The writer is a retired army officer and a freelance columnist

pineswah@tx.micro.net.pk

The unceasing diatribe emanating out of India via the statements of M/s Jaswant Singh and Atal Behari Vajpayee is surprising to say the least. Is it the case that the old penny dropped so many days after the Pakistani delegation had left Agra in the dead of night, without even the courtesy of a (public) handshake from the hosts, or is it just the ultra-right demonstrating it's hold on the Indian government? Is it the case that the Indian Prime and Foreign ministers are so slow on the uptake that they have only now realised that General Musharraf mishandled things to the extent that they now say he did, or is it that they are running for cover because there is such scathing criticism of their conduct in the Indian media, and in Indian political circles? Is it the case that they are saying what they are because of the looming UP elections (which the BJP is slated to lose anyway), or is it that the ultra-right led by Bal Thackeray and fronted in the cabinet by LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj, is pulling M/s Vajpayee and Singh's strings to demonstrate its own primacy in the coming fight for succession to the Prime Ministerial chair?

Whatever the case, this is hardly the manner in which a mature and self-assured country (which has illusions of grandeur, too) should behave. More than anything else this behaviour, this sounding off at the mouth, fools no one. What is the whole point in saying now that Pakistanis were not prepared for the Summit, and if there was any preparation at all (they are not too sure, are they?) it was on the Indian side, when scores of Indian papers have already leaked the details of the draft declarations which were agreed to by the Indian Prime and Foreign ministers (one of them in Jaswant Singh's own hand), but which were rejected by the ultra-rightists? Surely that in itself proves that the talks did get somewhere, a whole day after the breakfast with Indian editors, which is now being blamed to be the one event that actually derailed the Summit. What is the point in Mr Vajpayee saying General Musharraf had assured him that Pakistan would get back the area ceded to China in the 60's, and which is claimed by India? Surely Atalji is aware of the closeness of Pakistan's relations with China? Is it even in the realm of possibility that any Pakistani leader would say any such thing at all? To an Indian leader! At a Summit between the two countries!

The fact is that Mr Vajpayee is saying what he is for his own political survival after the directness and the sincerity and the aplomb (let us not mince words) with which General Musharraf stated Pakistan's case unpleasantly surprised him. I myself have the feeling that the Indians thought they could run rings around the "simple soldier", who would be unsure of his ground because he was also the "architect of Kargil". And it is not as if Kargil was not brought up by the Indians, specially the media, who too were surprised that Pakistan took the matter head-on when it said that India had ingressed into Pakistan territory too, several times in the past - Siachin! East Pakistan! That we should let bygones be bygones and look to the future with hope, in which the Kashmiris should be given the right to determine their own future. And which, dash it all, is the main issue.

It is sadder still that the Indians are now playing a puerile game of tag with Pakistan. One day it is announced that Vajpayee will meet Musharraf on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the next it is leaked that he will not, because he is going to be in New York for only a few hours (contrived surely). One day it is announced that the Indian Prime Minister will visit Pakistan very early in the New Year, the next it is said that the visit may not happen till well into 2002. Is this any way to solve long-standing problems between neighbours who are armed with the deadliest of weapons? No, it is not. And it is high time that we took the bull by the horns.

If the Indians continue to act coy by not giving a firm date for a return visit by their leader to this country, the Foreign Office should get off its hands and launch a diplomatic effort to sensitise the world to our imperatives. Let our emissaries go to the capitals of the world and say quite directly that whilst we are more than willing to work out an all-encompassing peace deal with India, that country's domestic political chaos does not allow its leadership to reciprocate. Remember please that just prior to President Musharraf's visit to India, Jaswant Singh went to several countries, sounding out the leadership on the coming Summit. Let us now go and give them our view after the event. Mayhap world pressure will bring the Indians back to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, back at the Pakistani ranch, the Frankensteins have received the last electric shock, and having come to life are slowly but surely getting off Surgeon-General Naqvi's operating table. Just you wait. Just you wait for the mayhem that will soon be abroad, as the dawn slowly dawns on the bright boys of the NRB. Look at their furious back-pedalling, every day bringing new and newer twists and turns to the original idea of "devolution". The latest in this list is that the army will call the shots by closely observing the doings of the NRB's hand-made monsters. Whilst I have made this point before, let me make it again: we know perfectly well that the army was not really able to "monitor" civil officers (despite the fact that they were subject to all sorts of service rules and regulations), particularly in the mofussil. In many cases, there was such resentment from the civil bureaucracy that the army teams were asked to "go easy". How will those teams now monitor these elected monarchs-of-all-they-survey? What sort of monitoring will, say, Chaudhry Shafaat - him of the House of Zahoor, Gujrat, accept; connected as he is to all sorts of powerful people?

We are also told that much of what the Grade-18 Deputy Commissioner did, will now be done by the Grade-20 District Coordinating Officer (DCO). So what was the whole point in removing the office of the DC? Was it the absence of the O at the end of DC that bothered the NRB? Whilst the arrogance of some of the DCs Bahadur was well known, they still had Commissioners Bahadur overseeing their work, so they were a little bit careful. What happens now when the DCO is himself a far senior officer with no one overseeing him other than the District Nazim who will likely be hand-in-glove with him, both furiously scratching each other's backs?