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The Rediff Special/Karl F Inderfurth

'Our fascination with India remains strong today'

Undersecretary of State Tom Pickering is quoted as saying that for too long 'South Asia has been on the backside of the U S diplomatic globe'. Of course this is true geographically, but it has also been true in terms of our policy priorities. That, I am pleased to say, is changing -- as evident in the White House announcement that President Clinton will travel to South Asia, specifically to India and Bangladesh, in March, the first presidential travel to the region in over two decades.

South Asia: In the News

Unfortunately, while South Asia has been much in the news lately, a lot of that news has not been good. Let me cite four examples.

First, over the New Year period, when much of the world was braced for the possibility of terrorist incidents, there was only one: the Indian Airlines plane hijacked with around 170 people on board, apparently by Kashmiri militants. After one passenger was brutally murdered, and after a weeklong terrible ordeal in the air and on the ground, the other passengers were freed in exchange for the release of prisoners held in India. Since then there have been charges and counter-charges between India and Pakistan over who was responsible for this terrorist incident, again raising tensions between two countries that have fought three major wars during their half-century of Independence.

Second: just days before the Indian Airlines hijacking, there was an assassination attempt against the President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Kumaratunga. She was at the final campaign rally before this island nation's election on December 1, and a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber, a young woman, literally blew herself up on the spot, causing numerous casualties but fortunately not killing the President. This was but the latest incident in a tragic ethnic conflict that has lasted for over sixteen years, and cost an estimated sixty thousand lives.

Third: two months before that, on October 12, another event in South Asia captured the world's attention. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharief, was removed from office by the chief of Pakistan's army, General Pervez Musharraf. Unfortunately, this was but the latest interruption in Pakistan's troubled effort to build a strong and sustained democracy. An elected prime minister has never served out his or her full term in office; indeed, the military has been in charge for fully half of Pakistan's fifty-two years.

Finally, while I could mention other reports -- including the continuing presence in Afghanistan of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network -- let me conclude with one that literally shook the world in May of 1998. I had barely begun my morning staff meeting in the South Asia Bureau at the State Department, when my assistant rushed in to say CNN was reporting that India had just announced it had conducted a series of nuclear tests. Two weeks later -- despite President Clinton's appeals to the Pakistani prime minister and the dispatch of a high-level delegation to Islamabad (myself included) -- Pakistan followed suit with its own nuclear explosions. The spectre of a nuclear arms race in South Asia, and, God forbid, of their actual use in conflict was now with us.

I would like to focus my remarks on what is right about South Asia. I would like to give you a sense of why this region will be increasingly important to us in the 21st century; why President Clinton and Secretary Albright decided at the beginning of this term in office -- before the South Asian nuclear tests -- that the US would adopt a policy of greater engagement with the countries of South Asia; and why the President will be travelling there next month.

'South Asia 101'

The region encompasses only eight countries, but each has its own special fascination. India, of course, has captured the imagination of Americans from the days of our earliest contacts. In the 19th century Mark Twain visited India and called it 'the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty... of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants... country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues... mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition.'

Our fascination with India remains strong today. However, at the dawn of the 21st century, we no longer view it as a land of elephants and maharajas. India is now seen for what it truly is: an emerging economic powerhouse and world power, a dynamic nation forged from amazing diversity, and a successful democracy with over a billion people.

Pakistan, once part of British India but separated 52 years ago, has become a country with its own vision. That vision, as I was told by its new Foreign Minister when I was there last week, is of a 'progressive, modern, democratic, Islamic state'. This is a vision we can support, and Pakistan's potential as an example of progressive Islamic democracy is one reason for its importance to us today. But there are other reasons as well. Pakistan is important because it is a link -- both economic and political -- between the Indian Ocean and Central Asia, because it has significant human and economic resources, and because it has historically been a friend of the United States. For all these reasons, we intend to stay engaged with Pakistan despite the current difficulties it is facing.

As for the other countries of South Asia, I have time today only to hint at the fascinating contrasts and the significant opportunities and challenges they present.

There is Bangladesh, a land of well over one hundred million that is justly famed throughout the world for pioneering models -- such as the Grameen Bank of Mohammed Yunis -- of how people, especially women, can pull themselves out of poverty through microcredits for small enterprise.

There is Afghanistan, a land often described as the object of some 'Great Game' played by outside powers -- but one whose proud people have time and time again showed the world that they will not long be ruled by others.

There are the island nations of Sri Lanka and of the Maldives, whose tropical beauty and resources lie today at the mercy of other forces: the civil strife in Sri Lanka, and the environmental fragility of the Maldives -- whose highest point is a mere eight feet above sea level, and therefore threatened by global warming and climate change.

And, finally, there are the awe-inspiring Himalayan Kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, each moving in different ways to combine ancient and unique traditions with new openings to the world beyond their borders.

The question now is, what are the US interests in South Asia? Why should we seek greater engagement there? The answer is simple: Our growing interests and engagement reflect new realities in the region. The US has an expanding agenda in South Asia, and I would like to focus for the next few moments on four key items on this agenda: Democracy, Economic Reform, Social Development, and Integration into the Global Mainstream.

Democracy in South Asia

First, Democracy: I noted before that India is the world's largest democracy, and I can add that it is a very intense, dynamic, and in almost every respect a successful one. This should make the US and India, as Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee noted about a year ago, natural allies and indeed it is quite unnatural that our two countries have for too long seemed at odds on many international issues. In large part that was an unfortunate legacy of the Cold War. With that behind us, we can more easily move on, as President Clinton has urged, to a deeper and more positive relationship supported by the democratic values and practices we share. There are lessons we can learn from each other about implementing and improving our democratic legacy in our two hugely diverse and multicultural societies. And we can celebrate the fact that, even if we disagree on some things, history strongly suggests that democracies simply do not become adversaries of each other. Instead, they are almost certain, not merely to work out any disagreements, but also to work together once agreement is achieved.

That is good news, to be sure, but the even better news is that India is not the only democracy in South Asia. Bangladesh is another major example, even as it goes through growing pains in this respect. As such, it is a beacon of hope for other countries in the Muslim world. Also stubbornly democratic, if that is the right expression, is Sri Lanka, despite all its tragic ethnic conflict. And Nepal this year celebrates its first full decade of democracy. We have an interest in supporting a democratic future for all these countries, and not only for sentimental reasons. For these democracies offer not just the best hope for their own peoples, but also serve as examples for others that are confronting similar challenges.

In this connection, Pakistan's military coup last October is a regrettable setback for South Asia as a whole -- but one that we hope will prove temporary. We do not approve the General's method of taking control, and we are talking very frankly to him and to his newly appointed officials about their plans to restore civilian democratic rule to this key country. Our goal, which Gen Musharraf says he shares, is to see Pakistan put back on the democratic path in the shortest possible time frame. To the extent that we see evidence that this process is in motion, it will be in our own interest to see how we can most appropriately and effectively encourage it.

Tomorrow: 'One of the best kept secrets of the 1990s was the emergence of the Indian economy from the socialism of its past into a free market -- or at least a much freer one...'

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl F Inderfurth delivered this address at the Twenty-Third Annual Merze Tate Lecture in Diplomatic History at the Howard University

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