General Pervez Musharraf is all thumbs-up. On June 26th he got a pat on the back from the leading editors of Pakistan to go ahead and talk to India with an open mind. Much the same response was forthcoming from the leaders of all religious groups and political parties who met him a day later. But most critically, the ISI, which destabilized both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif when they didn’t see eye to eye with them on how to deal with India, is already in the bag. Indeed, to all intents and purposes, General Musharraf heads a military government in which former ISI big-guns hold sway — two are serving as powerful corps commanders, one is in the federal cabinet, another is defense secretary, a third heads the CE’s secretariat, a fourth is governor of a province and at least two are ambassadors in foreign lands — while the former corps commander of Pindi whose troops arrested Nawaz Sharif on 12 October 1999 is currently DG-ISI.
The irony should not be lost on us. Among the editors who are sanguine about General Musharraf’s visit to India are many who vigourously opposed Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif when they hinted at “flexibility” — the buzzword these days. More significantly, among the religious groups and parties who are now backing General Musharraf are many with overt or covert links to the jehadi forces in Kashmir. Indeed, Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jama’at-i Islami, who created such a ruckus during the Lahore Summit in February 1999 and who not so long ago was urging the corps commanders to remove General Musharraf because he had allegedly become a “security risk”, has now gone all the way to Islamabad to say “yes” to the general. Similarly, the other fiery clerics who are given to castigating General Musharraf for his so-called ‘secularism’, were all too conspicuous when they prostrated themselves along with him in the namaz following the meeting. In fact, JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has actually called for a general ceasefire in Kashmir and on the LoC if the Musharraf-Vajpayee summit makes progress. The Maulana is an important leader in Pakistan because his party represents the grand Deobandi alliance behind the jehad in Kashmir. Together with Qazi Hussain Ahmad, he was until recently most given to making aggressive statements about General Musharraf’s ‘NGO-driven’ cabinet. But so soft was Fazlur Rehman’s stance the other day that the apex jehadi organization, the Mutahhida Jehad Council, could not resist denouncing him, although the very next day the Council was itself front-paged for endorsing the summit. The newspapers also carried the namaz photo of General Musharraf lining up with such jehadi panjandrums as Maulana Samiul Haq, a friend of Afghanistan’s Mulla Umar and a powerful seminary-owner of the NWFP. In fact the jehadi religious parties first formed a six-party alliance topped by an action committee, then went and met General Musharraf to lend him their support vis-à-vis India. All this, while the chief of the main religious party feeding the Deobandi jehad, Maulana Azam Tariq of Sipah-e-Sahaba, was languishing in jail. Meanwhile, an internally riven Hurriyat Conference has also endorsed General Musharraf unequivocally.
The irony is all the greater because the three political parties which wanted peace with India – PPP, MQM and PML-N – did not deem fit to meet General Musharraf and wish him good luck. In fact, they have tried to play the role of spoilers by asking India not to negotiate with a military leader. Equally interesting is the government’s disdainful attitude towards former DG-ISI, General Hameed Gul, a self-styled Islamicist hardliner, and former army chief General Aslam Beg, an avowedly trigger-happy “defiance” theorist. Neither was “invited” to meet General Musharraf. It may also be recalled that on 5 June, General Musharraf, had criticized the jehadi organisations for their lack of accountability over jehad funds and for the empty anti-India braggadocio of their leaders. Only a man squarely in control can express such sentiments and get away with it.
General Musharraf can rein in the jehadis in Kashmir if the situation so warrants. That is the message he is sending to New Delhi. And that will be his strong card at the Agra Summit. Is New Delhi going to stop playing bloody games?
India is forestalling hopes by referring to Kashmir as ang (or part of its body). Pakistan can respond by terming Kashmir its shahrag (jugular vein). But the truth is that both have to show flexibility on Kashmir. India’s view of Pakistan may be that of a deadbeat state now desperate to sign on the dotted line. But Pakistan has the bomb and General Musharraf can bleed India in Kashmir for some time to come. New Delhi should also realize that Agra is not Simla and General Musharraf is not negotiating the release of 90,000 POWs. But if “deadbeat Pakistan” actually goes under as some Indians would like, India and Pakistan will be at the receiving end of jehad like never before. Therefore neither can afford to stick to the status quo.