India-Pakistan diplomacy must be bilateral to truly work
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” This is one of the most seminal opening paragraphs in the whole canon of English literature, from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
It eerily and aptly sums up the paradoxical state of current relations between Pakistan and India wherein they are not even on complete talking terms with each other (both withdrew their envoys after India withdrew special legal status for Kashmir in August) and yet they have just operationalized an incredible visa-free regime for Indian Sikhs in the hundreds of thousands to visit their second-most holy shrine in the world located in Kartarpur in Pakistan.
It is an agreement without parallel in their bilateral history of cooperation except for the Indus Water Basin Treaty that helps divide water flowing from the Himalayas between them, but which is also floundering.
The Kartarpur agreement also comes at a time that throws up the awkwardness in the bilateral relationship. Barely 100 days ago, India flooded Kashmir with troops and withdrew its legal autonomy — the disputed valley over which the two countries have fought three wars and a skirmish that led to a dogfight in the skies earlier this year.
Within these 100 days, Pakistan seemingly miraculously shed its generally laggard infrastructure development capacities to inaugurate Kartarpur Shrine in time for the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak.
Diplomacy needs to be manifestly bilateral, not functioning in a unilateral vacuum like it is on the Pakistan side in this case. Pakistan can’t pick and choose which parts of India it will befriend. The reverse is just as true for India, of course.
Adnan Rehmat
The contrast was clear for the world to see: while India has been legally and politically tight-fisted about its religious minorities, Pakistan was literally dishing out the royal treatment for Indian minorities, reaching out to millions of Indian citizens. But, as is often the case with posturing between Pakistan and India, there is more to things than meets the eye.
Which parts of the negative and positive contrasts in Dickens’ text apply to the current status of these two sulky South Asian nuclear giants? That depends on one’s vantage point.
In Pakistan, the media is full of understandable hype about engagement, pluralism, and bonhomie while a spirit of hope and promise hangs in the air. There is a righteous sense within the Pakistani establishment of having pulled off a sensational diplomatic coup so to say – which, given the traditional rivalry with India, is not off the mark as it is usually Pakistan that is in world headlines for all the wrong reasons. And so, Pakistan is loving this moment.
But a measure of how self-righteousness in bilateral relations is not a mechanism for diplomatic success is on ample display if one looks at the general sentiment in India beyond its Sikh-majority state of Punjab on the border with Pakistan.
The media, the people, and the Indian government do not necessarily reflect positivity in terms of Pakistan’s engagement with Indian Punjab through the Kartarpur project. In general, it is being viewed as Pakistan merely being an opportunist and attempting to create a diplomatic buffer between itself and mainstream, Hindu India.
While this is unfortunate, it is clear that every initiative that creates productive engagement and sets aside self-defeating nationalist narratives is not enough in itself.
Diplomacy needs to be manifestly bilateral, not functioning in a unilateral vacuum like it is on the Pakistan side in this case. Pakistan can’t pick and choose which parts of India it will befriend. The reverse is just as true for India, of course.
So, what can be done? While Kartarpur offers a good starting blueprint for how large sections of a country can be engaged in a productive embrace that reduces conflict and enhances humanistic elements in diplomacy, it needs to be built upon rather than be taken as an end in itself.
The entente with India needs to be enhanced through a reduction of the anti-Hindu narrative used by the Pakistani establishment. India needs to do likewise and use its democracy to reduce hostile narratives that simultaneously stoke political conflict within India, which also simultaneously flames anger in Pakistan. This is not impossible.
*Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.
Twitter: @adnanrehmat1
