Benazir's death and India's love for Pakistan

I have never found in India so much spontaneous sympathy and support for Pakistan as I have after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. My travels have taken me to several parts of the country in the last fortnight and I have found people wanting to reach to the Pakistanis to help them in any way. It is as if the tragedy has pushed aside the grievance and estrangement.

A poignant remark is why Pakistan should not have democracy like India? Still there are some people who sniff at the narrowing of differences between the two countries and go on interpreting the feeling of goodwill as a sign of sentimental ties of Punjabis with Pakistan. If anything, it should be anger because those who crossed into India left everything behind, property and other assets. It is difficult for some to understand how the enemies of yesterday can be friends today.

The relationship between France and Germany should serve them as an example. The two countries fought against each other for hundreds of years, yet they are the best of friends now. I do not know whether the elected rulers at Islamabad would build the relationship on this favourable ground. But if they manage to do so, both countries could be the best of neighbours.

Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, too, had expressed the hope that India and Pakistan would one day be like America and Canada. Probably, the time for that idea has arrived. Benazir Bhutto's killing, however tragic, has provided the opportunity.
When former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, there was hardly any protest in Pakistan. In contrast, Delhi and many other places witnessed popular demonstrations to vent their sympathy.

The then Indian Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, dissociated his government from the people's response stating that what happened to Zufikar Ali Bhutto was an internal affair of Pakistan. The Manmohan Singh government seems to have had its ears on the ground. It has not only paid tributes to Benazir Bhutto but many union ministers, including the Prime Minister, have gone to Pakistan High Commission to sign the condolence book.

My guess is that Nawaz Sharif, if his party, the Muslim League (N), attains a majority, will go the farthest limit to befriend India. At least this is the impression I gathered when I met him first in Jeddah and later in London. He disowns the responsibility of the Kargil adventure and repeatedly says that he was not in the picture. This may well be true because General Ayub Khan also did not know when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sent the infiltrators into Kashmir in 1965. Both Nawaz Sharif and Ayub Khan came to know about hostilities when they were in the midst of war.

However, from the nineties, people-to-people contact has itself become an institution in the two countries. Civil societies on both sides have responded well and they would like to bury the hatchet. It would be a tragedy if the ISI were to reactivate the Babbar Khalsa to initiate terrorism in Punjab, as the reports indicate. One thing we know about President Pervez Musharraf is that he has never thought of dismantling the training camps in his country. What worries me is the domestic scenario in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is now practically under the control of Asif Ali Zaradari, her husband. It is true that Benazir's son, Bilawal, has been named as her successor, although nobody has seen the will of Benazir Bhutto. But he is only 19 and Zaradi is going to head the party till he returns after his studies at London. It may mean four to five years of Zaradari's control over the PPP.

Zaradari is a tainted man and his deeds of corruption are a household word in Pakistan. In the first term of Benazir Bhutto he was called Mr. 10 percent and in the second he was Mr 15 per cent. Even if he does not sit in the chair of prime minister, he will be ruling the country from behind the scenes if the PPP comes to power. He has already said that he wants to be the Sonia Gandhi of Pakistan. It is no compliment to her and shows how powerful she is.

Makhdoom Fahim, who has been named as the PPP's nominee for the prime ministership is too decent and too withdrawing. My hunch is that he may not even take up the position knowing Zaradari as he does. Zaradari may well be "the reluctant" prime minister. However, the greatest danger that Zaradari poses to the PPP is the Sindh coating he has given to the party. He has not associated any leader worth the name from Punjab. There is no Aitzaz Ahsan, no Mubishar Hussain, and no Asma Jehangir.

It is strange that Zaradari has not even demanded for the release of political leaders like Ahsan who has emerged a popular leader throughout Pakistan. If Zaradari continues to keep the Punjab leaders out, the PPP can split. In fact, the progressive elements which have given the PPP a left-of-the-centre image are primarily from Punjab. They are the ones who backed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's call for roti, kapada aur makan.

Zaradari has no such pretensions. He may play havoc with the party's principles because he has no hesitation in joining hands with Musharraf or the army directly. At least Nawaz Sharif says that he will have no truck with the army and wants it to have the same status as the military in India has. His line has been that Pakistan must return to democracy. But he also knows that the going would be tough. Perhaps Nawaz Sharif realises that democracy in India is the result of a long independence struggle. We imbued some of its values, free elections, free judiciary and free media. Yet we nearly lost democracy in 1975 because Indira Gandhi turned authoritarian. It took two years for people to resurrect it.

Pakistan came into being as a result of an agreement on partition. Its freedom struggle has begun now. The lawyers' movement is one example. Media men's agitation to get their right to express what they want to say is another one. Baluchistan's resistance to the government's repression is yet another. All these movements, I have no doubt, are reminiscent of the days of our independence. Then too there were several strands of struggle. One day the different streams will become such a torrent that will wash away all impediments. Pakistan will be a democracy one day. It is only a question of time.