M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — Someone forgot to tell
Britain's foreign secretary and would-be prime minister, David Miliband, that
the Union Jack no longer flies over New Delhi’s Viceregal Palace, now renamed
"Rashtrapati Bhavan," or "Head of the Nation House." During
his visit to India last month, his hosts found Miliband’s conduct and views so
offensive that a relatively junior official from the External Affairs Ministry
was trotted out to insist that India did not need "unsolicited"
advice.
The official was referring to Miliband's
motif during the visit – that New Delhi ought to make concessions on Kashmir so
the Pakistan army would assist NATO with more sincerity and efficacy than it
has since the 2001 NATO-Taliban war started in Afghanistan.
Clearly, Miliband is unaware of the
dynamics of decision making in a democracy. He appears to view India in the
same league as China, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, in each of which a single
institution – the Communist Party, the army and the monarchy, respectively –
calls the shots.
Were Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to follow Miliband’s peremptory
advice – enabling the Pakistan army to gain through diplomacy concessions that
they have thus far been unable to wrest by jihad – not only would domestic
politics in India be inflamed to Bangladeshi proportions, but the Wahabbis that
control the Pakistan army would be able to recover some of the ground they have
lost with regard to public opinion and moderate civil society.
