The home minister’s day out

Pakistan was the ‘‘epicenter’’ of global terrorism, he said as he has said before, and America must understand that the same people who killed innocent people in India were responsible for killing innocent people in the United States. In other words — help us control Pakistan.

As someone who has long advocated international mediation to solve our Kashmir problem I watched Advani’s tour with some fascination. What was he doing if not asking for mediation? And, yet, every Indian political leader (from Italian origin to thoroughbred Hindu fanatic) vigorously opposes international mediation.

As Jaswant Singh, with his special brand of eloquence, told me in a recent interview, ‘‘We understand each other’s nuances which a foreign entity will never understand. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh are born of the same womb. We know not only each other’s language but the pulse beat and blood flow of each other’s veins.’’

If we were so sure of this why do we keep asking foreign political leaders to make Pakistan behave? Is it because, despite knowing each other’s pulse beat and blood flow, we have failed abysmally to make Pakistan understand what we are saying?

It is beginning, increasingly, to seem that way. Advani leads the hothead, hot pursuit pack and is much given to making rash, accusatory statements against Pakistan even before his ministry has begun the process of collecting proof.

After every major incident of terrorist violence — whether in Jammu or Akshardham — Advani has gone on national television to charge Pakistan with responsibility and to threaten it with dire consequences. This has happened so often that even Indians hardly pay attention any more. And, he seems to scare nobody across the border or we would not need to run to Washington for help.

It is the view of this columnist that his trip was unnecessary any way. If he merely wanted a summer vacation with wife and kids, that is one thing, but if he thought he would be making a major geo-political difference then that is another thing altogether and he would have done better to stay at home.

When and if the Prime Minister tires or retires, or both, and if it falls upon Advani to take charge that will be the time for him to become involved in foreign policy. As things stand it would be much better if it were left to the Prime Minister who seems more sure-footed and less rash in his approach and his comments.

What, by the way, has happened to his peace moves? If anyone had doubts about Vajpayee’s skills on the foreign policy front they should have been put to rest by the clarity, confidence and timing of his speeches in Srinagar and the Lok Sabha.

The Prime Minister knows where he is going and would get there much quicker if he did not have his Deputy wandering about the United States making the same, stale accusations he has made so often in the past.

Yes. Pakistan is responsible for sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir but Advani tends to behave as if this was our only Kashmir problem. The Prime Minister knows better and is thereby in a better position to handle the international dimensions.

When he offered Pakistan yet another chance at friendship — his third — it was because he understood that we have a choice of either solving the problem bilaterally by bringing Pakistan on board or multi-laterally by bringing someone else on board as a mediator.

There is no third way and when it comes to international diplomacy there are very few instances of anyone being able to have their cake and eat it. If we do not want international mediation on Kashmir then our ministers must not wander about the capitals of the world seeking help to sort Pakistan out. It is not in our national interest to make India look like a weak, whingeing, whining country. And, for the Home Minister there is much more important work to be done at home.

When are we going to see the drastic overhaul our intelligence agencies so desperately need? We need intelligence information before an act of terrorist violence not after and if it does not come we need to hear about action taken against intelligence officials who failed.

We need also to hear about action taken against officials who kill innocent people and pass them off as terrorists. Would Advani like to tell us what happened to those responsible for the lies and murders that followed the Chhitsinghpura incident? Would he like to explain why he was among the first to congratulate the officials who killed innocent villagers in Pathribal?

When his ministry has finished overhauling the intelligence agencies it can make a serious effort to set up counter-terrorist forces that guard citizens and not just VIPs. If there was such a force deployed in the villages of Kashmir we might not need to have soldiers doing the job. On Kashmir, the Vajpayee government’s most serious failings have been domestic, not international, so would the Home Minister please keep quiet and come home.

Write to tavleensingh@expressindia.com