Paper no. 901	23. 01. 2004
Talks with Pakistan: Overcoming Prithiviraj Syndrome   Guest Column- by Moorthy Muthuswamy PhD  Getting the Big Picture Right  Since India is about to embark on a crucial set of talks with Pakistan on accommodation and peace it is time to ask ourselves what should be the real goal of India vis-à-vis Pakistan -- is it peace? After all, peace is usually viewed in short time frames. Pakistan may opt for peace for tactical reasons for now, -- only to change its mind later. After all, since its birth Pakistan has been consistently trying its very best to destroy India.  Any attempt at peace with Pakistan must be viewed in the context of a thousand-year history, starting with the defeat of Prithiviraj Chauhan. It led to slavery for many hundred years and immense destruction (http://www.saveindia.com/gautier.htm).  Prithiviraj Syndrome  In the modern context, the defeat of Prithiviraj Chauhan in the hands of Muhammed Ghori is one of being outwitted by an opponent. This eventual defeat was preceded by Prithiviraj’s inability to understand the enemy and letting the enemy live to fight the other day on numerous occasions.  We seem to be battling the same war with Pakistan over and over again. We do not appear to understand the intent and motivation of the adversary and have shown little interest in overpowering the enemy. In short, we still exhibit deficiencies Prithiviraj had shown.  New India  The good news is, not all of India suffers from this. The buzzword these days is about Indians’ ability to compete successfully, -- not be cowed by the opposition. We first saw this ability in providing software services around the world. These projects didn’t show up in the Indian lap. They were earned by outwitting and outperforming the opposition. The real reason for India’s success in emerging areas such as software engineering is that Indians have overcome Prithiviraj syndrome in such areas!  How can we use the attributes of the new and emerging India’s ability to compete successfully, -- to finally overcome Prithiviraj syndrome on the area of India’s security?  The EU Model is Inappropriate  Those who profess “statesmanship” or “vision” suggest a European Union (EU) type arrangement in South Asia. Few suggestions could be more inappropriate!  Almost all countries in the EU have a Christian majority and they all strive toward progress, not jihad. Now, for over ten years, the EU has declined Turkey’s application for membership. Turkey is an overwhelmingly Muslim majority nation with a large and growing population. A letter of mine published in the Washington Times on Dec. 18, 2002 tells us the EU’s concerns:  Why the EU does not want Turkey In their column "Road map to a Western Turkey" (Commentary, yesterday), John C. Hulsman and Brett D. Schaefer have glossed over an important concern many Europeans have about Turkey's inclusion in the European Union: namely, giving Turkey's Muslim population easier access to settling in Europe. European Muslims, including second-generation ones, have difficulty assimilating and are among the largest recipients of welfare. They also have high crime rates and poor education levels. While the native white population in the European Union is barely reproducing itself, European Muslims have among the highest birth rates. If Turkey were admitted to the union, Europe's Muslims could jump from about 4 percent to 20 percent of the population. Furthermore, there is the obvious issue of pan-Islamic extremism sweeping the world, including Europe, with the burgeoning of the immigrant Muslim population. It also must be acknowledged that, given its deep Islamic roots, Turkey is at best an experiment in democracy and modern development. Its admission into the European Union could portend the devastation of Western Europe through a massive influx of Muslims who have little in common with Europeans.  To this day Pakistan continues to be the primary incubator of worldwide terrorism, with many generations of its people passionate about waging jihad. It is a far more extremist nation than Turkey. Even if the military establishment in Pakistan is willing to embrace India, the Islamic religious power structure in Pakistan is committed to Islamizing South Asia. The Muslim clerics wield enormous influence across the spectrum of the Pakistani society. The clerical outlook towards India continues to be hostile and belligerent. These beliefs are rooted in ancient religious teachings, -- not subject to negotiation or rational discussion.  If some people think that soft borders and closer, people-to-people interaction with India will lead to a reformed Pakistan, how come India’ own Muslim population, living day in and day out in a secular and democratic nation has not merged into the mainstream but is under the grip of extremist clerics (http://www.saag.org/papers9/paper876.html)?  If the relations between Islamic Pakistan and India normalize, the demographic invasion should start, just like from the neighboring Islamic Bangladesh, that is in the process of demographic flooding of the North East Indian states. India will gradually start seeing its Western border states too flooded with Pakistani illegal, if it is not prepared to repulse a Pakistani demographic invasion.  Bangladesh has so many of its young students enrolled in colleges across West Bengal. This still has not stopped it from sponsoring terror groups active in the North East. Nor has it stopped Bangladesh from sliding further into Islamic fundamentalism.  Conclusion: Already reeling under an escalating Islamic fundamentalism, soft borders with Pakistan will be a certain suicide for India.  Reforming Pakistan  If India and other nations want to see a moderate and reformed Pakistan that focuses on nation-building rather than jihad, they must identify why Pakistan got itself into this mess in the first place. A letter of mine published in the Washington Times on Nov. 22, 2002 explains why:  Pakistan's undemocratic underpinnings The conclusions found in "Studies say elites spurred to terror" (Business, Wednesday) are incomplete. The question should be, what causes political repression? Pakistan and India were created from 1947 British-ruled India. When the British left, both of these nations inherited democracy. Hindu-majority India has remained secular and democratic, but Muslim-majority Pakistan couldn't sustain democracy and is now a dictatorship. Pakistan also has become a dominant source and sponsor of Islamic terrorism. Pakistan couldn't sustain democracy because the retrogressive political indoctrination taught in its mosques does not allow the separation of church and state. This has led to political repression amid a flowering of Islamic fundamentalism. This conclusion tells us that if the United States wants to make any Islamic state a model nation for democracy, it must first address the issue of the hateful and retrogressive preaching in its mosques.  This observation, in combination with the plight of Muslims in India and even in developed European countries, and extremism among wealthy, educated Muslim Arabs make us come to the following inevitable conclusion: Shortcomings or rather misinterpretations of Islamic ideology are solely responsible for the plight of Muslims and Muslim majority nations.   With regard to reforming Islam, it is notable, even within secular, multiethnic and democratic India there exist no reformed version of Islam (http://www.saag.org/papers6/paper599.html. We now reach an even more significant conclusion: To expect a reformed Pakistan is unrealistic for the foreseeable future.  Confidence Building Measures with Pakistan  At the moment most travelers from India to Pakistan are Indian Muslims. This is unlikely to change given the fear Pakistan induces in the minds of most non-Muslims, and its track record of sponsoring jihad on them. In the past some of these visiting Indian Muslims have been recruited to come back from Pakistan to conduct jihad in India. Also, they have been used as a conduit to smuggle drugs, weapons and fake Indian currency.  America started to help the former Soviet Union in a big way only when democracy was voted to power and the Soviet communism, the ideology responsible for the cold war was no longer in power. All the available evidence indicates that most Pakistanis are still married to extremism – recently over 70% voted to support the Taliban. Generations of Pakistanis have been brainwashed into irrational hostility through Pakistani textbooks and further reinforced by most Muslim clerics’ preaching across its mosques and madarasas. The Muslim clerics are still the real power brokers in Pakistan either directly or indirectly, -- with an ability influence and mobilize masses across the spectrum of the Pakistani society. This is true whether Pakistan is under democracy or military leadership. Realization by a few Pakistanis, including possibly Musharraf, doesn’t alter this dynamics. The concept of modern risk minimization backed up by a thousand-year history calls for a permanent solution (like America’s over Soviet Communist ideology), -- not Prithiviraj-type losing magnanimity.  Conclusion: Without Pakistan being significantly weakened, and most of its population weaned away from extremist Islamic ideology, India trying to shore up to make Pakistan capable from information technology to other assorted industries, or train its students makes little sense – this is Prithiviraj all over again!  The assorted variety of people who want India to open borders with Pakistan or those who articulate the view that there can be no peace without a prosperous Pakistan have no experience in nation-building or securing a country’s citizens. These people have played virtually no part in wealth creation in the emerging India and have mostly worked to undermine India’s security. They should not be listened to.  Concept of Gradual Squeeze  To reverse the Prithiviraj syndrome requires far more than keeping “vigil”. It requires a vision to roll back the religious fascism that continues to assault India from within and without. Not just in Kashmir, elsewhere in rest of India we must put a squeeze on the power structure of extremist Islam that continues to promote some form of jihad or the other and prevents Indian Muslims from progressing. This must be done with a plan, gradually and for many years to come.   Conclusion: Current trends, for a foreseeable future, indicate a strengthening India and a weakening Pakistan. Nothing should be done to change that.  Composite Talks with Pakistan  The key to dealing with Pakistan is to be aggressive and put it on the defensive. Clearly, India has more issues to talk to Pakistan besides Kashmir. One being that of displaced persons from West and East Pakistans and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.   The non-Muslim ethnic cleansing conducted by Pakistan in South Asia since 1947 has created a land imbalance in its favor and to the detriment of India, with India having to accommodate 85% of the population in 75% of the land. Hence, India has the right to demand at least 30% of Pakistan’s landmass (without subjects), as compensation for creating this land imbalance (http://www.saag.org/papers7/paper610.html).  By making this demand, India exposes Pakistan’ genocidal acts of Islamization in South Asia and seizes the moral high ground. It buys India strategic space and time, while shedding a new angle on the Kashmir issue, -- in India’s favor. I would consider it as a strategic must for India to raise this demand in the upcoming talks with Pakistan. We all should realize that it is Pakistan that owes us land, and hence the issue of handing over territory to Pakistan, be it in the form of parts of Kashmir, should never come under consideration.  Let us not forget that the Pakistani army systematically butchered about a million Hindus in the then East Pakistan in 1971, and was never held accountable!   An Alternate Vision  The current Indian leadership has a great opportunity at hand to finally overcome Prithiviraj syndrome on national security. This legacy is far more prestigious than a thousand Nobel peace prizes – this is about finally reversing the thousand-year defeatist and reckless mindset! Only this will ensure a thriving civilization in South Asia and the defeat of religious barbarism.  With India finally taking off, risky decisions that could undermine its future, especially vis-à-vis Pakistan must be avoided. In the mean time, India should focus on wealth creation through continued economic reforms, improved stability, and investment (http://www.saag.org/papers9/paper860.html).  (The views expressed here are author’s own. The writer is a nuclear physicist based in America. He is also a director of Indian American Intellectuals Forum, a New York-based non-profit organization. His contact address: moorthy@charter.net)
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