Beating The Old Drums

Sometimes pitched battles between India and Pakistan are fought on American soil with both sides showingmuscle and manpower in the realm of ideas. One of the battle grounds happens to be Capitol Hill, the seat ofthe US Congress where 535 politicians play hardball. Victory is declared when they adopt you or help destroyyour opponent. Lobbying congressmen is a well-established art and identifying the friendly ones from thehostile, the eager from the apathetic, is a major task for any embassy. Only the best diplomats are assignedto the "beat" for it is tough to learn, lobby, engage and ultimately influence this tribe.

Last week, Capitol Hill witnessed a battle whose outcome seemed apparent at the outset because the weaponswere obsolete. In this era of smart bombs, Pakistan mounted an attack using bows and arrows to recaptureKashmir as an issue and redefine it on its own terms. A conference was organised using the Kashmiri AmericanCouncil, an outfit run by a man called Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has evolved into a voice in Washington thanks tohis patrons in the Pakistani community and Islamabad.

Even though the conference title, ponderous and grandiose, was Beyond the Blame Game: Finding CommonGrounds for Peace and Justice in Kashmir, it turned out to be mostly blame and a lot of game. A series ofPakistani speakers, in what seemed like a coordinated effort, tried hard to shift the debate from "cross-borderterrorism" and rampant killing of innocents to self-determination, human rights and the old UN resolution.It was a desperate attempt to capture lost ground and bring back the days when they could routinely round up afew American congressmen and senators to condemn Indian army’s conduct in Kashmir.

Conference attendance record: One senator and one congressman and about a hundred Pakistani Americans. Apoor showing when you consider that congressmen always find time if the cause is worthy, as there is attendantbenefit in terms of campaign contributions or compelling partisan reasons. So either Pakistan has lost cloutor the cause has lost its logic on Capitol Hill. It seems to be the latter.

Even Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Congressman Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, the two who showed up kept acareful distance from any pro-Pakistan rhetoric. Harkin receives campaign donations from wealthy Pakistanidoctors and has taken anti-India positions in the past. He is a friend of Senator Sam Brownback, Pakistan’smost important ally on Capitol Hill these days. Brownback was key to removing the nuclear-related sanctionsagainst Pakistan and will again be crucial when the recently approved $3 billion package starts turning intocash for Gen. Musharraf.

To come back to the Kashmir conference and the absence of congressional support. How come the cause ofKashmir did not resonate with them? It didn’t because they have learnt that fundamentalism as trademarked bythe Taliban evolved in the madrassas next door. That the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was found and arrestedin Pakistan and that others too may be hiding there. It becomes difficult then to suddenly believe thatPakistan’s cause is honest in Kashmir. The lines between freedom fighters and terrorists are either blurringor being readjusted.

Since 9/11 the Kashmir issue has come to be defined in terms of terrorism in much of the public debate.Even the US administration has come kicking and screaming to accepting that the ISI is part of the problem. Pakistan’s friends here can’t ignore the reality as leader after terrorist leader keeps popping up insidethat country and is then ceremoniously handed over to the Americans. Much to Islamabad‘s chagrin, the term"cross-border terrorism" has entered the lexicon of American bureaucrats, belatedly of course. ProminentAmerican columnists and editorial writers now routinely question and condemn Pakistan’s role in sponsoring jehadigroups. It has been a slow process but these days the American media are less prone to swallowing theIslamabad line on Kashmir, terrorism and Afghanistan. Instead there is aggressive questioning of Pakistan’smotives.

The shifting grounds have unnerved the Pakistani elite some of whom are visibly frustrated by India’sgrowing constituency on Capitol Hill. But instead of trying something new or positive, they tend to beat olddrums. Even there, India by extending the hand of peace once again won the moral high ground although noPakistani speaker acknowledged it at the conference. In their laborious recounting of the past, theycondescendingly said India was "responding" to Pakistan’s "long standing offer to make peace."Whatever.

The Indian Embassy stayed away saying it wasn’t a "real" conference but an anti-India shop. FourIndian speakers, including Janata Party President Subramaniam Swamy, Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of MahatmaGandhi and currently a visiting professor and Ved Bhasin, editor of Kashmir Times, did address themotley gathering, lending some credibility to the occasion. But the difference between them and the Islamabadcrowd was stark -- really it was a difference between a democratic ethos and an autocratic one. They spokefreely, criticized Indian policies where criticism was needed and suggested ideas for the future. ThePakistani speakers led by the fresh-from-Delhi Amabssador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and joined by Mushahid Hussain,a minister in Nawaz Sharif’s government but now a senator for the General, and other former ministers weretoo busy reliving the past.

The essence of their speeches:

• Keep the US on its toes by periodically threatening that Kashmir is a nuclear flashpoint -- an argumententhusiastically supported by the US non-proliferation crowd that wants to feel relevant vis-à-vis thesubcontinent.
  
  
• Keep delivering terrorists to Washington but not to New Delhi to maintain the success rate in the US waron terrorism while trying to reshape the debate on Kashmir.
  
  
• Force/persuade Washington to help provide a "road map" for Kashmir much like one for the Middle Eastand then set a time-line.

Hussain, a former journalist who once upon a time wrote persuasively about world politics, half-jokinglytold me that Pakistan had "lost" the battle of ideas. But who is to blame for that? You can live off anegative agenda only for so long. Such is the level of wariness towards Pakistan that when Congressman Pittstried to organise a permanent "Kashmir Forum" last year, not a single congressman was willing to join.

The idea was to create a core group of American politicians who could be called upon to raise the Kashmirissue at the appropriate time, condemn Indian "atrocities" and generally make it embarrassing for NewDelhi. The Indian Embassy lobbied hard against the idea, saying it would end up being an anti-India front. Thereasoning made sense specially when supported by the India Caucus, now a formidable group of 160India-friendly congressmen. Guns at the ready, the India Caucus fired warning shots and no one came forward tojoin Pitts. So Pitts, an evangelical Christian, had to be satisfied with lending his name to a conference onKashmir instead.

As India and Pakistan try to develop a process, more shots will be fired in Washington but let’s see whodrops the next smart bomb.