Daily Times

The world with all its continents, countries, states, provinces, districts and sectors has shrunken. Seven billion people in the world stand as one today, battling one global pandemic that has left no country untouched. It is certainly testing times like these when one realizes the importance of having a good neighborhood, at a time when even kin and community cannot come to one’s rescue. Coronavirus is that realization that has dawned upon South Asia as a region.

An instance of the same was seen when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi resuscitated communication among SAARC nations. On March 15 as well, a glimpse of regional cooperation could be seen when SAARC leaders teamed up for a virtual meeting to deliberate upon and coordinate joint efforts toward a regional response to the deadly outbreak. It was in years that India and Pakistan, countries known worldwide for hostile relations met face to face to discuss a problem that threatens them equally. Such moves put to display major shifts in policies and politics when enemies are brought together by disasters.

The world knows India and Pakistan due to the legacy of their seven decade long feud over Kashmir, however the neighbours have outplayed themselves when it comes to the Kartarpur Corridor. This crossing is approximately 4.1 km long, and connects two important Sikh shrines. On the Indian side is the Dera Baba Nanak, while the Pakistan side has the Kartarpur shrine. The Kartarpur corridor was recently opened for pilgrims and allows Indian pilgrims rare visa-free access to the site in Pakistan.

This Corridor symbolizes Pakistan’s renewed efforts at not only portraying itself as a country that desires to safeguard the interests of its religious minority but the corridor also paints India as a country willing to engage with Pakistan in determined efforts for freer movement of people across transnational borders.

It was religion that divided both countries and here it is religion yet again that is uniting them to make coordinated, conjoined efforts. The Kartarpur Corridor by the virtue of its existence, operation and smooth facilitation signifies a major shift in the relationship between the two countries that have always been at loggerheads since their inception.

The Corridor reflects a formalization of the informal exchanges that have taken place between the two countries. Both countries acknowledge Kartarpur Corridor, both prime ministers celebrate it, and both governments have actively participated in creating mechanisms that facilitate the smooth transnational movement of people. Even UN chief Antonio Guterres on his visit to Pakistan said the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is a practical example of Pakistan’s desire for peace and inter-faith harmony, as he visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev.

While in Kartarpur, the extent of cooperation is commendable and acts as first-of-a- kind example in the world, where two conflicting nations have come together to bridge the hostile gap with peace. Setting an example for Palestine and Israel, two States with two different existential ideologies mired in conflict over Masjid Al-Aqsa; the Kartarpur Corridor bridges seven decades of hatred, memories of violence and partition. It is not clandestinely knowledge that both countries have serious security concerns, the establishment and operation of this corridor could have gone either way, previously undertaken Indo-Pak initiatives have also seen security repercussions such as blasts that halted the movement of the Samjhauta Express after 31 years of functioning, but in Kartarpur, India and Pakistan have poised faith and confidence in each other for the materialization of a religious concept for a community that it a minority in both the countries. Today, in the Kartarpur Corridor we see the conceptualization of a unique form of movement of people that doesn’t undermine the sovereignty of either of the two concerned states, as Sikhs walk from India, they carry their faith and when Pakistan opens its land to them, India and Pakistan establish a corridor that doesn’t neglect territorial integrity and sovereignty, rather it emboldens their respect for the same faith.

In a way, such an agreement of allowing religious pilgrimage finds its roots in The Treaty of Hudaibiyah, undertaken by the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW) that not only proved to be of significant political foresight but also created space for Islam through peaceful negotiation wherein Muslims were allowed to perform Umrah upon agreement with their nemesis, the Quraish clan.

Kashmir stands as an example of a region that has been demanding the same model of movement and exchange since several years now. Freer movement of people, more business and trade opportunities, freer movement of goods across the border that link one Kashmir to the other, are demands that find adequate echo in Kashmir.

Where India and Pakistan have been linked by the thread of religion in Kartarpur, the same model can be established in Kashmir. Tensions over Kashmir, ceasefire violations, separatism, cross LoC firing, between the two countries have created gargantuan gaps in their communication, and continue to fuel the coldness and hostility between the two, both still however share a past full of joint achievements.

In the year 2008, India and Pakistan had jointly initiated running trucks on routes that connect the two Kashmirs, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot roads. The free movement in lieu of trade was seen as the biggest confidence-building measure since the two countries fought their first war over Kashmir in 1947. The landmark decision to initiate trade across the LoC was taken in April 2005 and then onwards it was decided to establish the requisite institutions in Uri and Poonch, for commencement of trade. After identifying land and creating other facilities, cross-LoC trade formally started between two countries in October 2008.

Another joint exercise by the two countries that resulted in free movement across the border was the Karwaan-E-Aman bus service, which was part of a Confidence Building Measure (CBM) between India and Pakistan after 1999 Kargil War. It started on April 7, 2005, extending help to thousands of families for meeting each other after India and Pakistan agreed to allow travel of state subjects from both sides on travel permits.

Kashmir stands as an example of a region that has been demanding the same model of movement and exchange since several years now

Such achievements in the past and present make India and Pakistan stand shoulder to shoulder, and make known the fact that if both countries are willing there is ample scope of growth, negotiation and joint exercise. From India and Pakistan heavily securitizing Kashmir, citing terrorism and security as reasons of concern, such porosity might seem undo-able; however, cooperation between the two south Asian powers would only help create peace and stability in the region even if it is via a corridor established between the two. An initiative that connects one Kashmir to the other be able to further send a message to violent aggressors that both India and Pakistan are seeking cooperation of one another in the region and are willing to establish relations of trust that de-escalate the animosity in the region.

Every new day, one happens to hear news of shelling and firing along that LOC, from Pakistan to India as well as India to Pakistan. As the African proverb goes, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”, meaning that the weak get hurt in conflicts between the powerful. Kashmir has suffered thoroughly in the seven decades that it has been pitted as a winning prize between India and Pakistan’s tug of war; it is high time that Kashmir is re-imagined as a corridor of confluence rather than a track for terrorism.

When Pakistan drops its defenses and invites Sikhs from India to freely come and pray at their religious shrine, it is Pakistan’s invitation for rekindling ties of religion that have always created an atmosphere of pandemonium.

The two countries who dictate the tone of all major dialogues in South Asia cannot function in isolation, it is these two countries whose mood and tone cancels and holds regional conferences like that of SAARC. While the Kartarpur Corridor has established Pakistan’s desire to transcend its hospitality and respect for faith across the border, a similar Kashmir based initiative would be the greatest confidence building measure that would not only serve as a peace maker between the two countries, but also grant peace to Kashmiris who have borne the brunt of the antagonism that surrounds their very existence. An initiative in Kashmir that makes the border irrelevant and caters to the free and dignified movement of people would mark a new turn in India-Pakistan relations.

Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also saw the capacity of conflict transformation in the maintenance of the LOC as a line of confluence for which he undertook the ground work for opening of trade and people-to-people contact across LoC as a major confidence building measure. He also got former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif onboard to work on the same plan displaying that not only objectives that can be achieved through peaceful negotiation, but also that it is not impossible for India and Pakistan to sail in the same boat.

As religion continues to be the bone of contention for both Pakistan and India, Kartarpur is breathing as an example which illustrates that religion that severed the two nations now connects the two nations after seven decades. If their combined efforts as nations can lead to the easy passage of Sikh pilgrims from India to Pakistan to pay obeisance to their religious shrines, then a day is surely seeable wherein Kashmiris freely travel from one side to another uplifting cooperation, peace and stability between the two nations who emanate from a common history of colonization.

The author is a freelance journalist based in India