Making A Difference

"Secular India Is A Strength For Pakistan"

Says I.A. Rahman, a prominent Pakistani human rights activist

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"Secular India Is A Strength For Pakistan"
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A director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), I.A. Rahman migrated to Pakistan from what is Haryana today, carrying with him his generation's hope of start -ing afresh in a new, young country. A journal -ist who always stood up to state pressures, Rahman now devotes most of his time to civil rights activity. In Calcutta recently to attend the third joint convention of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), whose Pakistan chapter he heads, Rahman made forthright comments against the bomb lobby and the arch-conservatives in Pakistan preventing better relations with India, against the wishes of the common man. He criticised these two lobbies, who he said "deem it their ordained duty to rule Pakistan". He regretted that the Pakistani government had not reciprocated the relaxation of visa rules by India for visiting Pakistanis. As a leading light of the HRCP, Rahman has not earned praise from Pakistani authorities at home. Shorn of diplomacy, his speeches at the Calcutta convention attracted much media attention. In an interview to Ashis K. Biswas, he spoke cautiously about Indo-Pak relations and the organisation's efforts so far in bringing together the people of the two countries. Excerpts:

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You have been an outspoken critic of the authorities on both sides for their deliberately restrictive policies of keeping the two countries apart.
Yes, both the Indian and Pakistani governments have been guilty of this. True, the bloody partition of 1947 and its aftermath left a bitter legacy, but then it was nothing that time could not heal. People do get over these things. There were forces on both sides which kept the hate, the tensions, alive. I do not think there was anything that could not be settled. But people have gone to the extent of saying that peace and understanding between the two countries could well turn into a threat against our integrity and sovereignty. Naturally both countries and their people have only drifted farther and farther apart.

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Do you see any signs of change?
Indeed I do. I think both governments now realise that we all have paid a very heavy price for this kind of a hate-dominated relationship. We are continually preparing for a war that is not taking place, for years on end, through our military budgets. Can anything be more stupid? Just think of the economic and other development opportunities we are losing.

What forces do you speak of which are interested in preserving the status quo in Indo-Pak relations?
I mean conservative organisations on both sides, which actually threaten progressive or liberal opinion and institutions. They have their vested interests, their own agenda, they benefit from the prolongation of hostility and tensions. The Mullahs, for example, as well as some people on your side. It must be understood that a secular India is a strength for Pakistan and vice versa. The triumph of fundamentalist forces, whether in India or Pakistan, can only be detrimental for the subcontinent as a whole.

A common perception in Pakistan is that no forward movement is possible in bilateral relations unless the Kashmir problem is solved.
Yes, that is true. Our feeling is that in any official settlement the aspirations of the people of the divided Jammu and Kashmir must be taken into account, because the dispute is not just territorial. Unfortunately, at present, it is not easy even to bring the people of the divided state together.

How far is it possible for fora like yours to influence official decision-making? Is it all informal dialogue and seminar? What about concrete measures to bring Indians and Pakistanis together?
It is a question of generating enough momentum in peoples' movements so that governments are forced to sit up and take notice. Perhaps we missed an opportunity in 1947. Never mind, there will be other opportunities.

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What about the younger generation? Is there less hatred there?
Well, it is more complex. There was more anger among the older generation of Indians and Pakistanis, but there were also good memories. The younger people do not hate each other, but they hardly know each other either, they have read only distorted books and accounts. Let alone encouraging minimum contact among the people, our policymakers have created a situation where the Indian and Pakistani farmers sharing a common border cannot talk to each other about their problems, although the crops they raise, the land they live on, the problems they face, even their language, are the same.

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This brings me back to your earlier question. We must follow up on these conventions and talk to historians on both sides to change this situation where distortion and distrust rule the day. We'll discuss what we have seen and learnt here, Indians will do the same here. Here in Calcutta people may not speak Urdu but that has not come in the way of our understanding each other, there is an abundance of goodwill. It is not as though such conventions have not achieved anything. To give you only one example, 200 of us from Pakistan were to come to Calcutta, although now 172 people are here, others could not make it. Now we have a 30-day visa and permission to visit eight cities. In Delhi, there were only 100 of us on a week's permission in February 1995 and it was no different at the Lahore convention in November 1995. So gradually things do change; governments too listen if the right kind of effort is made.

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