Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'When will Pakistan improve?' that was published in Newsband

When will Pakistan improve?

Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Pakistan was a big event. Singh’s decision to finally show up for the SAARC interior ministers’ meet in Islamabad was wise. After all, India is the largest country in South Asia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November.

During his visit, Singh played to a domestic constituency, keen on highlighting Pakistani snubs and returning to India without attending the lunch hosted by the Pakistani government. This tendency of matching Pakistani provocation with Indian retort is natural since Pakistan and its politicians are busy stoking fires burning in their homeland but insist on starting new fires in another's land through terrorism by young men who lose their lives never knowing why and what for.

On the opening day Pakistan raised the Kashmir issue. That was not the time or the place to insult your guests. SAARC is not for resolving political issues but for development and cooperation. Therefore, Singh's response was appropriate. Singh did nothing wrong. Pakistan is one state where all kind of diplomacy has failed. There is little scope of reaching bilateral consensus on issues. So these days both parties have started raising the issues at regional and international forums.

With what is actually happening in J & K, a friendly diplomatic approach towards Pakistan would have made the government look weak. It is important that a stable and decisive government should look bold enough to express its views on terrorism and must start diplomacy only when the other party has been made to realize that what India is saying has a ring of truth around it.

Some say that this tendency of matching Pakistani provocation with Indian retort is not always necessary since it can undermine India’s diplomatic effort to build a greater constituency for regional cooperation, not just in Pakistan but also in the other member countries. The results of the visit was skeptical from the beginning as both nations did not want to miss the opportunity of blowing up Kashmir issue in their own way to attract their domestic constituencies. Both are showing their position as a victory on each other while the Kashmiris feel that their lives have been 'defeated' by callous governments. This lack of vision might be detrimental to Kashmir interests.

In the past all our generosities have been rewarded only with unremitting and enduring hostilities by Pakistan. India cannot be a country with unlimited patience and kindness absorbing all terrorist attacks without retaliating, and absorbing all insults without even demurring. If we become softer and servile for an unknown 'larger cause', the rest of the world will assume us to be 'cowards'.

We need to be more engaged and involved with Pakistan. Now that global pressure is building on Pakistan we may think of a tactical pincer move by softening the blow on Pakistan at one end and building relentless pressure on its military to act against terrorism. It is pointless and futile to be magnanimous and accommodating always to Pakistan. This policy has achieved nothing for 60 years. Rajnath Singh used the right tactics to counter Pakistan's aggressive tactics by allowing terrorists to demonstrate against India on his arrival. By openly discussing terrorism and not attending lunch, he conveyed a tough image that India has and given a signal that we refuse to be messed about with. Previous Governments should have been just as stern, as Pakistan has taken advantage of India's soft and friendly demeanour. India should push ahead with strengthening its relations with the other SAARC members.

The object of any meeting between Indians and Pakistanis, even if it be in a multilateral format, is to reduce the trust deficit, seek ways to enlarge cooperation in the less sensitive spheres such as trade and travel, mitigate the possibility of conflict and serious misunderstanding, ultimately to create conditions conducive to more serious issues being taken up for resolution. A meeting / visit such as this one that creates acrimony is better avoided. There should be deep thought given to whether our Prime Minister should attend the SAARC summit later this year.