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Ilthough
it is fashionable in the West to think of India and Pakistan as Siamese
twins, the fact is they are as separate as any two nations can be in terms
of ideology, polity and nation-building. Such is the gulf between the
two that, in the words of a western analyst, while "India has one
foot firmly planted in the 21st century, Pakistan has both feet planted
in the past". Their antithetical worldviews are both the cause and
the effect of their rivalry since Independence.
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CONFLICT UNENDING
By Sumit Ganguly
Oxford
Price: Rs 395
Pages: 187 |
The unrelenting conflict on the subcontinent since 1947 is the subject
of a slim, highly readable book by US-based academic Sumit Ganguly. This
study flows from Ganguly's earlier book, Origins of War in South Asia,
which was an offshoot of his PhD dissertation.
Ganguly is at his best collating facts and historical data, and provides
a good overview of the four Indo-Pak wars-1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999.
The finest sections are the four chapters that individually discuss each
war. They are an excellent introduction to the causes and outcome of each
war, and the military strategy and miscalculations involved.
While good at the descriptive part, Ganguly is weak in analytically reaching
conclusions. The book, therefore, lacks depth despite the author's proficiency.
The analytical sections are as brief as op-eds in newspapers.
A cautious Ganguly asks questions but does not answer them. For example,
in his epilogue, he raises key questions on Kashmir's future. But he hardly
enlightens readers by simplistically and pithily putting forth his "proposed
solution"-Pakistan's US-forced abandonment of terror and India's
US-induced grant of maximum autonomy to Kashmir. The contention is there
is a clear-cut solution available, only if the US exercised its "unique
position to forge a durable peace on the subcontinent".
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| FACE TO FACE: Pakistani
troops and their Indian counterparts at the Wagah border |
Not only do the complexities of the problem lend themselves to no straightforward
solution, but the portrayal of Kashmir as the root cause of Indo-Pak tensions
is also at variance with the author's excellent introductory analysis
wherein the conflict is seen as flowing from opposing national ideologies
and ideals, not from territorial dispute. Would a magical solution of
the Kashmir problem make India and Pakistan friends? The answer is no
in the first chapter, but yes (or maybe) in the patchy epilogue.
Ganguly is at pains to show that as an Indian-American he is not biased
against Pakistan. Criticism of Pakistan is almost habitually followed
by some censure of India. In the process, he makes statements that are
hardly cerebral. He accuses India of "massive" human rights
abuses in Kashmir and blames actions of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi
for "a steady erosion of the secular features of the Indian state".
Despite its shortcomings, the book is a handy primer to the subcontinental
conflict of over 50 years during which Pakistan has emerged as a borderline
failed state and India seems content to equate itself with a neighbour
a fifth its size in terms of territory and seventh in terms of population.
 
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CURRENT
ISSUE FEB 18, 2002
Classic
Indian Tales for Children
In
Your Face
Guide
to the Schools of Doon
A
Concise History of India
Ceremonial
Glimpses of the Indian Air Force
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