The Pakistani Spectator

The Arabs are traditionally good mediators. Being forthcoming in accepting the role as mediators not only puts them in lime light but also project their statesmanship. Egypt remains in the fore front in such a list. It was instrumental in mediating truce between Fatah and Hamas. The second on the list id Qatar that successfully mediated between various factions of Lebanon in their reconciliation bid besides its successful mediation between Darfur rebels and Sudan wherein it clinched a written agreement between the two sides. The Saudis have also been second to none when it comes to mediation. They mediated with Egypt and tried to form a unity government in Palestine. They also tried to bring together various Lebanese factions over the Presidential contest. Though the two efforts did not produce the desired results yet, not to be outdone, it again mediated to form a bloc of Arab States to check Iranian influence that comprised Gulf States and Egypt and brought on board Morocco too.

Can any of these countries mediate between Pakistan and India to diminish or eradicate the epitome of animosity from the Indian mindsets towards Pakistan? Can it ever happen and a third party mediation between the two bring laurels? The answer is yes. The concept of bilateralism has not yielded any thing for decades with respect to India and Pakistan. Bilateralism is only effective when the two sides deal with each other on parity and the problem with India has been that it always wants to talk to Pakistan on its own terms and timings to reflect its superiority. For keeping a lull, India has always opposed the idea of mediator or interlocutor to forestall the solutions of all outstanding issues. It continues to turn its back on the regime of bilateralism and continues to look at the disputes with Pakistan vis-à-vis its relativity of interests wherein it fails to appreciate the principle of equal rights and non discrimination.

The fact is that whenever there was a third party mediation between the two countries, the matters were resolved. The Russian mediated 1965 Tashkent Agreement between the then President Ayub of Pakistan and India’s Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, United States mediation on Kargil and the World Bank brokered Indus Water Treaty, which by the way continues to be exploited by India to starve Pakistan of its waters. The bilateral talks that were held recently in New Delhi between the two respective foreign secretaries failed with only the tacit understanding that they would remain in touch. Yet another failure amongst many of such interactions also proves that the bilateralism is fraught in the context of India and Pakistan. India wanted to talk terrorism whereas Pakistan wanted to discuss long list of issues that mars the relationship. The result was failure of bilateralism.

Mediation in international conflicts and crises has been occurring since the medieval times. The early part of the twentieth century reflects the phenomenon that coincided with the rise of global international organizations. First the League of Nations and then the United Nations and has become a prominent feature of the international system. In today’s world the third party intervention in dispute resolution has become a popular option for solving differences.

The idea of Indian State Minister Sashi Tharoor, who accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia recently, got a bashing from his country men when he dared to put up the idea of Saudis as mediators or interlocutors. The hullabaloo in the Indian press over the statements of Saudis on terrorism is not new. It is another matter that it is not only the Saudi Arabia but the whole world speaks about it. Saudi Arabia enjoys fraternal relations with Pakistan and Pakistan is proud of its relations with Saudi Arabia. If United States could mediate and force India to re-engage Pakistan, which India ultimately did though at a much smaller platform, Saudi Arabia would do a better job in mediating or interlocuting between the two countries. One must not be surprised if we see both the Prime Ministers talking on the side lines of SAARC summit in Nepal, as the US Secretary of State Clinton said that her country encourages India-Pakistan talks at the highest level. Another White House spokesperson said that he looked forward to a Prime Minister level meeting in near future. Notwithstanding its long held position on shying away from the third party mediation to help solve the sensitive outstanding issues between the two countries, inviting Saudi Arabia to act as mediator or even interlocutor would be in the best interest of the region and it would be taken as a positive step by many Indians too. For Pakistan it does not matter who acts as mediator or interlocutor till the time it helps resolve the aging issue.

The Prime Minister of India during his visit to Saudi sought the good offices of King Abdullah to make Pakistan stop supporting anti-India terrorism so that “ he could walk the extra mile” with Pakistan. It must have come as a music to the King’s years as he is fully aware of Indian involvement in Baluchistan and FATA in a bid to destabilize Pakistan. And who does not know the extent of violence that the Consulates surrounding Pakistan generate to carry out mayhem in Pakistan.

In the absence of sincerity and purposeful negotiations with India, no sustainable peace can be achieved. Any long term resolution of peace however, will never side line the core issue of Kashmir and depriving Pakistan of necessary flow of waters into Pakistan. The post Mumbai attitude of India abundantly reflects its irresponsible brinkmanship towards Pakistan. For economic progress, poverty alleviation in an area where one-fifth of the population of the world lives in a continued state of deprivation, peace is must. Kofi Annan, the last Secretary General of the United Nations had offered his good offices to mediate between the two countries and it would be for the betterment of the population of this region that both the countries accept mediation from a third party as ‘bilateralism’ is fast loosing its meaning in the context of India and Pakistan relationship.