Geeta's mute testimony: An eloquent reminder to India and Pakistan to rethink their relations?

As India and Pakistan indulge in what has almost become a ‘rite of passage’ – exchange of fire on the LoC-between the two, a saga almost amounting to real life approximating reel life is unfolding. The reference here is to the differently-abled young girl, Geeta, who had strayed into Pakistan. Geeta, has been very well looked after in Pakistan: she has not been converted to Islam, she observes her dharmic duties in her foster home, has her own mandir ( temple) and even observes the fast. Now that Geeta’s ‘issue’ has become public, authorities in India are intervening and are making efforts to bring her back to India.

What do the cross LoC firing and the story of Geeta tell about India and Pakistan?

One answer is that a rather paradoxical relationship defines the two arch rivals. This relationship appears to be in the nature of a love-hate one. However, this reading, while there may be a wee bit of merit to it, is facile. The real picture appears to correspond to a dichotomous relationship where the respective states of the countries are locked in a hostile spiral which, in turn, is in the nature of a zero sum game. This is complemented by a non state dynamic where people reign supreme. Admittedly, while stereotypes that people of India hold about Pakistanis or vice versa are not salubrious, by and large, there’s an element of curiosity about each other as well. And there is a section across the divide that views each other as humans first and Pakistanis and Indians second. The reference here is not to the ‘liberals’ of Pakistan or India but ‘ordinary, lay folk’.

It is in the interstices of this that some sort of rapprochement between the hostile, arch rivals may be found. States are states: their defining feature is aggrandizement of power, security and suspicion of other states.

To expect the Indian and Pakistani state to defy the essential feature of states goes against the gravamen of Interstate and international relations. The implication here is not that the Indian and Pakistani states will always be locked into an almost apocalyptic conflict. Conflict between states always looms in the background regardless of the nature of particular issues they have with/ between each other but this conflict can be moderated or even sublimated( the case of the European Union may constitute a classic example of this). Prudent diplomacy can be a game changer here.

Diplomacy can be either ‘hard’ or ‘soft’. In the former variant, hard issues can be dealt with and a Modus Vivdendi arrived at to fructify a paradigm or relations that do not lend themselves to overt conflict or even war. In the softer variant, the name of the game is perceptual: altering perceptions amongst the constituents of the warring or conflicting states. This variant, I daresay, is the more difficult one but can potentially be more effective and salubrious. In terms of the rivalry between India and Pakistan, it is the softer variant that should be elevated to the status of a paradigm.

The grist to the mill of this softer variant of diplomacy can be provided by incidents and stories like that of Geeta. Here media and the respective governments of two countries should be on the same page and elevate the human and humanness residing in the hearts of the people of the two countries. If and when perceptions change, governments are bound to take notice not on account of moral grounds but on political and even real politik grounds. Bottoms up pressure can potentially catalyse a salubrious dynamic that has long term implications. This could redound positively to both India and Pakistan and relative peace may ensue.

States are abstract entities and violence is intrinsic and inherent to these. But states are comprised by nation(s). It is ultimately nations that can direct or rechannelize the violent tendencies of states and sublimate these. The same dynamic may apply to relations between India and Pakistan. All this may sound airy fairy and against the gravamen of this history of interstate relations and Indo Pak relations.

This may well be true but the theme identified in this essay is in the nature of an idea. And, in the final analysis, ideas are powerful- they may even constitute the motor of history. I am reminded of one of the statements of Ajmal Kasab- one of the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Kasab , famously, perhaps under the influence of drugs , said, ‘ yaar yeh bhee insaan hain’(these people are human too). If Kasab could say this, why can’t ‘normal’ people across the divide? While Kasab may have been under the influence of a drug which may have heightened his consciousness and altered his frame of mind, what we need are Ideas –powerful ideas that can alter our consciousness and mental framework that allows us to view each other as humans first. Let a fresh gale of ideas sweep us all and see through facile constructs and stereotypes and let the case of Geete be a bellwether for this.