Why Hasn't India Ended Most Favoured Nation Status For Pak?

"Those who live in glass houses don't throw stones on each other's homes." What I missed in this statement was the "Chinoy Seth" as a prefix to the speech given at the United Nations General Assembly by the Indian Foreign Minister. This dialogue had attained a mythical status in the Indian film industry and reminds us of the actor Raaj Kumar with his unique style of dialogue delivery. He utters this dialogue and breaks the glass in the cult film of the early 60s - "Waqt." When I heard Sushma Swaraj speaking these words, I immediately thought she is going to break the glass but she did not and my imagination was insanely foolish. I forgot that "Waqt" was a movie and UNGA was reality. 

But unfortunately, the Modi government has not been able to break the glass ceiling between the film and the reality. The whole RSS brass including Modi has lived all his life with false imagery of Muslims, Pakistan and the partition. This has a very powerful reflection in their utterances. If 18 soldiers had been killed by the terrorists during the Congress government or any government other than the BJP, it would have buried them under avalanche of criticism and accused them of being the most toothless and the weakest ever. 

But bad luck to BJP and Mr Modi that is now he who is leading the government as the country asks what strong action he is going to take to teach Pakistan a permanent lesson. Alas, nothing of that sort is happening. Let me remind our readers what was said during the UPA regime about terrorist attacks on India. When two soldiers were decapitated by Pakistani troops in the most cowardly act, Sushma Swaraj herself demanded the heads of ten Pakistani soldiers in revenge. Now 18 soldiers have been massacred in Uri but the government has only talked about human rights violations in Baluchistan.
 Since Uri, I was also reminded, along with many other nationalists, of the famous dialogue which Mr Modi had delivered on a TV show stating that the UPA government should stop writing "love letters"  to Pakistan. He had also insinuated that "Indian Prime Minster instead of running to America after every terrorist attack should go to Pakistan". He tangentially hinted that India should attack Pakistan instead of complaining to international big powers about Pakistan's unholy acts. At the time, he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and had nurtured his image as a tough-talking, strong, decisive leader. He was successful in presenting a contrast to Manmohan Singh who was perceived to be a weak Prime Minister. Modi's logic was simple: Pakistan triggered terrorists attacks in India because India was led by a meek and weak Prime Minister. 

The country bought his logic and he was elected Prime Minister. But we have not moved an inch on our Pakistan policy. Pakistan is still continuing attacks with the same audacity. Kashmir is boiling so thoroughly that the unrest is being compared with that of the early 90s. The Pathankot air base and the Uri army camp have been targeted by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. Lives are being lost every day. And the government's Pakistan policy seems to be inherently confused. 

Instead of taking strong visible action, the Modi government in March invited an ISI delegation to visit the Pathankot air base to investigate the terror attack. The perpetrators were asked to investigate their own acts! It's a proven fact that every act of terror in India has a robust ISI signature. The government of India had given enough proof in the past of this, but a nationalist government in the most surprising manner invited the same ISI which defies all logic of diplomacy. Does it mean that the Modi government has given a clean chit to ISI? Does it believe that earlier governments were wrong in blaming the ISI? 
 The leader and the party which had said time and again that terrorism and talks can't go together invited Nawaz Sharif for Mr Modi's swearing-in ceremony. Then, in the most outrageous fashion, it cancelled Secretary-level talks just because the Pakistani High Commissioner in India consulted with Hurriyat leaders. And without taking the country and his cabinet in confidence, the Prime Minister landed in Lahore while returning from Afghanistan to wish Nawaz Sharif a happy birthday and feed him cake. Think of how the BJP would have reacted if a similar act had been performed by a Congress Prime Minster and followed within a week with the Pathankot attack.  

Now a few pseudo-nationalist TV anchors are shouting for war against Pakistan, Mr Modi and his cabinet are dithering, the PM does not seem to be living up to the expectation of his past statements, nor matching up to its ideological positions vis-a-vis Pak. I am of the opinion that war is no solution, breaking ties with Pakistan is also no solution, but Modi's core supporters are waiting for him to act along the lines of his own arguments in the past. Experts are suggesting scrapping of the Indus Waters Treaty to send a very strong signal to our rogue neighbour. Even that looks very unlikely. 

Most surprisingly, our ultra-nationalist government has not even contemplated withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan. Imagine, Pakistan has not accorded the same status to India. So the Modi government at least can do this much. Even that does not look a possibility. Why? 
 The Modi government has been putting pressure on other governments and international fora to declare Pakistan a terrorist nation. But look at the tragedy: India till now has not done the same. I won't advocate war with Pakistan but can very well argue with the Modi government to call a session of parliament which should unanimously pass a resolution declaring Pakistan a terrorist nation. Modi as a Prime Minister has completed more than two years in the office but has still not thought about this simple act. The world community can very well argue why should we call Pakistan a terrorist state if India, who is a victim of Pakistan-inflicted terrorism, has not done the same. The country would love to know the reason for not doing these. These are not extreme actions which can trigger a dangerous chain reaction from a nuclear state. 

I very carefully listened to Sushma Swaraj's speech at the United Nations General Assembly. The majority opinion is that it was a good speech both in form and content. Her speech played up how nice India and its Prime Minister have been to Pakistan since forming the government. It sounded like the stammering of an innocent school boy who is battered by rowdies in class and has decided to raise his voice in a most dignified manner. The world knows India is a peace-loving nation and is a nice guy. Unfortunately, Sushma Swaraj's speech will be contextualised with the past utterances of her boss. Despite Sushma's good speech, today is the time to ask: Modiji, have the shackles of governance and diplomacy made you weak? Has the realisation dawned on you that film is film and reality is reality?

(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014.)

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