India Ought to Repress the Urge to 'Teach Pakistan a Lesson'
 
Philip Bowring International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
NEW DELHI Last week's attack on the Indian Parliament could scarcely have been better timed by those who want to escalate tensions on the subcontinent and stir communal politics in India.
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The natural instinct for India is to blame Pakistan for its support of Muslim militants. Influential voices urge revenge by hitting alleged militant training centers in Pakistan-controlled territory. The government has two examples to follow of retribution for its own sake: the United States in Afghanistan and Israel in Palestine.
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The dangers of India opting for retaliation are great.
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The government is led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which is especially suspicious of Muslim Pakistan and badly needs to bolster its image in advance of key state polls next year.
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The great leap forward in Indian-U.S. cooperation since the Bush administration came to office may embolden India. This improvement was under way before Sept. 11, as Washington sought a bigger role for India to balance the weight of China in Asia and to avert a revival of Russian influence in New Delhi. Since that day, exchanges on military links and anti-terrorist and diplomatic cooperation have multiplied.
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The United States should use its new influence to counsel restraint, and not just because India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. Pakistan does support Kashmiri militants in general and some groups in particular, but it cannot be directly blamed for all their actions.
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For all Pakistan's sins in backing Muslim militants, the fact remains that Kashmir is a political problem between two states, and one which long preceded the rise of Islamic fundamentalism or the armed militancy fostered by conflict in Afghanistan and Chechnya. What is important is that both sides confine their dispute to Kashmir.
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Pakistan will need to crack down on militant activities, and specifically on any which seek to spread terror elsewhere in India. But India must recognize the difficulties that President Pervez Musharraf faces in suddenly controlling groups fostered by Western and Arab as well as Pakistani support.
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New Delhi is well aware of the problems of dealing with militants. It had huge, locally generated problems with the Sikhs in the 1980s. The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, who made a specialty of suicide bombings long before Osama bin Laden and Hamas, continue to thrive on the guns, money and supply routes provided by their cousins in India. (To India's relief, the Tamil Tigers have so far been left out of the "global war on terrorism.")
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Recent weeks have seen a bloody leftist insurgency in Nepal. Quite what support, if any, these insurgents gets from India is not clear, but the long border is porous and faces India's most lawless state, Bihar, and its most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.
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The attack on Parliament has come at a time when two communal-related issues are in the forefront of debate. One is a Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, a post-Sept. 11 bill which the opposition claims will increase already wide police powers, alienate Muslims and other minorities but do nothing for security.
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Another is the rewriting of school history books by a ministry under the control of the Hindu zealot Manohar Joshi. Proponents say the rewriting is necessary to remove an alleged Marxist and secular bias. Opponents say the changes are biased toward the Hindus and omit inconvenient facts. The government is accused of having "Talibanized" the education system. Indian pluralism is not seriously in danger. Regional and caste politics are at least as important as religious divides, and the secular spirit is still strong. But political leadership is weak. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is moderate and cautious, but he is also very sick. His BJP colleagues are either old, communally divisive or simply uninspiring. The opposition Congress Party is led by Sonia Gandhi, an unskilled politician who may be unelectable due to her Italian origins. Congress has recently lost two potential younger leaders in accidents.
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In the circumstances, the temptation to use India's superior military power to "teach Pakistan a lesson" must be strong. But the blow that India has taken is a consequence of being an open society wanting to maintain Kashmir as a symbol of Indian unity in a plural and secular state. It can show its wisdom, and a Gandhian moral leadership, by shunning the "two eyes for an eye" blood feud mentality of others.

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