OF the situation arising from the flare-up in northern Kashmir nothing is more dismaying, nay mind-boggling, than the smug attitude of the political leadership. While the army is in a state of near-war, for the political leadership it is business as usual: cricket on Saturday afternoons, politicking in Sindh, the unveiling of more gimmicks, like the housing scheme, on the home front.

India has conducted itself far better in this emergency. Government, opposition and the armed forces are one about removing the 'intrusion' in the Kargil sector. There has been criticism over the intelligence failure in detecting the freedom fighters; there are no differences over the objective of flushing them out from their positions. Indian diplomacy has been more effective and quicker off the mark. Indian television does not insult the intelligence of its viewers the way PTV does.

As for public opinion, it is aflame in India and all for teaching Pakistan a lesson. In Pakistan by contrast there is apathy at the popular level simply because the government, apart from the tripe on PTV, has not taken the trouble to mobilize the people. Every Indian politician worth his or her salt has visited Kashmir and gone near the Line of Control. It took Nawaz Sharif over a month to make a similar visit to forward locations on our side of the border. Farooq Leghari, to his credit, has also been there. But which other politician of note?

It might have been thought that for an elected leader, heavy mandate and all, this was the one supreme occasion to speak to the people, if only to take them into confidence. What have we seen instead? Ghaus Ali Shah is to be the saviour of Sindh, the Ehtesab Bureau is to investigate the affairs of the cricket team (or so at least a bemused nation has been informed), there is endless propaganda about the housing revolution which is set to take the country by storm, after the news headlines on PTV there is the same footage every evening which, to the strains of an Iqbal song, tells us of the prime minister's abiding love for the poor. This has been the political leadership's way of preparing the nation mentally for the emergency it faces.

To be sure, PTV has been the one great instrument of governmental direction. But, as always, so shallow and pathetic has been the drivel from it that even standing its higher bosses against a wall is inadequate punishment for their appalling ineffectiveness. The ISPR and its spokesman, it must be conceded, have done a better job of putting the national viewpoint across but then against collective disarray and the rooted idiocy of a fossilized propaganda machine, what can a slim institution do?

How convenient the labels 'freedom fighters' or 'Kashmiri Mujahideen'. They enable us and the political leadership to believe that Kargil is a distant affair and that since, in any case, we cannot afford to proclaim our involvement, it is strategy of the highest order not to get too emotional about this affair. Nawaz Sharif certainly seems cool and collected about it. No let-up on the dazzling shots to the boundary at the Bagh-I-Jinnah. No beads of sweat or marks of tension on a forehead known to be receptive to the first signs of stress. Is Kargil indeed on a different planet?

This is not to say there is no enthusiasm at home for the success of our arms in Kashmir. Threatening India's life-line to Leh, Siachen and Ladakh has been the dream of Pakistan's fighting commanders. If it has finally happened there is bound to be excitement and even a heady feeling induced by the predicament in which the Indian army has been placed. But tragically for Pakistan this feeling is confined to two pockets: the rank and file of the army, which think that a major tactical victory has been won, and the Mujahideen groups which have been involved in the Kashmir uprising since 1989.

This public aloofness is intriguing. Even during the disaster of 1971, when retrieving the last shreds of national pride from the maelstrom of humiliation had become a problem, there was greater popular backing for the war effort. A disaster there was but the nation as a whole (minus the people of East Pakistan of course) was in it together. This time - when through no small expenditure of blood and resources a limited military advantage of some strategic significance has been gained - the nation is apathetic or it is keeping its enthusiasm well-concealed. Our soldiers are on their own.

Who is to blame for this state of affairs? Did the political leadership not know of the Kargil operation? Did it not give its approval to it? While it is entirely conceivable, given the Caesars that we have, that all the implications and ramifications of this operation may not have fully struck the prime minister (or, for that matter, the military command which appears to have confused tactics and grand strategy) whose fault is that? Why should Pakistan's fighting men have to carry - as much in 1999 as in 1971 and 1965 - the burden of leadership failure?

Since the policy was jointly approved, what accounts for the confusing signals that are emanating from Islamabad? While fighting rages in the north, peace overtures are being made which appear not to take into account the successes gained on the battlefield. Former foreign secretary Niaz Naik who went as Nawaz Sharif's emissary to India has hinted at the possibility of a deal and said senior military officials may meet soon to prepare a schedule for withdrawing the 'freedom fighters' from the positions they occupy.

If this is indeed the case, what is Pakistan demanding in return? Will India forswear bilateralism and agree to discussions on the future of Kashmir involving the UN? If not, what will Pakistan get for the valour of its soldiers? If it is seen that it does not get a great deal, that an agreement for withdrawal is being brokered under American pressure, how will our soldiers and officers react? Will they not have reason to feel betrayed by their political and military leadership?

There is little point in saying at this stage that the Kargil operation was flawed. That it was ill-conceived, with its political objectives not clearly thought through, seems to be pretty clear. But then the responsibility for this rests on the shoulders of the political and military leadership. In any event, we ventured forth and along the way precious lives have been lost. These sacrifices should not be in vain.

It is important therefore for Pakistan to salvage something from the Kargil situation. A verbal concession on Kashmir if no more, an avowal by India to discuss the problem more meaningfully than it has hitherto done, is the minimum that Pakistan should demand of the international community if the Kargil and Drass peaks have to be evacuated. Or else a profound sense of disenchantment will take hold in the armed forces.

Not the least of the ironies of the Kargil venture is that going ahead with it is as full of hazard as winding it down abruptly. If the first course can invite a wider conflict, a sudden withdrawal will demoralize the army, set back the Kashmiri freedom struggle by many years and raise the sanctity of the Line of Control which is anathema for Pakistan because it makes nonsense of its stand on the Kashmir dispute. And there will be no repeating the Kargil venture because the Indian army henceforth will be on its guard. In other words, this will have been a glorious feat of arms with nothing to show for the valour of our soldiers.

So Pakistan needs to keep its nerve if it is not to be panicked into a bad agreement. This requires forceful and steady leadership. Herein lies the rub for if we have not seen much of leadership during the last two months, by what magic wand will we suddenly get it at this juncture?

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