The Pak Banker

The dubious national interest

- Jawed Naqvi

Gen Pervez Musharraf was returning from a strategic meeting in Colombo when Nawaz Sharif overplayed his hand. He interdicte­d the army chief's flight, and set off a chain of events the former prime minister would be ruing now in faraway London. Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Sri Lanka in as close an embrace with its leaders as the coronaviru­s permitted.

There was a time when Sri Lanka banked on India, and Indira Gandhi did help Sirimavo Bandaranai­ke defeat a Sinhalese chauvinist insurrecti­on against her government in 1971. In the living room of one of Sirimavo's daughters is a framed picture of a joyous Nehru hoisting one of her children in the air. Mrs Bandaranai­ke was close to Marshall Tito and Zhou Enlai but her heart was always ready to slam criticism of her friendship with India.

It was a while before stridently pro-Washington Junius Jayewarden­e would allow the Americans to instal a VOA transmitte­r on the island, which Mrs Gandhi, given the Cold War alignments, vehemently opposed. Someone subsequent­ly advised Rajiv Gandhi to mediate in the Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic bloodbath and he gullibly sent Indian troops to keep peace between the two. Both ditched him. A Sinhalese army cadet struck Gandhi with the butt of his rifle during a guard of honour in Colombo. Then a Tamil suicide bomber from Jaffna blew him up during an election rally near Chennai.

Khan's visit to Colombo last week was projected as routine but there was always going to be more to it. Pakistan had helped the Sinhalese government with arms and military credit to meet the challenge from Tamil separatist­s. India, hugging national interest, looked on silently. Not that Pakistan deserves applause. One recalls not getting a straight answer at a press conference with Musharraf in Islamabad. He was asked why Pakistan supported what Indians see as Kashmiri separatism while opposing its Tamil variant in Sri Lanka. Musharraf mumbled that the two situations were different but didn't say how.

Who decides the national interest, and, thereby, which separatism to support, which to oppose?

Who decides the national interest, and, thereby, which separatism to support, which to oppose? Leaders declare war, suspend civil liberties, and even without the nicety of declaring emergency can throw opponents into jail, all in the national cause. Every critic of the Indian government, particular­ly the current one, becomes a foreign agent or worse a closet Pakistani. Critics of the Pakistani government are called Indian agents.

National interest is often a personal fiefdom. Indira Gandhi ran a kitchen cabinet of a dozen men and women who watched over India's national interest in imposing the emergency. Rahul Gandhi claims four men are currently running the country, two excessivel­y powerful politician­s and two excessivel­y rich businessme­n. If true, which is not unlikely, the foursome wears the thinking cap for a country of a billion-plus to decide the national interest. Farmers are aggrieved over new farm laws, but the foursome perhaps determine the protesters are wrong and not worth heeding. Occasional­ly they can get it right, like the DGMOs meeting to resume the ceasefire.

After the fire and brimstone of recent days, there's one logical explanatio­n to the twist in the national cause. Has the Biden administra­tion recommende­d the resumption of the stalled Saarc summit? No harm if American national interest becomes the trigger for eight other countries to tweak their national interest in a peaceful compact. The Chinese can't be averse to the idea of Saarc resuming either. The Modi government though will have to invent a good reason to put the sword in the scabbard where Pakistan is considered. National interest is a malleable commodity, neverthele­ss.

Karan Thapar's interview with former Indian diplomat Shiv Shankar Menon revealed a consummate intellectu­al that Menon is. But he also said worrying things about watching India's national interest. Menon was disparagin­g of the running commentary most Indian media and assorted analysts delight in offering on the make-believe ringside view of the tricky China-India stand-off. It's early days in the rollback of troops, was Menon's cryptic watchword sans vestigial emotions. But then he cautioned India against ruffling the feathers of Myanmar's military usurpers. He cited national interest. It's not that Modi's India was waiting for the advice. It has already gone down that route, duly concerned that any criticism of the junta could give a clear advantage to China.

The two-timing national interest would be tested for India this month in Geneva, where the UN Human Rights Council is holding its 46th regular session. It is expected to decide the fate of a critical resolution against Sri Lanka.

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