The oddest thing happened in Pakistan recently, and India would do well to weigh its significance since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed September meeting in New York with Pakistan leader Nawaz Sharif technically still remains on the agenda.
Strong words have issued from Indian leaders against Islamabad of late but Pakistan troops continue to violate the Line of Control with abandon. Firing by Pakistan at the LoC occurred on India’s Independence Day and the day following, marking something of a record run of hostile conduct. But neither side has called off the meeting slated to be held on the sidelines of the UN session.
Well-placed diplomatic sources indicate that Mr Sharif prayed alone at home on the day of Id (August 9). For Muslims, Id prayers are important community occasions, traditionally. Of a civilian leader who was deposed by military men and staged a comeback after more than a decade, handsomely winning the Parliament election, it was expected that he would be the star attraction at prayers at the most important mosque in Islamabad or Lahore, the political centre of Mr Sharif’s party.
It is being said the Prime Minister stayed in as he could not be absolutely certain the Pakistan Army would guarantee his protection at a mass prayer. The meaning being read into this is that Mr Sharif is still to build a rapport with the military.
The Army’s actions are already thought to be in dissonance with the thinking of the PM. In his election speeches Mr Sharif had pledged to establish friendly ties with India and continued to speak in that vein after assuming office. In contrast, the military has not only kept up pressure on the LoC without an ostensible reason, but has also tried to hit Indian interests in Afghanistan, as the botched August 3 attack on the Indian consulate in Jalalabad shows.
The question being asked is: What can talks between PMs yield in such inauspicious circumstances? It is evident that PM Sharif is in no position to make his Army, or terrorists, who feed off the Army- behave.
Also, but for Pakistan Army’s unexplained hostility against India at this juncture, LeT’s spiritual guru Hafiz Sayeed would not have the temerity to lead Id prayers in Lahore, with Mr Sharif looking on as a powerless spectator. The US has placed a reward of 10 million dollars for information leading to the LeT motivator’s capture, and the authorities in Pakistan let him preside over the year’s most important public prayers.
The irony is intended to convey to Prime Minister Sharif — and to the US — that he cannot be permitted to shape Pakistan’s attitude toward India, for that has traditionally been the province of the Army.
More, if the Army disavows any interest in Mr Sharif’s security, as the Id day happenings showed, it is evident the Pakistan PM is in no position to make any worthwhile commitment to India as regards Pakistan-rooted terrorist violence against this country.
If Dr Singh and Mr Sharif do indeed meet in September, they cannot help but discuss the Afghan theatre, and the peace process derailed through Taliban’s insouciance. Here too the Pakistan Army has prevailed, much to the Pakistan Prime Minister’s chagrin.While in July the Pakistan PM’s adviser on national security and foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, conveyed to President Hamid Karzai in Kabul that the Sharif government would support the Kabul line that the talks with the Taliban be Afghan-owned and Afghan-led, Taliban leader Mullah Omar in his five-page long Id communiqué virtually tore into any idea of acknowledging the Karzai regime and vowed to carry on fighting. Many believe that it was the Pakistan Army speaking through that communiqué.