Indo-Pak relations

The cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan has to be situated in the broader context of the burgeoning terrorism that has plagued contemporary Pakistan. The links between top army personnel, bureaucrats and political leaders, on the one hand, and terrorists and drug barons, on the other, have acquired a measure of legitimacy under the banner of Islam and jihad. The transnational links of terrorist outfits also necessitate international coalitions to weed out terrorism. Nevertheless the India-Pakistan peace initiatives that are currently under way represent a positive development because they can make an incremental contribution to ending cross-border terrorism.

History does not retrace its steps. It is no longer useful to ask if the partition could have been avoided. The question is no longer important. The different perceptions of the shared history of India and Pakistan have, perhaps, contributed in some measure to create barriers of prejudice between the two nations. However, there are issues of history that need to be looked at again. This article attempts to highlight some of those contentious and often ill-understood issues. Offered here is an attempt by a sociologist-cum-social anthropologist to highlight some issues. It is not an alternative history.

On the lines of Sadat Hasan Manto's facetious letters to Uncle Sam written at the height of the cold war when Pakistan was being wooed by the US as an ally to fight communism, a letter to prime minister Vajpayee, This letter is a spirited assessment of the most recent standoff between India and Pakistan, peppered with rare insights that have always been Manto's hallmark.