Daily Times

Usual diplomatic compulsions seldom allow diplomats to speak their mind on record, especially when it comes to India and Pakistan where words are measured much more than is required. But here there is a book that offers a comprehensive account by a former Pakistani foreign minister who directly contributed to moving up the peace process with India. This was hailed as the most promising dialogue between Pakistan and India since independence.

Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy by Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri provides a detailed analysis of the Kashmir issue and the complex Pakistan-US-Afghanistan-India quadrangular relationship. Kasuri believes that whenever two statesmen are at the helm in India and Pakistan, for improvement of relations they have to revert to the framework formulated during the author’s tenure as the foreign minister of Pakistan.

The book is enveloped in official details but not without a personal touch. Kasuri goes ahead to speak his mind in dealing with his Indian counterparts, Pranab Mukherjee, K Natwar Singh and Yashwant Sinha, who were the ‘movers and shakers’ of Indian policies outside of its boundaries and at home. But for the author, when it comes to recalling his own experiences with Pervez Musharraf, he appears to be a complex narrator even when he personally shared warm relations with that retired general, with an organised dictatorial streak. More precisely, he does not appear to be commenting too candidly on a very decisive decade, impacted by Musharraf’s grabbing of Pakistan’s troubled democracy.

A reader once makes progress with this book and gets the sense that the author has primarily chosen to be utmost frank about the neighbourhood and the leaders living there. He goes equally heavily in revealing the acts of prime actors in the power centres in his own country. Probably this was done consciously to not make controversy imminent through his words, otherwise used in lacklustre fashion, on this new work on Pakistan. Yet, the book did not stay clear of stern criticism and controversy from the political right wing in India although that is a usual part of their reaction. Instead, careful of the opposition, the author has penned this work. The ‘ink’ was blown out of proportion over there, alas!

The book is merited most with the author’s rich anecdotal accounts where he presents less perceptible facts. Kasuri is not an obsessed chronicler of Indian affairs; he proves it time and again with this book while writing at length about Pakistan’s crucial ties with China, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. His analytical depth is remarkable and his objective approach adds much value to his stand as a leader and writer.This is another quality he exudes by documenting something that goes against the conventional anti-India sentiment in Pakistan, something that every peace-loving person may like.

Kasuri’s pragmatism appears to be the hallmark of his understanding on foreign policy, thus he relies more on the softer aspects rather than hard-sold strategic games. He rightly identifies the ‘fissures’ in India-Pakistan relations, which surface through gaps at the people-to-people level, and suggests a shift of dialogue on rational terms. On Kashmir, the author speaks out for Pakistan’s interest, and opines how following the old thinking is taking the country nowhere. He candidly admits why Pakistan’s Kashmir policy needs a radical shift and where it should aim to normalise relations with India to safeguard its long-term strategic and economic interests.

Keeping this spirit in the same momentum, Kasuri reminds the readers about his vision that made Musharraf accept the importance of the ‘status quo’ while moving an inch further for normalising India-Pakistan relations. Based on the same theory, the latter has shown temporary faith in initiating dialogues, recognising the criticality of Kashmir and overlooking all the issues that were not helping the cause of improved bilateral relations between the two countries.

At least in principle that theory had many constructive points, including making India-Pakistan borders no longer a tension ground. But sadly, the Kargil war took place and Musharraf led it in the strongest possible manner. The peace process did not take off from that new low, created with the deadliest war of abnormal neighbours. So, in the first place, it was Musharraf himself who failed to give peace a genuine chance, based on the wisdom of Kasuri.

Irrespective of this sad end of Kasuri’s diplomatic dealings with India, he should be hailed for being “neither hawkish nor dovish”. In being that successful, he offers some hope for these two major countries of South Asia, which have been gripped with wrong precedents and disastrous ways of trying course correction, which have mostly backfired. Yet, still the best comes from dialogue; it does not matter how many times hiccups disturb it.

Kasuri has written in clear terms that the unsavoury reputation of “non-state actors” should be checked and they should not be given any traction to derail the much-needed official line of peace dialogues for normalising India-Pakistan relations. In the wake of the Pathankot attack, the inherent meaning of dialogue becomes even more relevant. If the people are to be taken into account, the majority population on both sides has conformity over merits with the sustenance of dialogue. This book, in its centrality, keeps this message intact. This coming from an insider of Pakistan’s highest administrative echelon is truly noticeable. The book holds qualities in opinion, and for that sake enthusiasts on India-Pakistan matters should read it without preconceptions.

The writer is a New Delhi based journalist and writer. He can be reached at summertickets@gmail.com