Adversity may bring ray of hope for Pakistan-India ties (Feature)

By Siddhartha Kumar and Nadeem Sarwar Aug 22, 2010, 12:40 GMT

New Delhi/Islamabad - While the unfolding humanitarian crisis in flood-ravaged Pakistan has drawn worldwide concern, it also offers a glimmer of hope for India-Pakistan relations, which have remained in a dire state since the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

Pakistan's decision this week to accept India's 5 million-dollar 'goodwill offer for solidarity' could break the ice in bilateral ties and eventually get peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours back on track.

'Such times offer an opportunity to make friends. This should have been seized by Pakistan, given that better ties with India are crucial to the future of the region as a whole, and particularly to Pakistan's role within it,' read a recent editorial in International News, a Pakistani liberal daily.

India and Pakistan have experienced turbulent relations since their 1947 independence from Britain and have gone to war on three occasions.

Relations hit a new nadir after Islamist militants, according to India assisted by Pakistan's security agencies, attacked Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people. Although formal talks were resumed earlier this year, little headway has since been made.

Pakistan accepted the flood aid with discernible hesitation, and only after the offer was reiterated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a telephone call to his counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday.

With over 1,500 dead and millions of people displaced by the floods, Pakistan's dilemma over the offer has brought into focus the sensitive nature of its ties with India.

Foreign ministry officials in Islamabad are said to have been averse to receiving any assistance from the country's long-standing rival. Even as the international community was appealing for aid for the flood victims, there were suspicions across the border that either side was playing politics over relief.

It was only after some prodding by the United States, which said aid should not be viewed through a political prism, that Pakistan agreed.

'It is hard to say why the government found it necessary to ponder for so long over the matter,' the International News editorial said.

And yet, the Pakistani public remains divided over whether Pakistan should ever have accepted the Indian aid.

Hawks in the right-wing and among Islamist parties argue that by making such good-will gestures, India is cunningly trying to divert attention from the real issues, notably restoring the halted peace process.

But liberals and peace activists retort that the disaster offers a golden opportunity for the two countries to break the current diplomatic stalemate.

Support and succour during Pakistan's hour of hardship could turn out to be the biggest confidence-building measure between the estranged neighbours in years, they argue.

'India is neither an enemy or a threat. Our enemies are those extremists who are distributing aid, but our establishment and politicians do not seem to be worried about them,' Pakistani activist Marvi Sermed told the NDTV network.

He was referring to Islamist non-governmental organizations with links to militant groups which are taking a very active role in relief efforts.

'What India-Pakistan relations require are not grand strategies from the Foreign Office, what they require is a humane approach. This is the moment when we tell the Pakistani people that we are with them,' said Mani Shankar Aiyar, one of the leaders of the ruling Congress party.

In fact, both countries accepted relief from each other when a massive earthquake struck both parts of the disputed Kashmir region in 2005.

The relief measures that Indian agencies are planning include dispatching 400 doctors to serve in the flood-hit region. The offer is subject to approval by Pakistani authorities.

And some Indian analysts go as far as to suggest that Indian troops should unilaterally withdraw from its western borders with Pakistan to allow the Pakistan army more freedom to deal with flood relief.

'This would cost India nothing, but yet would release very large resources within Pakistan. Its impact on the Pakistani psyche would be significant,' argued columnist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar in the Times of India daily.