Asha or Nirasha?

By: Asif Chauhdary

Have you ever heard of buying tyres before actually going into buying a car? No? Then I am sure you must have heard of constructing the upper story of a house before even laying the foundations? Not this one even? Right then what about putting a cart before the horse? No one believes that any of the above mentioned things could happen. If that’s so then how come the efforts to ensure peace between India and Pakistan be made without solving the core issue Kashmir?

The sincerity and the efforts can not be doubted but we can not ignore the fact either, that the Indian track record is not very promising as far as the long for good neighbourhood is concerned. Since last couple of days, ‘Destination Peace’ is the talk of the town. This peace campaign titled ‘Aman ki Asha’ is a joint venture of the Times of India (TOI) and the Jang publishing group of Pakistan. Both the giant groups were working on this proposal since last two years and were looking for the right time for the curtain raising. The most astonishing thing is the initiative, for having cordial relations, by the Times of India which is known for it’s not only anti Pakistan trend but the venomous write-ups, editorials and analysis as well; hence the Times of India doesn’t enjoy favourable reputation in Pakistan due to its negative and radical policy towards the latter, while their counterpart on the Pakistan side the Jang group also falls in the shady range as far as its policy is concerned.

People still wonder that how come the Jang group’s GEO channel sustained a long shut down, forced upon it during the Musharraf government’s tenure? The referred corroboration by the TOI and the Jang Group is in way track three diplomacy and Mir Shakeel Ur Rehman must have kept the prosperity of his business empire in mind before floating the idea of this peace campaign. It was learnt that in recent past the TOI and the Jang group were planning to have their headquarters at Dubai which the Indian government didn’t allow to the TOI group. The Indian government’s objection on using Dubai as the joint venture’s operational base should be taken as a clear indicator that India would like to keep this joint venture directly under their thumb at all cost. It would be like one more step towards succumbing to the ever growing Indian dominance.

The rising popularity of the GEO channel has out rightly changed the psyche/ taste of the viewers in particular and the masses in general. I wonder if the people at the helm of the affairs in Jang group knows about it but the fact is that if critically looked at this channel’s programmes then one can easily observe its inclination towards the Indian programs and cultural heritage which is possibly being indoctrinated silently. A handsome percentage of Indian entertainment programs are scheduled and telecasted in routine. However the TOI is one step ahead in a way that the group is going into this joint venture for a national cause – which definitely doesn’t go with Pakistan’s interests – and for which the paper has his government’s and the secret agency’s full support and the backing. There is strong perception that the TOI has signed in to this joint venture while focusing on a four points agenda; for pure business interests, to put the Kashmir issue on the backburner, create misunderstanding between the political class and the establishment of Pakistan categorically the armed forces and to give full throttle to the cultural invasion to brain wash the Pakistanis.

Seeing the Times of India’s track record it is too hard to believe that they would contribute some fruitful share to improve Indo-Pak bilateral relations. May be the cooperation craved by the Jang group is to achieve its business objectives but this is fact that the TOI has the same for further penetration in Pakistani media and political ranks for its ulterior motives and with all this background operation ‘Destination Peace’ is being launched.

However at the very outset some glaring reservations have been noted after the launching of this so called peace campaign ‘Aman ki Asha’. The very first thing is the selection of a Hindi word ‘Asha’ which definitely had an alternative, commonly used in both the countries and i.e. ‘Umeed’. Both the words carry same meanings ‘Hope’. The second objection is on logo which is smartly designed – apparently showing two doves but from a distance looks like a Lotus, India’s national flower used as symbol by some right wing extremist parties of India. Above all the colours of the logo are the same as of Taranga, the Indian national flag. All these indicators are enough to get convinced that operation ‘Aman ki Asha’ is strongly and effectively dominated, influenced and supported by the Indian government

Pakistan and India have fought at least four major wars ever since their independence and every time the core issue was Kashmir, the flash point in the Sub-continent. So it is rather impossible to believe that any effort to bring peace in the South Asia without considering Kashmir could be trusted as a sincere effort. Indians are unable to hide their desires and above all excitement for the campaign’s success. It’s quite evident that the desire behind the efforts being made by the TOI is doubtlessly; to negate the two nation theory, to weaken the Pakistan politically and ideologically as Pakistan is the only country that India fears, to keep Pakistan busy with GWOT and carryout nefarious designs under that cover, to play the blame game at the fastest pace, to create rift between the political hierarchy and the army command, to convince Pakistani public that Kashmir is not at all an issue for which both the nations remains dagger drawn and lastly to blow Balochistan issue out of proportion to put Pakistan on back foot.

The Indian media always behaved very responsible from their national point of view and continuously stood beside their government in their silent war against Pakistan at every hole in, while on Pakistan side, the media unfortunately remained split on the issue of relations with India. Those who do not want the friendly relations with the Indians under the current status-quo should not be termed as the extremists. It should be remembered that the Kashmir issue is still unresolved and would always remain a litmus test to gauge the Indian sincerity.

Isn’t it something like constructing the upper story of a house before even laying the foundations or an attempt to put a cart before the horse? If that’s so then believe me that both the parties might gain business recompenses but not the peace and that is the bottom-line.