Restoration of the bus service between New Delhi and Lahore may appear a minuscule step for the governments of Pakistan and India, but it is a giant stride for the people of the two countries. It is ordinary Pakistanis and Indians, caught in the web of hostility and frustration, an of-again, on-again war of words and the continuing cross-border violence, who have suffered the most. It is their welfare that has been sacrificed as a consequence. For them, there are family ties and social obligations to fulfil; there are deeply-held religious beliefs which entail visiting and paying homage at holy sites across the very same borders; and there are trade and cultural ties to be nurtured. It is not surprising, therefore, that responses to the recent visits of Pakistani and Indian MPs to each other’s country evoked strong sentiments of friendship and the desire to move forward without the baggage of past hostility. The visit of Pakistan businessmen to India also shows clearly what is possible in the pursuit of mutual benefit. There are the obvious advantages and scope for bilateral trade. One might even be tempted to say that we should leave the whole gambit of bilateral relations to businessmen and ordinary people on either side of the borders while their governments step back and play the role of facilitators for a change! Unfortunately, this cannot be the case, especially since exclusivity seems to have become an important ingredient of official policy on both sides, spurred on by the “core issue” syndrome. Certainly, the army-centred establishment in Pakistan has for a very long while believed in such a strategy. Reports of Pakistan wanting to peg restoration of over-flight rights to a bilateral agreement seems to be rooted in similar exclusivity and search for exploiting an area where the costs to India of not restoring such rights would be higher. But this must be seen in the overall perspective of what each side seeks from the process of re-establishing normal ties since that would define the relationship after normalisation. The trends in the past three months since Prime Minister Vajpayee surprised everyone with his peace initiative indicate a steady movement forward. Given the historical record of the possibility of rapid fluctuations in relations between the two countries, and the deeper problems that have dogged even normalisation of relations, it is good that the progress remains steady, even if slow. But this is why it is necessary to ensure that no negative impulses are now introduced into the process, either to seek brownie points, or in search of an asymmetric advantage.
