Daily Times

Pakistan’s ill-considered drive to connect civilisationally with the Middle East created multiple illusions and disorientations of its own. Religion was wrongly equated with civilisation, leaving hardly any room for local cultural traditions and physical differences. Mosque podiums became the keepers of public morality and cultural correctness. The concept of ‘Ummah’ was forcefully propagated as an alternative without considering that it was basically a notion not a political, physical or cultural reality.

That required us to thoughtlessly disown our splendid 8,000-year-old history and look for role models in foreign Muslim invaders and sultans, rather than, say, appreciate King Poras for his brave stand against Alexander the Great. For our romantic historian, our history starts from the much-lauded conquest of Sind by Mohammad bin Qasim, who was simply a successful military campaigner in the manner of those times and not a zealous Islamic missionary as the mullahs would like us to believe. We turned away from our historic indigenous connectivity to look for moorings in the Middle East and are at sea to this day.

Middle East does not own us, and we have lifted our anchor from the subcontinent decades ago.That is why we face disappointments from the Middle East almost on a daily basis, which few have the intelligence and depth to explain why. We crave for an ancient Arab Islamic system of governance, which does not fully correspond to and has to be chiselled for the genius of our own cultural history. Brilliant and practical examples of administration set by Muslim kings in the subcontinent have been summarily shelved because the crusted clergy was always opposed to its ‘impurities’, and in Pakistan, the same stream of clergy found fertile ground to prune the logic in their favour. As a result, we are neither here nor there. Ironically, we should be the only country in the world that has two parallel Supreme Courts-one that dispenses justice under the Anglo Saxon law as adapted and the other under the Islamic law.

Military, diplomatic and economic strands of Indian leadership’s mental cobwebs spun around Pakistan are quite intertwined. Other countries in India’s neighbourhood have, more or less, reconciled, rather capitulated, under the combined weight of India’s economic and military might, led by her aggressive diplomacy. It is Pakistan that seems to have the temerity to continuously resist and challenge India’s military and diplomatic ascendency and her economic might in the region. Astonishingly, a country that is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy since decades, is on the dole of donors, is smaller in size, and is being torn apart by ethnic, sectarian and political discord refuses to back off or be shouted down. It has fought four wars with India, and has been cut into half, yet every time it seems to have been floored, it beats the count and stands up to box on.

India’s military hardware and foot soldiers outnumber Pakistan’s by many counts, yet Pakistan shows no signs of panic or worry, and comes up with one or the other ingenious remedy to India’s military edge. Militarily, year 1998 was the last when India could bring her overwhelming military might to bear upon Pakistan for any meaningful concession. For India, the option of direct military coercion is now no more viable as Pakistan is determined to deploy her nuclear weapons should the threat becomes existential. And to be sure, it will not be India but Pakistan who will decide when a threat from India becomes critical. It could essentially be military but may not be purely military.

India’s military hardware and foot soldiers outnumber Pakistan’s by many counts, yet Pakistan shows no signs of panic or worry

Pakistan’s determination to stand up to India’s muscle flexing can be measured by its willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons should push comes to shove, a stroke of genius that took the wind off the sails of the infamous Cold Start doctrine, and forced a change of posture now to the Integrated Brigade Group(IBG) warfighting concept. Expect Pakistan to come up with an antidote to this too, soon. Indian strategists conspicuously failed to appreciate Pakistan’s very well-considered drive to jointly produce JF 17 Thunder aircraft with China. The IAFtasted its bite in February 2019, to their embarrassment. There are squadrons of this quick fire swift scorpion in the PAF that India will take years to catch up to. There is much more to look forward to with the land forces and the Navy to give a good run for money if India so chooses.

India’s diplomacy was staked in the belief that they could outdo Pakistan any time they wanted to, particularly after the 1971 debacle, when the Pakistan Foreign Office was noticeable by its failure to sell Pakistan’s point of view. We continued in that benign neglect mode for quite some time until our diplomatic mail began to return undelivered, so to say. A stocktaking was done by the likes of the late Sahibzada Yakub Khan.

Pakistan began to be heard internationally again for many other reasons. Just then the BJP came into power in India, and the notion of isolating Pakistan was set up for the first time. That was a declaration of a diplomatic war and the battle lines began to be drawn. The thin line between diplomacy and military option began to erode dangerously. It might have been a new and a heady feeling for the South Block in Delhi, but Pakistan was used to it as it fed right into its ever present insecurity syndrome. It also was grist to the militancy mill in the lower stratum of Pakistani society. None was happier than the clergy whose bellicose narrative of a holy war and India’s aggressive intent was strengthened unexpectedly.

This ill-considered and very injudicious campaign has polarised international diplomacy, pushed China to greater defence cooperation with Pakistan, and helped Pakistan to take off its diplomatic gloves versus India. Their mutual antagonism found new battlefields in the international forums like the IMF, FATF, UNHRC, SAARC,ASEAN and SCO to count a few. India seems to be making a proverbial monkey of itself denigrating Pakistan where it was not even required. Her dream of an exclusive diplomatic zone of influence in her periphery became the first casualty.

In the heat of all this and the strange spectacle to find Pakistan irrepressible Indian policy makers missed two cardinal points. They have comprehensively failed to appreciate that despite Pakistan’s massive internal chaos, when militarily threatened by India or challenged directly Pakistanis gel instantly. The people have a matchless resilience against a bully that multiplies exponentially if it comes from India. The other and more important characteristic of Pakistani people is that they respond instantly to friendliness and empathy as by nature they are open and fun loving. It is difficult for them to hold a grouse for long. However, their collective dignity and self-esteem is non-negotiable. It can be seen that India and not Pakistan will have to choose between pointless animosity and peaceful engagement; the terms of endearment are well known.

(Concluded)

The writer can be reached at clay.potter@hotmail.com