Some feel Musharraf’s days are numbered; India should keep its lines open to democratic forces. However, New Delhi is in no mood to slow down peace process.
NEW DELHI: India does not believe that President General Pervez Musharraf is on his way out. There is no doubt that Musharraf is facing tough times. He is in some trouble at home and his main backers, the US, are unhappy with him for not doing enough to rein in the Taliban in the tribal areas adjoining Pakistan.
Are the American’s about to pull the rug under the General’s feet? Though no one in the government is willing to give a comment publicly, privately they say that Musharraf is not one to be so easily elbowed out. There has been criticism from certain quarters here that PM Manmohan Singh by continuing with the composite dialogue, is backing the wrong horse. These sections feel that the Musharraf’s days are numbered and India should keep its lines open to the democratic forces in Pakistan, led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. New Delhi should slow down on peace talks and wait until a clearer picture of who calls the shots emerges in Pakistan.
To this, senior officials say that India’s fundamentals are quite clear. “We have to deal with whoever is in charge in Pakistan,” says an official. “If elections throw up a democratic government we will deal with that set-up,” he adds.
New Delhi is in no mood to slow down the peace process. It may be recalled that when Musharraf took over from Nawaz Sharif, the NDA government was in no mood to welcome “a military dictator.” This had more to do with the fact that the BJP believed Musharraf was the architect of Pakistan’s Kargil misadventure than a principled stand for democracy. At the Commonwealth conference in South Africa, India worked hard to isolate Pakistan and call for a return to democracy.
However, once it appeared that Musharraf was there to stay, the NDA government also changed its stand. It was also under enormous pressure from the international community to start talking to Pakistan. At that time the government justified its stand by saying, India had no choice but to deal with whoever was in charge. In fact, the feeling was that as civilian governments in Pakistan always looked over their shoulders for approval from the army, it was best to deal directly with the general. Nawaz Sharif, despite his hope for peace with India, was not in a position to deliver on his promises made in Lahore because the army did not back him.
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