Indians, Pakistanis need peace to marry, travel and trade

By Mehru Jaffer

NEW DELHI (JP): New Delhi wears a festive look as last minute preparations are made in anticipation of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's maiden visit to the Indian capital city on Saturday.

Poets and singers from Pakistan are already in town to spread goodwill. Their presence has enhanced the atmosphere of hope that peace may eventually prevail between the two neighbors. India and Pakistan have already fought four major wars in their troubled history that is more than five decades old. Hundreds of civilians continue to be killed even today on its borders, especially in Kashmir.

M.F. Husain, India's most senior artist has painted a colorful canvas titled "Peace," to commemorate the occasion on the request of the Indian Prime Minister himself. The majority of people on both sides express optimism that heads of the two countries are at least meeting to talk to each other.

It is not the relationship between the people of the region that is the problem, but the antagonism between governments of both countries that is more than half a century old and now threatens to take the region back to prehistoric times.

Both countries are home today to some of the poorest people in the world and yet both prefer to spend billions of dollars on building nuclear arsenals, making their respective populations live in constant fear of a nuclear war.

Asma Jehangir, activist from Pakistan and human rights lawyer, told an Indian television channel that peace between India and Pakistan was no longer just a hope but an absolute necessity as the very survival of people here was at stake. The priority before both governments remains to provide food, shelter, education and employment to its sprawling masses.

According to writer Suketu Mehta, the two countries are unable to resolve problems rationally as they love each other too much. After all, it is the minority from the same population that decided to carve out a separate nation for Muslims and divided the Indian subcontinent in 1947 on the basis of religion. The two-nation theory advocated by Pakistan was defunct when East Pakistan decided to go on its own in 1971 as Bangladesh.

It is ironic that today the population of Muslims still living in India is larger than that of the total population of Pakistan. Musharraf himself was born in Delhi before partition, and when he pays a visit to his ancestral home, the Pakistani president will find it freshly white washed and the street leading to it, decorated.

During his three-day stay, Musharraf will meet with Vajpayee in Agra, the ancient capital of a dynasty of Muslim rulers and site of the majestic Taj Mahal. The city is also a symbol of secular politics in India, a country that remains home to people following all the different religions that exist in the world today.

Rational minds on either side of the border have repeatedly called for peace and are prepared to forget mistakes made in the past. However the vested interest of the ruling elite seems to prevent them from living together as friendly neighbors.

"No country in the modern world can exist in isolation, particularly detached from its immediate neighbors. Antagonism between nations is wasteful, unproductive and among immediate neighbors unnatural," says Dr. M.S. Jillani, a senior Pakistani civil servant.

What optimists hope for is the immediate relaxation of trade and travel restrictions. People have relatives on both sides of the border and yet traveling within South Asia is a nightmare. Marriages between couples in the region continue to take place despite the hurdles put before them by the bureaucracy.

Of most benefit would be a direct two-way trade that has the potential to hit US$5 billion annually compared to the current trade worth just $200 million. Unofficial trade, smuggled or routed through third countries is estimated at $1 billion annually. Today Indian goods reach markets in Pakistan from Singapore, escalating costs and reducing demands.

As part of confidence building measures, Vajpayee has already taken the initiative of easing visa regulations and ordered the release of Pakistani prisoners and fishermen from Indian jails. On the eve of the historic meet, Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's finance minister, feels that as a regional block South Asia can eventually do as well as the other world forums such as NAFTA, EU or ASEAN.

That is if the protocol on both sides will concentrate more on practicalities and less on formalities.