This post is old, it’s been in my head since early March, but today I’m thinking politics and it just won’t wait any longer.
In early March there are two announcements: India will meet Pakistan on the cricket fields of Lahore, and the political leadership of the two countries will open peace talks to resolve, among other things, the dispute over the territory of Kashmir.
This is my travelling month, and from the South to the North, people talk with me about the match, and the talks. They have high hopes for both, and, as I absorb their energy, I have high hopes, too. In McLeod Ganj there are many merchants from Kashmir, away from their families and homes. They tell me about the violence that drove the tourists away – and drove them to more moneyed places. What they earn they send home to their families. They would love a peaceful Kashmir with a strong commercial base to support their jewelry, coats, scarves, carvings and other handicrafts.
Leaving McLeod Ganj, I travel to Rewalser, a small town near a famous Buddhist cave. I visit a monastery and as I exit, I see tea shop. I ask for a coffee and my eyes slide over the Hindi newspaper, catching the pictures. This is how it feels to be unable to read, I think. My eyes stop at a picture of Colin Powell, standing beside a brown man in a white outfit. Definitely a South Asian politician, I think to myself. I ask the owner of the café to give me the story line. He glances with little interest, and says it is about the cricket match. ‘Colin Powell is here for the cricket match?’ I smile my surprise. The man smiles back, brings me my coffee and goes across the street to the travel bureau, returning with an English newspaper. I read.
My worst fears were not worse enough. Colin Powell is meeting in Islamabad with Prime Minister Musharrah of Pakistan, to grant that country Major Non-NATO Ally status. I read and react with disbelief that borders on horror. Turns out the man who owns the tea stall shares my sentiments, but ducked my original question because he thought I was from the U.S. There is such anti-American sentiment in India. No one is fooled by the global goodies – they are too busy lamenting the suicides of farmers, the migration of agricultural and other workers to the slums of major cities, the pillage of the water and land resources by huge U.S. companies. People laugh openly at the U.S.’ purported stance on human rights.
I talk with the owner of the tea stall. What will be the outcome of this move by the U.S.? And why now, just as peace talks are underway? In the days to come, I read many editorials wondering the same things. There is a delicate balance between India and Pakistan. I wonder to myself, does the U.S. profit from the hostilities between the two countries? Why else would they elevate one country over the other, right now?
In Delhi, the next week, Powell casually and carelessly offers the same Non-NATO Ally status to India. His offer is rejected, of course, and angrily hashed over in a few national news editorials.
Meantime, the election news keeps the focus on the peace talks with Pakistan. Prime Minister Vajpayee says the talks are one of the most important parts of the agenda for his next term, and that the climate is right for the talks. We all can but hope.
Comments