India’s retaliatory diplomacy
After synchronizing hostility in a perfectly coordinated fashion as displayed in the brutal elimination of each other’s prisoners in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat and Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal jails, the Indian and Pakistani governments are close to integrating religion into their acrimonious bilateral political relations. The blending of politics and religion with as much precision has long been the forte of the political system in South Asia; and by preventing the visit of Pakistanis to Ajmer Sharif, the Indian Foreign Office has managed to institutionalize the use of religion for diplomatic retaliation. It should therefore come as no big surprise if Islamabad, in a tit-for-tat gesture, blocks the Indian Sikhs from visiting Gurudwaras in Pakistan. Given the prevailing gloominess about the future prospect for lasting peace in the subcontinent, lessons need to be drawn from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s deft handling of situations during Haj when pilgrims from all over the world are looked after and taken care of irrespective of where they come from.
On the other hand, things have reached such a pass that even the khadims at the Ajmer mausoleum in India impetuously decided to boycott Pakistani visitors — who were slated to participate in the 801st anniversary of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti — as a mark of protest against Indian spy Sarabjit Singh’s killing. Ironically, these religious figures, in their eagerness to affirm unflinching loyalty toward India, ended up bolstering the hate politics propagated by political outfits like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their cliques. Regrettably, the present head of the 13th century mausoleum, Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, who claims lineage to the medieval saint, lost no time in jumping into the muddied water for injecting politics into the religious protocol of a sacred spot where Moinuddin Chishti is buried. The chief cleric understandably received generous appreciation from Uddhav Thackeray — a rabid Hindu leader better known for disparaging Muslims and their religion — for opposing the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf’s religious trip to the mausoleum unless he returns the decapitated head of the Indian soldier presumably killed by the Pakistani Army on the Kashmir frontier. Like many others of his ilk in the BJP, whose sole business is to profit from demonizing Muslims in India, Thackeray too demanded conferment of India’s highest civilian honor to Dewan Abedin.
It is indeed unfortunate that while transgressing the boundary of religious praxis indecorously, the clerics lost sight of the fact that the mausoleum they serve has stood as a symbol of religious tolerance for ages. It is also a recognized repository of liberal social and cultural values that India is renowned for. The Khwaja, popularly known as the Gharib Nawaz, was a humble man who taught his disciples the virtues of loving one’s enemy while emphasizing that the primary reason for existence is offering oneself to the service of humanity. So, by refusing to entertain the visitors from Pakistan, the caretakers of the mausoleum not only flouted the basic tenets of the Saint’s teachings but also ignored his clarion call to develop an attribute of “earth like hospitality” or “siwam tawazo-e-chun tawazo-e-zameen.” Do they not know that Islam also teaches its followers to be hospitable and friendly? This alarming trend of Ajmer Sharif khadims falling prey to the ploys of the divisive forces should be handled judiciously as it does not augur well for the great religion as well as India’s cultural ethos.
By pressurizing Islamabad to postpone the visit of Pakistanis to the annual festival at Ajmer, New Delhi, ended up depriving hundreds and thousands of people from visiting India who could have contributed to the improvement of relations between the two countries. But then nothing better is expected in an environment vitiated by reciprocal jingoism and one-upmanship. More so when the ruling Congress party in India is busy battling an opposition surviving on anti-minority plank since the days of the Babri Mosque demolition. It will be nothing short of a Harakiri for the Congress, a pan-Indian political organization with significant contribution in the freedom movement, if they take a plunge into competitive politics of radicalism with an outfit, which specializes in masterminding hate. There is not an iota of doubt that the BJP is yet to rise above parochial considerations of communalism and evolve into a moderate nationalist party, ready to carry all segments of the diverse society in the path of social progress without discrimination. Rather than getting distracted by trivial issues, the Manmohan Singh government should seize the opportunity arising from Nawaz Sharif’s ascendancy to the throne. Let us admit that Pakistan’s prime minister-designate is already making the right noises, including peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue, disallowing the use of Pakistani soil by extremists for anti-India activity, speeding up action against 26/11 Mumbai terror attack kingpin holed up in his country, enhancing trade ties and ensuring that the people to people relations are not derailed at any cost. So why not give him the opportunity to walk the talk?
