DATE=6/3/98
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-40579
TITLE=INDO PAK RELATIONS
BYLINE=RAVI KHANNA
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: TENSION CONTINUES TO MOUNT BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
AFTER LAST MONTH'S NUCLEAR TESTS BY THE TWO SOUTH ASIAN
NEIGHBORS. RAVI KHANNA SPOKE WITH THE FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARIES
OF THE TWO COUNTRIES FOR A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON RELATIONS
WHICH HAVE BEEN STRAINED SINCE THE NATIONS GAINED INDEPENDENCE
FROM THE BRITISH IN 1947.
TEXT: INDIA'S FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY, J-N DIXIT, BLAMES THE
TENSION BETWEEN THE TWO ON WHAT HE CALLS PAKISTAN'S IDENTITY
CRISIS.
/// DIXIT ACTUALITY-ONE ///
THERE ARE TWO FACTORS. FIRST; PAKISTAN, EVEN AFTER THE
PARTITION, HAS A SENSE OF CRISIS ABOUT ITS IDENTITY. IT
DID NOT GET ALL THE MUSLIMS FROM INDIA -- PRE-PARTITION
INDIA -- INTO PAKISTAN. SO THE TWO-NATION THEORY THAT
ISLAM WILL CREATE THE BASIS FOR A NEW NATION HAS NOT
BEEN PROVED CORRECT. IT WAS FURTHER ERODED BY THE
BREAKING AWAY OF BANGLADESH. SO THERE IS THIS ABIDING
PROBLEM OF IDENTITY. SO TO CONSOLIDATE THEIR IDENTITY,
THEY FEEL THAT THEY MUST CONSTANTLY HARP ON THE THEME OF
THEIR ISLAMIC NATURE, AND THEIR SEPARATENESS FROM THE
REST OF INDIA, OR INDIAN PEOPLE WITH WHOM THEY SHARE
CULTURE, LANGUAGE, MUSIC, ALL SORTS OF THINGS. SO THIS
IS A CASE WHERE THE GEO-POLITICAL REALITY IS SOUGHT TO
BE TRANSCENDED BY AN EMPHASIS ON A NARROWER IDENTITY.
THOUGH THERE IS A REALIZATION BOTH IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
THAT THEY SHOULD LIVE TOGETHER, THEY HAVE A SLIGHT
PARANOIA ABOUT IT.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
BUT PAKISTAN'S FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY SHAHARYAR KHAN SAYS IT
WAS INDIA THAT TRIGGERED THIS FEELING IN PAKISTAN BY NOT
ACCEPTING IT AS A SOVEREIGN STATE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PARTITION
IN 1947.
/// KHAN ACT-ONE ///
I THINK THERE WAS, AT THE TIME OF PARTITION, A FEELING
IN PAKISTAN THAT INDIA HAD NOT ACCEPTED PAKISTAN AS A
SOVEREIGN STATE, THAT IT WAS A BRIEF ABERRATION OF
QAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALI JINNAH (FOUNDING FATHER OF
PAKISTAN), AND THAT IN A SHORT PERIOD PAKISTAN SOMEHOW
WILL RETURN TO THE FOLD. AT LEAST THIS WAS THE
PERCEPTION -- A PERCEPTION FUELED BY VARIOUS AGREEMENTS
NOT BEING FULFILLED (BY INDIA), SUCH AS THE AGREEMENT TO
TRANSFER FINANCE, AND ALSO THE PROBLEMS THAT AROSE
IMMEDIATELY AT THE PARTITION -- THE LARGE NUMBER OF
DEATHS ON BOTH SIDES, AND OF COURSE THE ISSUE OF
KASHMIR, AND AT THAT TIME HYDERABAD AND JUNNAGARH ALSO.
SO THE FEELING IN PAKISTAN WAS THAT WE ARE A NEW BORN
STATE, WE HAVE COME INTO BEING, AND YET WE ARE NOT BEING
ACCEPTED IN OUR NEW IDENTITY, IN OUR NEW SOVEREIGNTY AND
THIS HAS LED TO A CERTAIN HOSTILITY IN PAKISTAN TOWARDS
INDIA AND I AM AFRAID THIS HOSTILITY HAS REMAINED OVER
THE LAST 50-YEARS.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
BUT MR. KHAN BELIEVES LAST MONTH'S NUCLEAR TESTS BY THE TWO
COUNTRIES WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR THEM TO SIT ACROSS THE TABLE AS
EQUALS AND TALK PEACE.
/// KHAN ACT-TWO ///
IN THESE 50-YEARS WE HAVE SEEN THREE WARS BETWEEN THE
TWO COUNTRIES, WHICH HAVE LED TO DESTRUCTION. THERE HAS
BEEN NO WINNER, BOTH SIDES HAVE BEEN LOSERS, AND TO
CONTEMPLATE SOMETHING AS HORRIBLE AS A NUCLEAR
CONFRONTATION IS SOMETHING WHICH BOTH COUNTRIES AND BOTH
PEOPLE SHOULD TURN THEIR BACKS ON. BUT AS YOU SAY THE
SILVER-LINING IN THIS WHOLE PROCESS IS THE FACT THAT
BOTH COUNTRIES ARE OUT OF THE CLOSET. NOW I FEEL THE
CHANCES OF BOTH SIDES SITTING DOWN (FOR TALKS) HAVE
INCREASED -- SEEING THE HORRORS OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF
THINGS WENT WRONG. BOTH SIDES -- PUSHED BY THEIR
PUBLIC, PUSHED BY THE PUBLIC OPINION, AND BY THE POOR
ELEMENTS WHO SUFFER SO MUCH FOR THE LACK OF EDUCATION,
OF HEALTH, OF POWER, OF SCHOOLS -- CAN NOW SIT DOWN
ACROSS THE TABLE VIRTUALLY ON A STATE OF EQUIVALENCE,
AND REALLY, MEANINGFULLY SETTLE DOWN TO TRYING AND
RESOLVING ISSUES. IT WILL NOT BE EASY, IT WILL TAKE A
LONG TIME, IT WILL BE A STEEP UPHILL, BUT MEANINGFUL
NEGOTIATIONS, I THINK, ARE NECESSARY AND PROBABLY HAVE A
BETTER CHANCE TODAY THAN THEY DID OVER THE LAST
50-YEARS.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
THAT WAS PAKISTAN'S FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY SHAHRYAR KHAN ON
INDIA/PAKISTAN RELATIONS. (SIGNED)
NEB/RK/CB/RAE
03-Jun-98 7:20 AM EDT (1120 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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