by Kuldip Nayar
When I crossed over to India, I never felt that I had left an enemy country, but a country full of friends who I would meet again soon. I have visited Pakistan many times since and interviewed its leaders. Even now I go to the India–Pakistan border at Wagah in Punjab every year on the night of 14–15 August and light candles of peace and friendship in the company of many from India as well as Pakistan. I started with 10–12 people in 1992. In 2011 there was a crowd of more than a lakh. The idea has caught up and it is now a peoples’ movement for friendship with Pakistan.
I have found that any word of kinship finds a response. Once in Karachi, when I was heading a parliamentary delegation, I found that people had tears in their eyes when I said that we were of the same blood and would never abandon them. This view is, however, far removed from the official one.
I still remember meeting Benazir Bhutto in Lahore in 1993 when she praised my efforts and told me not to falter in my endeavour to improve relations between India and Pakistan. She said: ‘You people may be successful one day. We, the governments, will not get anywhere.’
That afternoon I had an appointment with Nawaz Sharif, then prime minister. He endorsed the idea and offered all the help he personally and his government could provide. During the discussion he made the famous observations: ‘We can neither take Kashmir from you forcibly nor can you give it on a platter peacefully.’
The response from the Pakistan side has been limited. The army and religious organizations have been against the initiative. In the past two years, the Pakistan People’s Party has sent some representatives to the border. For the first time, our side opened the iron gates in 2009, although the Pakistan authorities kept theirs shut.
From the Pakistan side the people-to-people contact was initiated by Dr Mubashir Hussain. He was joined by Asma Jehangir, Jugnu Mohsin, and I.A. Rehman. Subsequently, Aitzaz Hussain, his wife Bushra, Iqbal Haider, and Chaudhary Manzoor have joined the movement. On our side Manak, Romesh, Gogi, Rajinder Sachar, and Mahesh Bhatt are some of the persons who push the caravan of peace despite all odds. Girl students from both sides have joined in and Nandita Das’s efforts to get children from both sides to play cricket have also contributed to improve relations. However, the governments, particularly Pakistan’s, are not enthusiastic about encouraging people-to-people contacts although they pay lip service to the initiative.
Nevertheless, I have found Islamabad more forthcoming than New Delhi in certain matters. In 2010, when we took up the question of the release of fishermen languishing in jails even after having served their sentences, Pakistan released virtually all the Indian prisoners. In India we had to meet Sonia Gandhi to get some Pakistani fishermen released.
This is, however, a perennial problem. Both governments wreak vengeance on fishermen who stray into each other’s water because there is yet no agreement on territorial waters. Indeed, much worse is the plight of prisoners from either country. They suffer from the fallout of the enmity between the two countries. Persons like Assad Mufti, a Pakistani settled in Holland are rare. He is secular and boldly takes India’s side. In his view, the Pakistan establishment is in the way of normalization between the two countries.
The other day I was reading a book in which I found this verse (rubai) of Omar Khayyam, the great Sufi poet of Persia. I will quote it as the highest ideal I can think of, which I wish always remained in my heart and in the hearts of all Indians and Pakistanis:
So it be written in the Book of Love,
I do not care about that Book above;
Erase my name or write it as you will,
So I be written in the Book of love.
Index
1991 financial crisis in India, 341
2G spectrum, 360, 386, 400
Abdullah, Farooq, 316, 318, 333, 361
Abdullah, Sheikh, 32, 60-65, 82-83, 106, 122, 127, 132-133, 152, 175, 192, 241, 245-246, 272, 18
arrested, 83
and relations between, 83
proposal on Kashmir, 122-123,133
resigned; released , 63, 134
Abell, George, 54, 55
letter to Stuart Abbott, 54-55
Advani, L.K., 86, 234, 256, 261, 269, 272, 304, 338, 339, 347, 349, 363, 382, 406
rath yatra of, 336, 337, 347
Ahmad, Tajuddin, 44, 194, 203, 204
Ahmed, Aziz, 143, 214-217
Aksai Chin crisis, 101-104, 149
Alexander, A.V., 33, 35
Alexander, P.C., 321, 323
All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) agitation, 301
All India Muslim League, 10, 15, 17, 18, 20-23, 25-32, 35, 35-42, 45, 49-51, 53, 55, 62, 76
formed, 26
Lahore session of, 18, 19, 20
Al-Qaeda, 276
Ambani, Dhirubhai, 265
Ambedkar, B.R., 69, 338, 339, 366, 367
Anandpur Sahib Resoultion, 285, 286, 300, 301
Appleby, Paul H., 93
Asaf Ali, Aruna, 28, 50
role in Quit India Movement, 28
Assam,
problem of infiltration in, 299, 301, 302
split of, 302
Attlee (Lord), 40, 41, 45, 46, 51, 53, 64, 65
Auchinleck, Claude, 12, 66
Aurora, J.S. (Lt. Gen.), 198, 204, 288, 295
Azad, Abul Kalam, 13, 17, 20, 22-24, 27, 28-30, 33-37, 41, 42, 45, 47-49, 51, 57, 59, 61, 67, 70, 83, 101, 127, 177, 323, 164
comments on Krishna Menon, 17
criticism of two-nation theory, 20
authored: India Wins Freedom, 17, 46, 48
interview to Shorish Kashmiri, 59
views against partition, 30, 35, 48, 57, 59
Azad, Jagan Nath, 1
Azhar, Maulana Masood, 372
Azmi, Shabana, 236, 357
Babri Masjid, 309, 336, 341, 344-348, 401
demolition of, 344-347
installation of idols in 1949, 344
Badal, Prakash Singh, 254, 255, 261, 262, 282-284, 289, 369
Bahuguna, Hemwati Nandan, 274
Banerjee, Mamata, 351, 383
Bangladesh war, 122, 189, 207, 208, 218, 225, 289, 408
and liberation of Bangladesh, 20, 190, 194, 199, 202, 205, 377
India’s role in, 194-196, 208
Pakistan’s defeat in, 198, 202
and public surrender by Pakistan soldiers after, 195-198, 210
Bank nationalization, 186, 290
Barnala, S.S., 283
Barooah, Dev Kant, 226, 227, 228, 259
Basu, Jyoti, 207, 339, 351, 352
Bhagat, Prem (Brig.), 117, 359
Bhagwati, P.N., 224, 242-244
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 101, 117, 144, 207, 270, 274, 288, 302, 312, 314, 333, 334, 345, 346, 347, 348, 336, 337, 339, 344, 350, 356, 357, 361, 362, 363, 367, 369, 371, 372, 376, 378, 379, 383, 386, 406
founded, 270
Bhave, Vinobha, 127, 128, 247
and his Bhoodan movement, 130
justification for Emergency by, 249-250
Bhindranwale, Jarnail Singh, 81, 281-296, 299
died, 293
emergence on the political landscape, 282-284
staying in the Golden Temple, 284-290
moved to the Akal Takht, 290
Bhutto, Benazir, 210, 213, 275, 277, 410
Bhutto, Murtaza, 274-275
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali, 20, 72, 121-123, 143, 147, 153, 158, 159, 163, 168, 189, 192-193, 198-202, 208-216, 234, 278, 305, 373, 408, 410
hanged, 277
and Mujib talks, 198-200
as Pakistan’s president, 200
at Tashkent Conference, 159-163
views on Tashkent declaration, 211
Bofors gun deal, 298, 311, 312, 314
Bose, Subhash Chandra, 30, 31
Boundary Commission, 53, 55, 107
Bowles, Chester, 65, 129, 146-147
remarks on India, 65, 129
Brar, Kuldeep Singh (Brigadier), 291, 293, 295
Cabinet Mission, 19, 32, 33, 35-39, 45-46, 49
failure of, 45
proposals for a united India, 35
three-tier structure proposed by, 36
Campbell-Johnson, Alan, 42, 48, 51, 62
Cariappa, K.M., 43
Central Vigilance Commission Bill, 1999, 365
Chagla, M.C., 22, 71, 142, 144, 187
Chakravarti, Nikhil, 101, 236, 273, 307
Chaliha, Bimala Prasad, 88-89, 119, 302
Chatterjee, Somnath, 383, 258, 363
Chaudhary, Mrinal Dutta, 273
Chaudhuri, J.N. (General), 140, 150, 153-155
Chavan, Y.B., 142, 161, 166, 184, 186, 226, 259, 271
Chidambaram, P., 333, 386, 403, 404
China,
attack on India in 1962,
border issues with, 105, 361
Henderson Brooks inquiry report on, 361
Chopra, Pran, 175, 177-178, 288
Chou En-lai, 102-104, 146
Churchill, Winston, 29, 52, 120, 131
Citizens for Democracy (CFD), 319, 399
Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference, 106
Cripps, Stafford (Sir), 29-30, 33, 34, 37, 40
proposals of, 29
Dayal, Rajeshwar, 105, 115, 131, 143
Delhi Agreement, 82
Desai, Kanti, 140, 259
Desai, Morarji, 85, 108, 130-131, 136, 140-141, 144, 168, 172-173, 184, 209, 244, 257, 259, 262, 267-269, 271-273, 278, 334, 369,
as deputy prime minister, 174
as Prime Minister, 259, 268
step down from prime-ministership, 271
Deshmukh, C.D., 86
Devi, Puran (mother), x, 2-8, 11, 23, 58, 237, 407
Dhar, D.P., 132, 203, 212-213, 223
Dhawan, R.K., 267, 269, 280, 295-296, 226-227, 235-236, 251
Dixit, Sheila, 264
Dixit, Uma Shankar, 264
East Pakistan,
atrocities committed by Pakistan in, 197
dispute with West Pakistan, 190-193
independence declared by, 190
policy of discrimination against Hindus in, 209-210
Emergency, x, 94, 179, 203, 218-265, 280, 299, 315
arrest of opposition leaders during, 228-229
case on the validity of, 242-244
diminishing returns of, 246-247
effects of, 228-231
imposed, 226-228
and press censorship, 228-229, 235
relaxed, 244
Faiz, Faiz Ahmed, 56, 212
Farakka Barrage Agreement, 207, 351
Farooqi, Mohammed, 14-15
Fazl-ul-Haq, 18-19
Fernandes, George, 228, 269, 271, 333, 405
Gandhi, Indira,
Allahabad High Court judgement against, 224
amendment of the Constitution by, 246
arrest of, 262
assassination of, 296-297
and massacre of Sikhs after, 319, 324-325
and 1984 riots at Delhi after, 326, 248, 376
as Congress president, 128
defeat in 1977 elections, 257, 264
devaluation of Rupee by, 173-174
guilty of corrupt practices in the poll, 224
hailed as Goddess Durga, 218
as Information and Broadcasting Minister, 142
as Prime Minister, 171-188
protests against, 220
return to power in 1980, 222, 266, 272
Gandhi, Mahatma (Gandhiji), 14, 26, 59, 67, 128, 353
assassinated, 67-68
in Noakhali, 56
prayer meeting at Birla house, 14
Gandhi, Feroze, 221, 248-249
Gandhi, Priyanka, 128, 313, 380
Gandhi, Rajiv, 47, 225, 228, 262, 280, 290, 297, 298-314, 319-320, 322, 327, 333, 337, 340-341, 343, 346, 395-396
assassinated, 314, 341
contributions of, 313
corruption charges on in Bofors deal, 311
as leader of the Opposition, 320
and Longowal settlement, 301
pact with AASU, 301-302
as prime minister, 298-313
Gandhi, Sanjay, 137, 206, 225-226, 228-231, 235-237, 245, 248-253, 255-258, 260, 262, 264, 266, 268-269, 272, 280, 282, 299
changes done in cabinet, 251-253
died, 279
plan to unseat Morarji, 272, 274
political management of, 248-249
Gandhi, Sonia, 47, 48, 128, 202, 228, 248, 280, 296-297, 301, 311-313,341-342, 346, 350, 352, 370, 379-381, 386, 402, 411
as Congress President, 202, 296, 350
Ghani, Abdul, 316, 317
Gilani, Syed Yusuf Raza, 217, 384-385
Giri, V.V., 182, 185
Godhra incident, 375-376
Justice Nanavati Report on, 376
Godse, Nathuram, 68
Goenka, B.D., 220, 250, 261
Goenka, Ram Nath (RNG), 135, 220-221, 237, 245, 250, 253-254, 260
owner of Indian Express, 220
circulation during Emergency, 260
expansion plans of, 260-261
Gowda, Deve, 350-352
Great Calcutta Killing, 38-39, 43, 51
Gujarat riots, 375, 377-378
Gujral, Inder, 187, 220, 229, 232, 245, 288, 316, 319-320, 323-324, 326, 328, 331, 337, 350, 352-354
as prime minister, 352-354
Gupta, Shekhar, 261, 339
Haider, Salman, 208, 323, 327, 333
Hajipir and Tithwal issue, 158-160, 164-166
Haksar, P.N., 214, 229
Hazelhurst, Peter, 234
Hazratbal shrine, 132, 343
Henderson-Brooks (Lt Gen.), 117, 359
inquiry into India’s debacle in 1962 war, 117
Heren, Louis, 16-17
meeting with Jinnah, 16-17
Hindu Mahasabha, 32, 43, 66
Hooja, M.M., 118
Hostage theory, 22, 50
Hume, A.O., 25
Hussain, Mushahid, 304-308, 370
Hydari agreement, 92
Hyderabad, 15, 66, 72-75, 87
issue of its unification with Andhra, 87
story of merger into India, 72-74
India,
-China war, 102-103, 115-117, 121, 133, 157, 213, 229, 238
India’s defeat in, 116-118, 121
unilateral ceasefire by the Chinese, 118
economic reforms in, 341, 343, 363, 382
idea of federal structure for, 20, 29, 35
highjacking of Indian Airlines airbus, 371-372
integration of states in, 70-71
issue of Hindi as official language, 94-97, 147-148
nuclear tests in Pokhran, 369
Partitioned, 6, 54
and the communal riots, 6-10, 59-73
fallout of, 59-76
the greatest human tragedy, 56
scale of the killing and migration, 11-12
process of, 51
plane hijack from Jammu, 187
relations with Nepal, 111-112
India and Pakistan,
division of assets between, 53
first war between, 63
UN resolution on, 64-65
talks in Karachi, 121-122
breakdown of, 123
specific points covered in, 122
war of 1965, 153-156, 210-211
war of 1971, 194
water dispute between, 107
India House in London, 323
India Office Library, 330
Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 3, 68, 99
creation of, 68
Indian Constitution,
44th Constitutional Amendment Act, 266
amended, 181
Article 14, 181
Article 19, 181
Article 21, suspended, 242
Article 24 amendment, 181
Article 25 (2), 289
Article 26, 187
Article 31, 181
Article 39 altered, 181
Article 42, amendments withdrawn, 266
Articles 356-7, 147
Article 370, 123, 371
Indian National Army (INA), 30-31
trial of officers of, 30-31
Indian National Congress,
adoption of Partition plan by, 50
divided, 183-187
formed, 26
India-US nuclear treaty, 383
Indus Waters Treaty, 107, 188
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 383
Iqbal, Mohammed, 20, 21, 44
Irani, C.R., 177-179, 220, 394
Iyer, Krishna (Justice), 224, 226, 239, 303
Jain, Shanti Prasad, 135, 169, 393
Jana Sangh, 169, 172, 183, 186-187, 218, 220-223, 259-260, 270
Janata Party,
constituted, 254
failure of, 272-273
and its government, 266-280
exit of, 271-273
functioning of, 270-271
Jinnah, Mohammed Ali, 1, 8, 10, 16-29, 33-46, 49-51, 53-54, 56, 61, 62, 65, 68, 70, 72-74, 115, 133, 190-193, 408-409
call for Direct Action, 38, 39
founder of Pakistan, 1
Muslim’s Quaide-Azam, 26
objection to Vande Mataram, 27
presidential address of, 19
two-nation theory of, 1, 20, 21, 25, 27, 42-43, 318, 349
and his vision of Pakistan, 56
JP Movement, 218, 222-223, 336, 400
Justice J.C. Shah Commission, 231, 263, 269-270
Kabir, Humayun, 17, 27, 51, 70, 78
Kairon, Pratap Singh, 124, 140, 144, 169, 282
Kamaraj, K., 80, 123-124, 130-131, 142, 148, 168, 171-174, 182, 184, 186
Kamaraj plan, 124, 130, 142
Kapoor, Yashpal, 136, 224, 252
Kargil war, 217, 370, 372-373, 408
Kasab, Ajmal, 384
Kashmir,
accession to India, 60-62, 64, 82, 361
case of disappearance of a holy relic from, 132
elections of 1987, 317
massive infiltration from Pakistan in 1971, 151-153
issue of plebiscite in, 65
proposal to divide, 123
role of security forces in, 317-318
tribesmen infiltration in, 60-62
USIS statement on, 123
Kaul, T.N., 158, 160, 166, 168-170, 236
Kennedy, J.F., 75, 110, 116-117, 120, 122, 157
Keshavananda Bharati case, 181
Kesri, Sitaram, 350, 352
Khalistan movement, 9, 79, 283-288, 295, 299-300, 319, 324-326
and militancy in Punjab, 300
new life to, 299
support of China and Pakistan to, 300
Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar, 21, 28, 34, 48, 49, 164, 208, 275