with the Indians. It should not be people-to-people revenge. Similarly, in the name of giving freedom to Kashmiris from the atrocities committed by the Indian army in occupied Kashmir, Pakistanis cannot resort to any action that causes massacre in any city of India. In no way can this attitude be condoned or compromised.

Does this mean that the Kashmir issue has been reduced to the extent that the blood of innocent Indian civilians will be shed to pay the cost? This point is a sheer insult to the Kashmir cause. Neither the religion of Islam nor any worldly moral and ethical standards permit any Pakistani to carry out massacre in India. Furthermore, does it mean that Pakistan has lost its arguments to prove Kashmir its part? No one can be allowed to commit acts on the behalf of Pakistan or Pakistanis, when there was no consensus to do so. Individuals, whether or not they have mass following, should not be allowed to sabotage the state of Pakistan and its policies through their acts under any inspired ideology. No Pakistani should become a terrorist proxy to be used against India. Pakistan is a mature country and has a legitimate, winnable case over Kashmir, besides other border disputes with India.

In a country where intelligence agencies tend to hound writers, where certain sections of the media and the political spectrum have gone right wing conservative just to feed on people’s anti-India sentiments, especially after fanning them, and where the sitting government cannot risk losing its democratic legitimacy if it fails in showing any semblance of anti-India rhetoric, it is difficult to say (though it is apt to say) that Pakistan should apologise to India for the (alleged) involvement of its citizens in the massacre carried out in Mumbai in 2008. The reason is simple: Pakistan has a standing army to fight with the standing army of India to settle any conflict. However, no civilian in the guise of a non-state actor has any right to kill innocent civilians belonging to India to highlight any cause, be it even the Kashmir issue. What happened in Mumbai was an inhuman, cowardly and condemnable act that tarnished the image of Pakistanis and Pakistan.

Whether or not India wants to annihilate or dismember Pakistan, Pakistan should behave in a mature way. Before embarking upon talks on Kashmir with India, Pakistan must settle the issue of the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan should do a proactive investigation into the matter whether or not India provides any convincing evidence. Similarly, whether asked by India or not, the state of Pakistan should take an initiative to clear its name and deal out justice to the planners and originators of the attack, no matter how powerful they are and no matter how much influence they enjoy in the public. Pakistan should disengage itself from the Mumbai attacks by doing justice to the matter even if justice benefits India. That act can make Pakistan feel proud and help it win a moral victory over India on its subversive acts against Pakistan. Secondly, it can help Pakistan contest the cause of Kashmir (and Kashmiris) at both the national and international level more convincingly than before. If Pakistan does not do something substantial on the Mumbai attack front, Pakistanis may enter into a phase of paranoia in which any mishap happening on its soil would be attributed to Indian hands.

Pakistan should do some introspection to fathom the effects of its state of denial. It should ask itself whether the status of Pakistan has increased in the region and in the world or decreased, whether Pakistan has earned respect in the comity of nations or disrespect and whether Pakistani citizens are now venerated in the world or considered terrorist suspects. It is not what kind of diplomatic relations India has with the world to turn it against Pakistan; it is that the world is not a fool.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com