You don`t say!
Darius Nakoonwala
As frauds go, in their dealings with each other India and Pakistan would are hard to beat. And of late this tendency has been accentuated, with both sides following policies designed to fool the rest of the world.
In this noble endeavour, they are ably assisted by the leader writers of the major newspapers. The formula is laughably simple: whatever the governments say and do in respect of each other, endorse it and if possible blame India for the problems. Forget facts and consistency because both are inconvenient if you are covering the respective foreign ministries.
So it came as no surprise that barring the Deccan Herald and the Pioneer which supports the BJP in the same way as the HT supports the Congress - they are always right - all leader writers smiled and waved happily after the Havana meeting between the two Ms - Manmohan and Musharraf.
The main news was that India and Pakistan had decided to set up some "institutional mechanisms" to counter terrorism. The Hindu called it a "commendable, potentially path-breaking step." The Telegraph said "the most important outcome of the talks has been the setting up of a joint mechanism to combat terrorism." The Indian Express after, as usual, blaming the bureaucracy said " The decision to establish a joint mechanism to "identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations has been long overdue."
The Deccan Herald, however, was more realistic. " Some might argue that the joint mechanism to fight terrorism is a bit of a non-starter… the success of the joint mechanism hinges on Pakistan renouncing aiding and abetting terrorism of all forms, not just verbally…" The Pioneer was even more scathing. "Gen Musharraf has had his way without conceding ground, Mr Singh has sought accommodation by offering needless concessions."
What came through, however, was the continued distrust of Pakistan and Musharraf. The Telegraph said that "The success of this institutional mechanism would be the best test of Mr Musharraf`s assurances that Pakistan is genuinely attempting to stop cross-border terrorism." The Hindu was willing to give some benefit of doubt to him. "While sceptics will continue to suspect Gen. Musharraf`s commitment to the new arrangement, he does appear to have signalled his intent to cut the linkages, if any, between sections of his intelligence services and terrorist groups targeting India exclusively." Good joke, this. And then in a piece of nonsense that has become a hallmark of the paper, it blamed India . "With Pakistan agreeing implicitly to jettison a policy of state it has clung to for decades, the ball is really in India `s court." How, pray? By settling Siachen and Sir Creek by not insisting on things that might be helpful to India.
The Indian Express thought the best way to get things moving would be take the process out of the hands of the professional diplomats and, what, handing it over to its editor? "The PM must also turn up the heat on a feckless Indian bureaucracy to embark on purposeful negotiations."
Thank god for the Deccan Herald which, perhaps because it is so far away from both Islamabad and Delhi , was able to take a more sensible view. "What is of importance is what the Musharraf government does on the ground and so long as co-operation on fighting terrorism moves ahead, what the General has to say to the media should be ignored."
It is truly amazing how leader writers take Indo-Pak developments at face-value and refuse to analyse for the reader what may actually be going on. This is what results in inconsistency and plain nonsense. Perhaps if every editor stopped thinking that he makes foreign policy, it would help…
Darius.Nakhoonwala@gmail.com