A GENTLEMAN by the name of Abdullah Abdullah arriving at the head of a delegation to Pakistan raised a promise whose fulfillment appears a little more realistic now. The chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation is not exactly known for having a soft corner for Pakistan. The third day into meetings between the team from Kabul and officials in Islamabad and the two countries are now looking to change the way they have been dealing with each other. What we are talking about here is transformation in how interests are viewed and in perceptions deliberately nursed over time, until they not only enslaved official policymakers but also impeded exchanges at the people’s level. Mr Abdullah, a long-time vocal critic of Pakistan’s alleged help for Taliban militants, cut through the suspicion and doubts that have piled up over the past. “After many troubling years, we now need to go beyond the usual stale rhetoric and shadowy conspiracy theories that have held us back.” Finally, the Afghan emissary for peace says he can hear the people demand a fresh approach.
As Mr Abdullah came up with these encouraging words at an event in Islamabad on Tuesday, his sentiment was reciprocated by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and later by Prime Minister Imran Khan — adding to expectations at a crucial moment of the Afghan peace process. The increase in militant activity in Afghanistan has been a source of serious concern when meetings have been going on in Qatar to find a lasting solution to the woes of a land that has unfortunately been the subject of all kind of power intrigues and bloody schemes, often involving international players. Pakistan has been quite central to the effort for restoration of peace, which will ultimately free the US of its long foreign military involvement. With history on its side, Islamabad warns against haste and calls for gradual withdrawal, just as it has repeatedly brought up the issue of cross-border attacks on its security posts.
These allegations could at last be a thing of the past if the two sides are able to live up to Mr Qureshi’s vow of building a “common future”. Pakistan’s foreign minister sees new realities and it may be presumed that this recently acquired awareness will free both countries from the old formula where one of them had to play the master to the other. Mr Abdullah wants no terror footprint in his country and Mr Qureshi declares Pakistan has no favourites in Afghanistan. All we need now is for these lines to be backed by action of a kind that will play a most significant part in the success of the US-sponsored peace talks currently on in Doha. Not least importantly, they will define the relationship between two countries that could actually do with a new, peaceful chapter in coexistence.
Amnesty India
THE forces of darkness in India grow more menacing by the day as all remaining checks on their depredations are methodically dismantled by the state. Amnesty International has announced it is suspending its operations in that country after its bank accounts were frozen last month by the Indian government as part of what the organisation described as an “incessant witch-hunt” against rights groups.
For its part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government accuses the organisation of being involved in the illegal transfer of large amounts of money from its UK operation to India. Amnesty India has denied the claims of financial misconduct and vowed to challenge the freezing of its accounts through the courts. In a blunt statement, Amnesty India’s executive director said that “Treating human rights groups like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt… to stoke a climate of fear”.
Judging by the increasingly fascist trends in India, it is certainly not coincidental that the last roadblock created in the way of Amnesty’s work follows on the heels of two reports by the organisation that were highly critical of the government’s human rights record. One pertained to violations by security forces in India-held Kashmir and the other to police conduct during recent sectarian rioting in New Delhi.
Our neighbour to the right has always exhibited a certain disdain for international human rights organisations. That disdain has grown into paranoia and outright hostility as the Modi government has sought to strip the country of its pluralistic character and give it an undeniably saffron stamp. Even egregious crimes such as the gang rape of a Muslim shepherd girl by Hindu men in IHK a couple of years ago acquired a communal colour rather than evoking across-the-board revulsion. Shrill right-wing jingoism is now part of the dominant discourse in India and dissent is increasingly fraught with peril.
Critics of the government, including journalists, activists, lawyers, etc, are subjected to investigation and detention, often under harsh anti-terrorism laws. Modi’s illegal annexation of Kashmir and the miseries heaped on its beleaguered populace have gone hand in hand with the state’s efforts to bring down a veil of secrecy over its excesses. Foreign diplomats have faced extraordinary resistance to travelling freely in IHK to gauge the situation for themselves. Day by day, India’s claim of being a democracy, let alone the world’s largest, is becoming fatally compromised.
Film museums
THE KP government’s decision to acquire the ancestral homes of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and turn them into museums is welcome news indeed. Both personalities are unequivocally two of Bollywood’s greatest legends, and people on either side of the Indo-Pak border take pride in their cultural association with these names. Incidentally, Bollywood stars Madhubala, Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Vinod Khanna were also born in Peshawar. Though the provincial government’s decision is stated to be part of its larger Peshawar Revival Plan, attempts have also been made by previous governments to acquire these sites.
Both buildings, situated near the famous Qissa Khwani Bazaar, are in a dilapidated state and faced with an imminent threat of demolition. In fact, the Kapoor Haveli suffered considerable damage in 2016 during a demolition attempt by its current owner. Thankfully, the provincial archaeology directorate had intervened and pulled the plug on the operation. On the other hand, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had declared the Kumar home a national heritage site in 2014. A dispute over the price had prevented the then KP government from acquiring the property, but it did succeed in declaring the house a protected antiquity to stop the owner from making any structural changes to it. This time, however, the provincial government intends to bypass the owners and use in its favour the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which allows the state to take over private land for public use. One hopes this decision will help restore Peshawar’s cultural hustle and bustle that faded in the years following 9/11. News reports indicate the KP government also plans to acquire the birth home of current Bollywood giant Shahrukh Khan, also in the same Qissa Khwani neighbourhood, and turn the area of these three ancestral houses into a large museum space dedicated to the subcontinent’s rich film industry. If the KP government succeeds in executing this commendable plan, it will provide a golden opportunity to boost tourism and, by association, the country’s film industry.
