WE refuse to see it, but the time in which we in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan now find ourselves corresponds to that critical hour during the Second World War when Churchill proposed a union of England and France.

It would be utter folly to propose a reunion of Pakistan and India, or a union of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet it would be worse, in fact madness, to think that America can impose peace and stability in our region while quarrels continue within and among Pakistanis, Indians and Afghans.

Washington’s declared objective in our region is to destroy the Al Qaeda leaders that it believes are plotting in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to damage American assets. Activity in pursuit of this limited goal may extend American involvement in ‘Afpak’ and possibly even in ‘Pak-Ind-Af’, but — as Pakistanis know all too well — such an involvement will come to an abrupt end the instance American priorities change. In the end, only Pakistanis, Afghans and Indians can protect their countries and their region from cruel extremism. Yes, Americans can help, for they are in the region anyway and have an interest in cooperation among Afghans, Pakistanis and Indians.

But the primary moves have to come from South Asia’s peoples and leaders. Decades ago in March 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah said to a reporter from the Neue Zurcher Zeitung: “[I]t … is of vital importance to Pakistan and India as independent sovereign states to collaborate in a friendly way jointly to defend their frontiers. But this depends entirely on whether Pakistan and India can resolve their own differences…. If we can put our own house in order internally, we may be able to play a very great part externally….”

With Jinnah’s agreement, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had planned a visit to Pakistan in February 1948, but he was assassinated at the end of January. In the six decades that followed, our nations have repeatedly fought each other. Notwithstanding a few brave attempts at peace-making, suspicion, blame and undercutting exercises have piled up. The task before the leaders of India and Pakistan today is to leave those piles behind and start anew.

There are no signs yet of a new start. However, those in its favour may find a clue in a speech that Bacha Khan made in Shabqadar in May 1947. In that speech Bacha Khan appealed to the Frontier’s Muslim Leaguers to sit “like brothers” with his Khudai Khidmatgars in “a joint jirga” to look at the difficulties that lay ahead.

Today a joint India-Pakistan jirga, held in mutual respect, is the need of the hour. In any such jirga Pakistan should indeed admit that its alleged support for militancy that injured India was a mistake; and it should commit itself against repeating this. On its part India should admit that the Kashmir dispute has to be resolved in a way that satisfies India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.

Such matters should be acknowledged bilaterally. If India and Pakistan lobby Washington or other capitals or the UN with their complaints, it only means that they are determined, in spite of common dangers, to continue with their quarrel. Indians unwilling to assist Pakistan in its hour of need would be guilty not only of indifference but also of self-injury, for fires in Pakistan will not show respect for the international border. They will add to India’s internal fires, which are not insignificant.

A Pak-Afghan jirga is also the need of the hour. If after eight years, and tens of thousands of boots on the ground, force alone has not worked in Afghanistan, why will it work in and around Fata? It is a pipe dream to think that Afghanistan and Fata can be tackled the way in which the Sri Lankan forces seem to be finishing their drive against the LTTE, which in any case may not be the end of that island’s story. Ultimately, extremism can be defeated only by the coming together of an area’s people, not by an army, let alone by a foreign army.

Perhaps there is something to be learned from Bacha Khan’s story, old as it is. In that speech of May 1947, after killings had occurred in several parts of India and in the Pakistan-to-be, Bacha Khan also said: “We are passing through critical times…. Some people mislead you in the name of Islam. I feel it is my duty to warn you against future dangers so that I may justify myself before man and God on the Day of Judgment….”

At this difficult time Pakistanis have at least two reasons for feeling thankful. For one thing, democracy returned to them, even if imperfectly shaped. Since its return, comment by the Pakistani media has remained largely free, and to its credit the army has exercised restraint. Then, more recently, thousands of risk-taking Pakistanis successfully used their time and energy to ensure that principles — not the whims or interests of select individuals — would guide Pakistan’s courts and legislatures. How many other countries have seen comparable accomplishments in the last 18 months?

Pakistanis wishing to strengthen their country should recognise that fellow Pakistanis whom they dislike today may prove to be valuable allies tomorrow. Like India, Pakistan presently is polarised across several divides. Yet a handshake with a compatriot from whom one feels divided may turn out to be the rock on which a new Pakistan, or a new India, is created. There is honour in going down while fighting a bigger enemy, none in sinking while fighting with your brothers. And a handshake with an estranged compatriot may lead to a handshake across a border.

I will conclude by reminding Pakistanis of what a 40-year-old Jinnah said in 1916 in Ahmedabad: “For a real new India to arise, all petty and small things must be given up. To be redeemed, all Indians must offer to sacrifice not only their good things but all those evil things they cling to blindly — their hates and their divisions, their pride in what they should be thoroughly ashamed of, their quarrels and misunderstandings. These are a sacrifice God would love.”

Had he spoken in 1947-48, he would have referred to Pakistan and Pakistanis. Were he to speak today, he might refer to Pakistanis and Indians in the same breath.
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