Let’s get over Pakistan, engage the world

Why does Pakistan consume so much of our media space? Why don’t we debate China’s designs with equal intensity?

Bangladesh shares deep cultural bonds with us yet it figures marginally as one of the many news items. For Nepal and Sri Lanka to figure at all, they need to do something drastic like the slaughter of a Royal family or a major human rights violation. Myanmar and Maldives enter into the picture as interesting names that are difficult to recall. And why is the US given only casual space?

China’s is the most intriguing case of them all. Though it pretends to be a peaceful power, its actions and intentions towards India have not been particularly friendly. Our sacrifices like giving up the permanent seat in the UN Security Council for its sake are not even acknowledged. Our haste in announcing support for its sovereignty over Tibet is treated as due recognition of its right, nothing more.

It isn’t satiated after humiliating us in 1962. It seeks yet more territory. And it keeps issuing loaded threats periodically. Even on the business front it is an unequal relationship. We are largely the suppliers of raw material and it sells us manufactured goods; reminiscent of Indo-British relationship in the colonial age. In the process, our telecom industry has been stunted, and our power equipment manufacturers could have benefitted from billions of dollars of orders that have gone the Chinese way. The effect of all this is not merely the loss of one term orders, but longer term consequences in continuing loss of industrial opportunities and jobs.

On its part, China aggressively guards its interests; for instance its warnings to ONGC against prospecting in South China Sea. In contrast, it pays no heed to our sensitivities. China is carrying on a massive military-commercial activity in PoK and the Northern areas; territories over which we have a claim.

Each one of these is a serious issue, with potential for conflict. However, instead of our getting provoked into action, the chances are that China may do so at a time and place of its choosing. Why then are we so passively silent about China and its intentions? People have a right to be informed almost as much as the media has a responsibility to educate them.

Why then is so little space given in our electronic and print media to the difficult relationship with China? Is it because of the vastly different culture, language and traditions? Or is it because of the historical lack of contact? All that may explain some of it. But a big cause of it could be self-created. Is it because everything to do with China has been a zealously guarded preserve of a few experts within and outside the government? Should that be the case if the consequences are nationwide?

Culture, language and contacts pose no difficulty in reportage about the US. Anyone and everyone understands that America is fickle in its relations and promiscuous its partnerships, yet it is a fellow democracy. It is a democracy we admire, an economic model that continues to be without parallel, and a vibrant society that we should easily be able to gel with. Yet it puzzles us, and we respond by largely ignoring it.

Nearer home, Bangladesh and Myanmar hold great potential. If nothing else they are a vital connector for our look east policy; economically and in terms of transport links. And as a people they are positively disposed. Yet we regard them witheringly; our obsession with Pakistan pre-conditions good relations with it as a precursor to progress elsewhere in the region! Had we, instead, taken these relationships forward on their own merit, the results may have been amazingly positive. Alas, they don’t figure on our national radar.

In contrast, Pakistan makes episodic promises of good behavior, promises that it never means to keep. Yet, each time we fall for it like a moth to the flame. Besotted, we become blind to the reality. What is it that drives us to such irrational extremes?

Take, for example, the recent case of trade: we extended MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, but it has yet to reciprocate. Still, we have convinced ourselves that the coming months will transform the region miraculously through economic cooperation! If someone were to work out the benefits that bilateral trade would actually bring us the result of that exercise may be disappointing. Yet we continue to propagate the myth of a new dawn.

Must we persist with self-deception? Should we not recognise Pakistani policies for what they actually are; there would rarely be another example in history where deceit has been made into state craft. Even the Americans are now calling it an ally from hell. And they are the ones who poured in year after year billions of dollars and the best of armaments into a nation that they considered a hugely important strategic ally. That was once, now they don’t trust Pakistan.

Pakistan’s strategy is to keep India off balance. And China is its convenient ally. While we must keep the focus on Pakistan and increase our watch on China, should we not open up more media space for those who mean us well?

A former Ambassador, the writer is anartist and a novelist