India and Pakistan view each other’s diplomatic initiatives with great suspicion, constantly negating each other rather than furthering their own cause
By Semu Bhatt

Since independence, the bilateral hostility between India and Pakistan has driven both countries to adopt an unyielding approach regarding each other and play zero sum games in their relations with other countries. On one hand, the diplomats and common people bear the brunt of this bellicosity; on the other hand, the image and prospects of both nations remain grim in the international community.

Int-err-national relations

Both India and Pakistan look at the world through the prism of each other. Since Independence, they have pursued mutually exclusive policies in their relations with third countries. As a consequence, both nations are losing out on larger geopolitical gains. Take Afghanistan, for example. Pakistan’s efforts to wield influence in Afghanistan to create strategic depth against India have adversely affected Pakistan’s internal politics while also depriving India of direct land access to Afghanistan. If not for the India-Pakistan rivalry, Afghanistan-Pakistan-India could become an important zone in the world energy market with access to Central Asian and Bangladeshi natural gas and energy resources. The resultant money flow and the cooperation of India and Pakistan could have also contributed towards stability in the disturbed land of Afghanistan.

Indo-Pak hostility undermines India’s claim to permanent United Nations Security Council membership, as well as India’s relations with the Islamic world. Although India has the third largest Muslim population in the world, it has failed in gaining a foothold in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and finds OIC taking up the Kashmir issue, which India strictly considers as her internal affair.

The compulsion for military superiority has brought about close Indo-Israel ties, but this is achieved at the cost of compromising India’s stand on the Palestine issue and India’s relationship with the Arab countries. The Indo-Pak conflict has also kept the two countries out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which is ineffective until India and Pakistan sign it.

Diplomatic disquiet

From allegations about funding separatists to selling out for sex- the drama that unfolds in the life of Indian and Pakistani diplomats posted in each other’s countries is the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of. Acerbic accusations and retaliatory expulsions are the name of the game.

Diplomats stationed in the rival nation often complain of harassment and ill-treatment – including verbal abuse, disconnection or tapping of telephone lines, unauthorised surveillance of offices and homes, physical harassment (manhandling or bodily harm) and so on.

Even the heads of Indian and Pakistani missions in each other’s countries have been subjected to aggressive surveillance. Unsurprisingly, when one High Commission makes a harassment complaint, its counterpart immediately follows with a similar protest. No wonder that despite being bound by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), India and Pakistan felt the need to sign a bilateral Code of Conduct for Treatment of Diplomatic Personnel in India and Pakistan in 1992. However, the provisions of this code of conduct are also routinely flouted.

Heightened tensions or conflicts immediately result in both countries dropping the pretence of maintaining full diplomatic links. In the past, there have been times when both high commissions have run on half the strength or even shut down for few months. Not that it is easy to obtain a visa to the neighbouring country even when a high commission is running at full strength. Much remains to be desired regarding the cumbersome visa procedures and restrictions on movement of Indian and Pakistani visitors to each other’s countries.

Prisoners of what?

Although India and Pakistan are signatories to the Geneva Convention, they have a history of human rights violations concerning hundreds of cross-border prisoners – many of these unfortunate people crossed the border inadvertently while on their livelihood trail (like the fishermen), unaware of having committed an offence. Many are at fault for overstepping or overstaying their visas – for which they should just be fined and deported. A miniscule number is actually caught and charged for actual criminal offenses like smuggling or spying.

Yet, most of these people, who are given clean chits by their arresting authorities as inadvertent violators, end up spending years in “enemy” jails, with little legal help. The arresting authorities routinely do not inform the home country about the arrest. The prisoners are not granted consular access typically until after they have served their sentences. Even after that, their home country is lax, if not reluctant, to own them. Hundreds of detainees thus bide their time in prisons awaiting repatriation, consular access, or affirmation of their nationality by their government.

Although India and Pakistan signed an Agreement on Consular Access on May 21, 2008 which makes it mandatory for them to exchange a list of prisoners on January 1st and July 1st of every year, both continue to withhold the information, and the release of such prisoners continues to be a diplomatic manoeuvre. The release is touted more as a goodwill gesture, rather than a routine legal deportation procedure.

Non-government organisations, philanthropic lawyers and human rights activists are the only hope for these poor souls when Indo-Pak relations are bad, and there are no chances of the governments indulging in any benevolence. The judiciary of both countries has of late taken note of this situation and expedited the procedure to release and repatriate such prisoners.

Directly related to this is the issue of lack of an extradition treaty between the two nations that share a long border vulnerable to goods smuggling, criminals, spies and militants. Similarly, there are lots of talks, but no strong action, to fight terrorism jointly.

Conclusion

India and Pakistan are used to viewing each other’s diplomatic initiatives with great suspicion and spend more efforts at negating each other than at furthering their own cause. The failure of both countries to resolve disputes through bilateral dialogue and their constant game of brinksmanship using the N-word has diluted their global standing and given the international community a chance to meddle in their internal affairs. Many regional blocs avoid the hostile neighbours in order to avoid getting entangled in the Indo-Pak imbroglio.

Poor bilateral relations have led to appalling treatment of detainees and traumatised hundreds of families on both sides of the border that endlessly wait for their dear ones to return. These are the poor people who have no voice, no say, no power. Sadly, both India and Pakistan have lakhs of such people who are easily expendable. It is for these lakhs of people to mobilise and ask for their right to justice, humane treatment and peaceful existence.

The writer is an independent analyst on security and governance issues and co-author of ‘Cost of Conflict between India and Pakistan’ (International Centre for Peace Initiatives, Mumbai, 2004).
Email: [email protected]