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Let us not be lulled by the olive branch

Nawaz Sharief's midnight visit to Washington, and the cool reception accorded to him by the US establishment, are part of a well-rehearsed Pakistani ploy. In the face of Indian unwillingness to allow a third party meddle in a bilateral dispute, the United States can do little but hammer out a modus vivendi for the beleaguered Pakistani premier, but the pointer to Pakistani evasion is that there is guarantee of a withdrawal.

This is no plea for international mediation in the Kashmir, or Kargil dispute. If Pakistan does not like Indian attitude, or intentions, it can well take a slalom ride in the Himalayas. What India needs to do, in the light of the American no-no to Sharief's misadventure, is not to misread a limited victory for the real thing. And not to be lulled into a sense of wellbeing, normalcy, say a month from now, when the Pakistani soldiers aka Mujahideen either get bombed out are opt out of the torrid terrain.

And, more than that, let us not allow the man in khaki, who alone made even this limited victory possible, to be forgotten once the artillery guns fall silent. If it was not for his commitment and valour, in the face of excruciating odds, the Pakistani will may not have bent even the little it has under American prodding. Rather than ask if there was a nation worth fighting for, a country worth defending, I would ask if the Indian nation has been just to its jawans.

What does the jawan's family get when the bodybag has come home? What does it get when the jawan is alive? Apart from the top brass that is wined and dined by the cocktail circuit, what do we as a nation do for the man who risks his life so that the rest of us may live in liberty? In an age of skyrocketing emoluments in the corporate sector, isn't it foolish to expect a youngster to don khaki purely out of a sense of patriotism, damn the money? Let the nation do right by the man who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the nation's cause, in life as well as after death.

And equally important, let us not trivialise the sacrifices made by our soldiers by reverting to the familiar cricket-cultural ties routine with Pakistan.

Kargil has shown the price of complacency, the grievous mistake in listening to the bleeding hearts brigade thanks to which our defence forces have been faced with a dwindling budget. India may have fought its last full-scale war a generation ago, but that is no reason to believe that the external threat to our integrity is over. If anything, the ante has been upped. Kargil may well have been a foray to test the Indian response and, had it been found wanting, the Pakistani flag could well be flying in Srinagar today.

Sharief's visit to Washington, was meant to save him as much as the Pakistani establishment. Having met with resolve in the heights by the Indian armed forces, and beaten back despite the advantage of altitude and access, there was only one way for the intruders, and that was to go back the way they had come. But a retreat, even a small-scale retreat as this one, has serious domestic implications, especially in a macho, adventurous society like Pakistan. If Sharief had unilaterally announced a backout from Kargil, a coup was very much on the cards. Since across the board the Pakistani establishment is beholden to the Americans in more ways than we realise, a pullout order that seems to have emanated from Washington can be sold to both the politicians and the army. This may not pass muster among the people of Pakistan, but since when did they have a say in how that nation conducts its affairs?

The pros for the pullout, for Pakistan, are enormous. It keeps international opinion softened enough not to obstruct any IMF tranche. Which in turn keeps that country's economy from imploding, and helps it along till the time the next battle is fought. In the absence of a major military reverse, even the army, the lynchpin of Pakistani existence, is able to save face.

We in India have a lot to learn from this. Our experience on the cricket field is proof that the Pakistanis always fight another day. For them, nationalism and an encounter - sporting, or any other kind - are two sides to the same coin. It is we, blinded by a false, and mistaken sense of neighbourliness etc that need to get our act together.

Post-Kargil, we need to redefine, reorient our thinking, rework our national core. Will we continue to allow ourselves taken for granted, will we continue to go on as we have for over 50 years, seeking friendship and normal ties with a neighbour who has made no secret of his intentions towards us, will we let our defences down, or are we going to batten the hatches, be in a constant state of preparedness?

There is a lot to be said for the latter. Israel never let its guard down through its turbulent years, knowing well that when faced with a truculent neighbour, the best guarantee of peace is state-of-the-art military superiority. That in order to win the peace, you must be able to win the war.

Pakistan knows the Indian weakness -- for being accepted, for being seen as large-hearted towards a consanguineous nation -- well. We make the mistake of treating Z A Bhutto's promise to wage a 1,000-year war with India as mere hyperbole at best, and as a joke at worst.

But as the past two months have shown, it has turned out to be a very cruel joke on the Indian jawan. We may console ourselves that we may have won this battle too, but it is Pakistan that is laughing all the way to the LoC, secure in the belief that it will win the war. And if we continue the way we have for five decades, there is no reason why it will not.

Saisuresh Sivaswamy