Pakistani people are shocked and outraged over the myopic statements and counter-statements by retired Pakistani army generals on the Kargil military adventure, perceived not only hurtfully ill-timed but also dangerously counter-productive, triggering a hectic debate in the media in Pakistan, and evidently so in India, giving deadly ammunition to the country to malign Pakistan. The Indian opposition leadership and the media had already taken on the Indian government for its alleged tardiness on the skirmishes on the LoC early this month. The beating of drums for creating war hysteria in India is continuing unabated, meant to pressurise the Indian government to halt the process of normalisation of relations because it is not worth it and history bears it out without an iota of doubt. The opposition, the BJP, has its own axe to grind. It is determined to capitalise on the issue, ostensibly to improve its future electoral prospects, and therefore, leading the campaign of Pakistan-bashing. The Indian media is seemingly hand-in-glove due to the imperative of approval ratings. The net result is that the trajectory to normalisation has taken a nosedive that may take more time than anticipated for an upward curve. One is terrified to think why some Pakistani army generals are doing such bidding, by default, to the advantage of the neighbouring country. Are they so incompetent, irresponsible or driven by hatred to the extent that their flawed sense of proportion cares less for the security interests of the country? The government of Pakistan and especially the military leadership should have taken notice and stopped them. They are enjoying enormous privileges and perks from the institution and yet engaged in cutting the ground from underneath it. The absence of an institutional firm and comprehensive response on such an important security issue, which indeed is undermining the institution, is beyond comprehension. Their ill-advised strategy is demoralising the people who are asking piercing questions. Are they promoting or jeopardising national security? Are they not a security risk? A commoner of ordinary prudence would not like to wash his dirty linen in public, what to talk of retired army generals. These loose cannons should ponder for a while what is the level of the internal threat perception and have a keyhole view of the situation across the eastern border before shooting off statements that are likely to come under public scrutiny. Pakistan is already up to its neck in the war against extremism and terrorism, and a smooth democratic transition is in sight. It means Pakistan needs everything for creating a resolute and enabling environment to surmount the challenges intertwined with our secure and bright future. Such unguarded attributions to the very senior army officials do not help, but rather hurt the cause, in this case grievously. The outrageous response of the Indian civil society, media and the opposition party, including the army chief of India, was mind-boggling, raising concern in the world capitals keen to see these two nuclear-armed countries as real good friends and friends in need. The distribution of pamphlets in Occupied Kashmir to the people spelling out precautionary measures in case of nuclear conflict rang alarm bells in the world capitals that were taken aback and gave credence that Kashmir is a flash point of a nuclear conflict. One fails to understand the rationale behind this, which cannot be justified as a part of psychological warfare as the incident was of a small nature and did not require a hammer when a screwdriver could do. Indian officials insisted that the advisory published was unrelated to the events on the LoC, and was a routine matter. But according to The New York Times, “If so it was remarkably ill timed. The Advisory said, build shelters in open space in front of the houses if they did not have basements because some protection is better than no protection.” The BJP took this incident to people and condemned the Manmohan Singh government as a weak government, which emboldened the Pakistan army to infiltrate into Indian territory and killed soldiers, with one soldier beheaded and the body of another badly mutilated. The opposition party urged the government to take the neighbour to task for teaching an unforgettable lesson. The Indian media was also harping on the same tune and its coverage was full of a jingoistic tone and tenor, aggravating the situation instead of helping to control it. Civil society, retired generals and bureaucrats were equally offensive, and blowing up the situation out of proportion. The government of India was forced to talk tough, and the prime minister had to give the statement, “Business with Pakistan cannot be as usual.” This was followed by the non-issuance of visas to senior citizens at the border; sending back the Pakistani hockey players who were contracted to play hockey in India; the cricket matches of Pakistani women team were in jeopardy due to threats emanating from the extremist elements in India. Pakistan women cricket team captain’s statement was an excellent PR stroke when she said, “We like to play cricket without caring for our comforts or situation outside.” The Indian foreign minister also spoke in terms of Kashmir as the integral part of India and therefore it is not negotiable. All sorts of rhetoric and Pakistan-bashing has been continuing from the Indian side, which has kept the cauldron boiling for some time. After a pause of some days, the Indian media and the pro-peace lobby surfaced, which had gone into hibernation in the wake of popular resentment and did not confront the hawks who were having an open field. Some Indian media persons, like Karan Thappar, took the initiative and dared to blast the hawkish elements including the BJP as doing politics with the blood of the two Indian soldiers and their hollow claims of taking revenge must understand the imperatives of nuclear holocausts. “These peddlers of assured self-destruction must not be heeded and the situation can be managed without compromising the sovereignty and dignity of the country,” he articulated in his hugely popular TV programme. The others who were waiting also joined by arguing that incidents of this nature had been taking place on the LoC in the past but without such a hue and cry, although Indian soldiers also committed the barbaric acts of beheading Pakistani soldiers. According to reports published in a section of the Indian and Pakistani press, reports of such barbarism were reported to the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) but were not made public for fear of a popular backlash. According to The Hindu, at least 12 Pakistani soldiers’ bodies were decapitated on the LoC by the Indian soldiers since 1998. A senior Pakistani army officer is quoted by the newspaper as having said, “We have sought to downplay these incidents fearing a public backlash pushing us into a situation we cannot afford on the LoC, given that much of our army is committed on the western borders.” In the present context, undoubtedly, the world, the Indian pro-peace media and civil society were appreciative of the response of the Pakistani civilian and military leadership that immediately suggested measures to defuse the escalation on the LoC, unlike the Indian leaders and media. Pakistan foreign minister’s statement for holding a ministerial level meeting between the two countries was cited as a responsible imitative that preferred diplomacy over brinkmanship, the conduct of civilised nations in such eventualities. “The gruesome incident will not be allowed to derail the peace process between the two countries for which a lot of thinking and efforts have been put in,” stated the Indian foreign minister subsequently. Now, when the situation was returning to normal between the two countries, Pakistani General Shahid Aziz dropped a bombshell of Kargil, accusing General Musharraf of having undertaken the Kargil military adventure without taking the army on board, adding it was the brainchild of four generals and therefore turned out to be a disaster. These revelations have opened a Pandora’s box, which is going to prove a second setback in quick succession to the peace process, which is already on a bumpy road. Normalisation of relations remains a pipedream, to the utter frustration of the poor people of the two countries. The writer is an advocate and former federal secretary information