Sorry, Brian Rathbun.
How disappointed I was to discover that the creeping improvement in bilateral relations has threatened to stall as a result of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech to the UN General Assembly. Addressing the UN’s largest body, Zardari used the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir as an example of the failure of the UN system, referring to the unenforced Security Council resolution calling for a pleibiscite in the former Princely State to decide its future. Prime Minister Nehru famously refused to hold the pleibiscite, and went as far as to jail the popular leader, Sheikh Abdullah, in the early 1950s. In reply to Zardari, India’s UN ambassador retorted with the standard line, that Kashmir is an “integral part” of India, and that Pakistan is illegally occupying it. In recent months, the rival nations had refrained from open inflammatory rhetoric over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. This new descent tastes terrible.
However, I began to think. What is the cause of this stalled, protracted politics? It appears that this is the defining, endemic characteristic of politics in the region: civilians acting slowly and impotently. The Pakistani military offers a hawkish voice that is often heard most clearly, and increasingly, partisans in the Indian domestic fabric have garnered more popular support (I refer to the past 15 years, in which the Hindu nationalist BJP held the parliamentary majority for a number of years).
To jolt the region out of its stupor, there needs to be an injection of youth, energy, and good governance practices. This starts with a socially responsible class of young professionals entering public service in each country, finding solutions as equitable as can be found, and building trust and confidence among the many political and ethnic groups in each country. Once a framework of trust, built around positive, altruistic energy, is established, the elites in each country can focus on structuring a diplomatic future in which both nations receive a package of dignity and, in the process, delegitimize the extremists within their borders. The political culture in Pakistan is weak, and the political culture in India is stale. The only way to improve the security situation is to improve domestic governance practices within each country, through an infusion of energetic, capable administrators and a new intolerance for parochialism. How about this for an interpretation of the two-level game? Transform the source of legitimacy from hollow nationalism to concern and capable governance. Add diplomatic cushions so that the dignity of all parties is kept in good condition, yet offer no tolerance for poor management and a lack of responsibility. Trust will be built, among the countries in the region, and between each country and the great powers.
The View from the Bell Tower 