Role of Track II diplomacy

PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf’s suggestion in a Reuters interview that the UN resolutions on Kashmir, while still valid, can be set aside as India and Pakistan approach the issue with a “bold and flexible” attitude could not have come at a more opportune time. The current thaw in bilateral relations, with both India and Pakistan restoring travel links, effecting a ceasefire along the Line of Control and announcing other confidence-building measures (CBMs) to reduce tension, augurs well for the forthcoming Saarc summit conference when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be visiting Islamabad. Another encouraging report, quoting a former diplomat and head of a Pakistani team engaged in Track II diplomacy, Mr Niaz A. Naik, says that the two governments have given their respective teams the go-ahead to develop an understanding aimed at cutting defence expenditure by both sides. The series of informal meetings on this particular track between former Indian and Pakistani diplomats, retired generals and intellectuals aim at exploring ways and means that can lead to achieving sustainable peace between the two neighbours. According to Mr Naik, the two teams, in their next round of talks scheduled to be held later next month, will also be examining proposals for the creation of a common South Asian market based on a single currency by the year 2010.

The Track II initiative provides a much needed parallel channel for opinion formation and ideas on issues of vital interest to the two countries and an opportunity for some of the best-informed people from both sides periodically to sit together and discuss many a contentious issue without risking a breakdown or a failure in talks — something that has long inhibited formal contacts between the two countries. Because these discussions are held at an informal level and because the two teams have the blessings of the two governments and they enjoy the benefit of consulting them, there is good hope for their success. In this regard, maintaining the current momentum of the CBMs announced by the two prime ministers, and their implementation, can certainly be of great help. These can become a good basis for creating an atmosphere conducive to a formal dialogue between Mr Jamali and Mr Vajpayee, when the two leaders meet on the sidelines of the Saarc summit.

There may be those on the other side who could argue that in latest statement on Kashmir, President Musharraf has offered nothing new to India; rather, he has only reiterated what he had said on the eve of the Agra summit more than two years ago. This may be true, but it is important to note that the reiteration of that sincere sentiment comes at a time when there is yet another opportunity to seize the moment of a positive approach and thinking in both New Delhi and Islamabad to build on. Taken together with the talk of a reduction in defence spendings and the creation of a single currency in the not too distant a future, this may prove useful in carrying forward the current normalization process in the months ahead. For now, Pakistan has walked more than halfway forward. India should not find it too difficult to make its own contribution to that end. This it can do by engaging Kashmiri leaders in a meaningful dialogue and by ensuring that their people feel that their participation is being sought in determining their future.

Promoting cinema

A FILM festival, scheduled to end in Karachi at the weekend, should have come as a breath of fresh air for film lovers. In its third year, it managed to include around 65 films, including several foreign entries. The quality, or lack of it, of entries shown during a festival is bound to generate considerable interest and controversy and the present one is no different. But that is precisely the purpose of an event that is supposed to provide an eclectic mix of films from a varied collection of cultures, backgrounds and inspirations for the viewing of film lovers and critics. Such events are good for cinema in Pakistan, notwithstanding the fact that there currently exists no credible cine journal or tradition of film criticism in the media, either of which could disseminate on a wider scale the concepts and ideas such festivals throw up.

There was a time when the state tried to play a role in stimulating the performing arts. The various arts councils were helped to stage good theatre; a film development corporation made efforts to promote a socially relevant cinema. There were frequent exchanges of delegations of artists and cultural troupes. All that has gradually dried up, and a certain philistinism has overtaken us. The film industry has declined, and commercial cinema has hit rock-bottom. Next-door in India too, much of what the so-called Bollywood produces is trash, but now and then you get a jewel of a picture. This is possible both because of the moral and financial encouragement given by government agencies, but also the atmosphere of artistic freedom that a democratic political set-up has managed to foster. We hope that the Karachi festival will be able to make at least some minds in officialdom think about how the federal and provincial governments can encourage greater creativity and save our land from becoming a cultural wasteland.

Another fiendish act

A REPORT saying that an elderly woman councillor, Faiz Batool, from Sillanwali tehsil of Sargodha, was paraded naked through a bazaar by goons of the Kalayar tribe is the latest addition to our national hall of shame. This was done for her alleged part in a brawl involving the tribe. The victim’s family has alleged that the influential tribe is now pressuring them to withdraw the complaint lodged with the police, or else be ready to suffer more humiliation. Needless to say, the police have done nothing in terms of protecting the harassed councillor or apprehending the culprits. The area MPA, also a member of the Kalayar tribe though not related to the accused in this case, is in the know of what happened but has not helped in bringing the culprits to book. It is episodes like this that keep surfacing every now and then, yet these fail to move the higher authorities to effect any change in the way administrations at the local and tehsil levels operate in cohort with local feudals and their muscle men. That the shameful incident happened to an elderly woman, who is also an elected representative, shows the extent of the criminality and daring of the influential tribesmen involved and how easily they get away with their inhuman conduct.

Such dreadful happenings abound in our rural hinterland. From the reporting of the Nawabpur incident in 1984 to the recent ones involving acts of terror and torture against women, there seems to be a consistent string of consistent pattern of oppression and vengeance. Rights groups estimate that many such ignominious practices rooted in traditional or tribal customs still go underreported. While the higher authorities must act swiftly to bring Ms Faiz Batool’s tormentors to justice and mete out exemplary punishment to them, it is clear that much more needs to be done to create social awareness if disgraceful acts of abuse against hapless women are to be contained.