Cricket and Diplomacy

Dr Manmohan Singh (R) and Gilani

By Salman Haidar

THE overwhelming conclusion, India’s win, and the long-running subsequent euphoria are there to be savoured. Nearly all else associated with the World Cup has been overshadowed and more or less driven out of mind, which, in the circumstances, is perfectly understandable. But if MS Dhoni and Co. made their point so emphatically at the end, so also in the long unfolding of the tournament did Dr. Manmohan Singh make the point he wished to make. Let not the warm afterglow of victory wholly obscure other meaningful developments on and around the cricket pitch.

At the point that India and Pakistan emerged in a semi-final face off, Dr Singh, in an imaginative diplomatic move, sent out an invitation to Pakistan’s leaders to come as his guests to witness the match. This was not the first time that the leaders of the two countries have sought to harness their shared passion for cricket to advance the cause of better relations. This time it was smartly done: the opportunity arose only when the two teams had advanced sufficiently, a fortuitous circumstance that India’s Prime Minister seized. The invitation looked very much like his personal initiative ~ there were none of the usual tortuous preliminaries to be seen when India and Pakistan get together, predictable and tedious background briefings, unending preliminary discussions to define the issues and set the scene. There was no time for all that: the occasion arose and it was seized.

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And if it was Dr Manmohan Singh who made the running, Pakistan’s leaders did not lag behind: after some consideration in Islamabad, it was decided that the Pakistani President would not attend, but Prime Minister Gilani agreed to rearrange his programme so as to be there in Mohali. With this, the stage was set for a significant summit meeting, in a conducive atmosphere.

Though the timing of the initiative owed something to chance, it was of a piece with what Dr. Manmohan Singh has actively promoted ever since he became Prime Minister. He has never made any secret of his conviction that India must establish good relations with its neighbours as an important step towards achieving its real potential as a global player: India should not be held up indefinitely by the thorny problems nearby that have dogged it for so long. Hence there have been several initiatives by Dr Singh for an improved neighbourhood, especially in respect of Pakistan. These initiatives aim to promote the good of both sides, not to procure one-sided benefit for India alone.

Not all the efforts have gone well, for there are pitfalls ~ consider, for instance, the uproar that put paid to hopes of resumed dialogue on the basis of the agreement signed at Sharm el Sheikh. There have been other, more serious setbacks caused by terrorist attacks, most prominently that on Mumbai, whose baleful effect lingers. But yet, over the years, the cumulative benefit of active engagement between India under Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistan, for the most part under former President Musharraf, has made a real difference. Not that the problems have disappeared ~ far from it. Yet sustained talk involving the leaders, albeit at one remove through the back-channel, has made the old problems seem less insoluble than they were. ‘Out-of-box’ thinking has thrown up new ideas that are helpful to both sides, so much so that the dialogue which is now being resumed does not appear foredoomed to failure.

The meeting of the two Prime Ministers in Mohali showed their will to take things forward and try to achieve results through dialogue. As it happened, the two Home Secretaries were having a pre-scheduled meeting even as the leaders jumped in and stole the limelight. It is to be hoped that the unexpected summit at the cricket pitch will give real impetus to the resumed ‘composite dialogue’ that has now been put back on track.

As the two sides re-engage, it is evident that there has been some backsliding. At one stage, to judge from what has been revealed by some of those who had been involved, the back-channel talks were close to wide-ranging agreement on the most problematic of the issues, that of Kashmir. It was even said that a paper to this effect had been all but drafted. If it failed to be put into final shape, it was not for intrinsic reasons but because outside events supervened ~ President Musharraf’s fall from grace brought a halt to the peace-making efforts he had made, and the successor authorities were reluctant ~ and remain so ~ to be identified with what he had initiated. And the devastating Mumbai attack brought a halt to the entire exercise.

Yet a dispassionate look at what has been made known of the back-channel suggests that the outline of a solution had indeed been shaped. This included features like a soft border between the sundered parts of J&K, no territorial transfers, reduction or elimination of military presence, enhanced autonomy, joint development activity, and improved trade facilities, among others. All these have been widely discussed in the past and would no doubt feature in some form or other in any future agreement between the two sides. Now that bilateral dialogue is set to resume, it is obviously desirable that matters should be consolidated at the point they had reached when they were halted, and then taken further forward.

There are also several lesser issues ripe for solution, like the Sir Creek boundary and the Tulbul Navigation Project, which should be settled in the coming round of talks. The matter of Siachen, too, should not be held up any longer: it is more substantial than some of the others because it involves soldiers on the ground, but an agreement was first shaped more than two decades ago and should now be pushed through.

Maybe events around the cricket field can help provide a little more inspiration. A purveyor of soft drinks to World Cup viewers came up with the slogan ‘Change the Game’ ~ this could be a useful exhortation to Indian and Pakistani diplomats. They now need to move on from their usual ultra-cautious exchanges to a more active search for mutual benefit. Today, the fear of existential threat that has always coloured past negotiations is misplaced. War is not any longer a credible instrument of policy, given the reality of nuclearisation in South Asia, and the need today is to seek ways of lowering risk, especially in nuclear matters. Enlightened observers, including some who have held high military positions in the past, have called for balanced reduction of forces, to lower the economic burden and reduce the military establishment on both sides without any compromise of security. The time is ripe for initiatives in that direction.

(The Statesman/ANN)

The writer is India’s former Foreign Secretary

Courtesy By The Island