Bury the hatchet —Farrukh Khan Pitafi

All the political sides are urged to bury the hatchet in order to build a better Pakistan. Now that all its major demands have been met, PML-N would do well to join the federal cabinet and help steer the country out of trouble

Oxana, my three year old, has posed a new challenge to me. She watched ‘3 Idiots’ with us and since then she has become a fan of Amir Khan. So whenever I go back home after a long day, I find the same movie being played on the DVD ad nauseam. I liked the movie and of course admire Amir Khan’s acting skills, but when I am woken up, in the dead of night, by Oxana’s constant demand that she has to see or meet her “favourite uncle”, I find no space to hide. Do not prejudge me. I am not an intolerant jingoist who would be weary of his daughter’s fondness for an Indian actor. Far from it. When I was growing up I had a huge crush on Priyanka Gandhi. But to expect a poor Pakistani journalist to fly to India along with his family and to arrange a meeting between his three year old and a mega star, that too in these troubling times, is asking for too much. I would have hoped that next time my daughter will like some Pakistani movie or drama and would ask for something within reach. But unfortunately for me, the Pakistani culture industry has been churning out disasters for some time and I do not hope to find any solace there in the near future.

Of course I can hope that one day India-Pakistan relations will improve enough that stars on both sides can spend more time on the other side. Perhaps then Sophie, my one year old and the latest addition to our family, can meet any of her favourite uncles from India. But if I had any such hope, the Shoaib, Sania and the fat girl’s (no offence meant, I am fat too) episode has shattered it. I am not much aware of the case, but I can see the intolerance shown by the Indian rightwing parties and, of course, the media. Frankly, to me Sania and Shoaib’s marriage is not an India-Pak issue. It is a marriage of stars and it is nice to see more love in a world shattered by hatred. My sentiment would have been no different had it been the case of a Pakistani girl marrying an Indian man. When Meera was being criticised for working in the Indian film industry, I wrote in her support after all. Then you can understand my dismay at the Indian media’s partisan coverage of the couple’s detractors, especially the filthy language of the other girl’s father. It is worse than the intolerance shown in the Pakistan of ‘Veer Zaara’.

A step ahead of the India-Pakistan peace lobby, I have always believed that both countries can prove to be excellent strategic allies. Why? Because both countries have had wrong priorities in the past, being obsessed with their defence expenditure rather than their poor people. And no wonder then that the two sides have fought quite a few wars. In Pakistan, this unnatural obsession has caused an imbalance between the civil and military establishments and repeatedly caused military takeovers. It has also unleashed monsters like militancy. You will laugh at what I am about to say, but I am convinced that, under the influence of the rightwing forces, the Indian defence establishment too is heading in the same direction. The two sides can salvage the situation if they bury the hatchet and agree to behave as responsible neighbours. But after the Mumbai carnage it seems only a pipedream. I was amongst those who condemned the attack at its very start, but that did not stop the Indian hardliners from insulting me on my own website and through hate mails. Nobody even cared to notice that the nascent democratic government was trying its best to fight the militants for the sake of a more tolerant Pakistan and stable region. It is strange that at the time of the sitting Indian government’s re-election, Manmohan Singh also promised to build peace between the two countries, but if the recent foreign secretary level meeting was any yardstick, those promises were mere political slogans.

Just this week, our democratic government has tried to do away with the above-mentioned imbalance through a constitutional reforms package. We cannot be a thriving democracy if the democratic forces both here and abroad do not support the cause of democracy. The US and the rest of the West have started appreciating this fact. But our Indian friends and PML-N do not seem ready to turn over a fresh leaf. Before I say anything about the PML-N, let me say one thing to our Indian friends. What we are trying to do in our country is a painstaking process and will take some time to bear fruit, but it is as much in our neighbours’ interest as it is in ours. I know many of our Indian friends have not accepted the creation of Pakistan even now, and still want to challenge its existence on the basis of the Two Nation Theory. To them I have one answer. I do not care much about this theory as it concerns an era much before my time, but I was born in this country, it is my home and I love it. My country can be a good ally if there is sincerity on both sides. Try us.

My last column was written before the signing of the constitutional reforms package and hence for a moment I felt I was wrongly bitter towards the PML-N. But then came the presidential address to the joint session of parliament and the absence of the Sharif brothers was noticeable. I know PML-N is bitter about the Governor’s Rule that was imposed in Punjab. But it should try to appreciate that the president, with whom they had issues, is finally giving up his own powers as per promise. PML-N was boycotting the elections and it was President Zardari who convinced them not to do so. Because of the Charter of Democracy, the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and Musharraf’s presence, both parties and their allies were given a unified mandate to restore democracy and form a war cabinet that would help recover from the current mess. There are times to play politics but this is not one of them. All the political sides are urged to bury the hatchet in order to build a better Pakistan. Now that all its major demands have been met, PML-N would do well to join the federal cabinet and help steer the country out of trouble. Pakistan, in our list of priorities, should come first.

The writer is an independent columnist and a talk show host. He can be reached at farrukh.khan@pitafi.com