The power of two

Reviewed by Mehtab Ali Shah

Dawn: September 09, 2007

The geographical location of the two Punjabs is such that cooperation between them can bring India and Pakistan closer to each other.

TRIVIDESH Singh Maini believes that despite the passage of 60 years, and the bitter memories of the carnage, the Punjabis living on either side of the border or in diaspora are still one people. They speak the same language and they worship the same Rab or Raba (God). Guru Nanik Dev, the founder of the Sikh religion, is also revered by Hindus and Muslims. Sufi poets such as Waris Shah and Baba Bulleh Shah of Kasur are respected by all. Thus the author believes that Punjabis as a cultural community are indivisible.

The geographical location of the two Punjabs is such that cooperation between them can bring India and Pakistan closer to each other. They can be halfway houses between their two countries, Central Asia, and West Asia. Miani argues that in the age of the formation of economic blocks like the European Union, South Asian cooperation is a must and the Punjabs can be the stepping stone towards this goal.

This is the age of land routes; old roads and railway lines have been reopened or new ones are being constructed. Alongside these lines of communication free trade corridors are being established. But between the two Punjabs there is only one railway line (Wagha- Atari), and a single road is operational. In the era before partition there used to be railway links between the towns of Hindukot and Samasata (Siraikee belt of Southern Punjab), Ferozepur and Kasur, Khemkaran and Kasur, Amritsar and Narowal, and finally Jammu and Sialkot. Lahore and Amirtsar, and Kasur and Ferozepur were twin towns with a great deal of commercial activity. The Karachi sea port handled goods and persons travelling to and from East Punjab. Similarly, the Delhi-Amritsar route was connected with Peshawar via Lahore. There is now growing public demand from both sides of the border to reopen these railway lines. Their reopening will beneficial to Punjabis, as well as India and Pakistan in general.

The author suggests that trade corridors be opened between important places in the Punjabs. One of them is the Kartarpur corridor between the Baba Nanik Gurdwara in Gurdaspur (East Punjab) and Kartarpur Sahib (Norwal) in West Punjab. He states that there is a distance of only three kilometres between these two Sikh holy places which were connected by a bridge on the River Ravi that was bombed in the 1965 war and has still not been repaired. If the bridge is repaired and Sikhs are allowed to visit Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan without visa restrictions or an easily issued visa, it will create a great deal of goodwill between the two Punjabs. Similarly, if residential areas are built in the cities of Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib and Hassanabdal, mainly to be used during Sikh festivals it will generate goodwill as well as boost the economy of Pakistan's Punjab.

Miani seems to make sound arguments. Many Punjabis have bought residential properties in Sehwan Sharif in Sindh, where they live only during the mela of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalander. This helps to generate business and revenue for the local economy. Similarly, Sikhs from Canada, the United States, Europe and India will invest heavily in their holy places which will be beneficial to the local community. Thus on the one hand the intra-Punjab cooperation will be promoted, while on the other the people os India and Pakistan will come closer to each other.

Kashmir is close to the two Punjabs and the both sides have a stake in the settlement of the Kasmir dispute because it obstructs relations between the two countries.The author is in favour of reopening of the Jummu-Sialkot route. He believes that Kashmiri apples, carpets, shawls and handicrafts will fetch higher price in the Pakistani markets than in the Indian ones, so routes should be reopened across the Line of Control (LOC). Echoing Miani's reasoning, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said that trade between the two Kashmirs could convert the LOC into a line of peace with a free flow of ideas, goods, services and people. (The Hindu, August 3, 2007).

Nobody would disagree with the writer's assertion that the relaxation of visa restrictions, reduced railway and air fares, visits by scholars, students, media men, businessmen and religious groups, in addition to other means of people to people contact will be helpful in improving the India-Pakistan ties.

The writer is correct in arguing that the refusal of the Indian government to allow the Punjab Agricultural University Ludhina to conduct joint research with its mother institution the Faisalabad Agriculture University, and the objection of the Pakistan government to extend the Samjhota Express up to Nankana Sahib or its reluctance to run a freight train service between Monaboa to Karachi are untenable.

Miani rightly appreciates the contribution of Dr Manmohan Singh, Captain Amridner Singh, and Chief Minister Perviz Illahi in promotion cooperation between the two Punjabs. However it appears that the author does not properly appreciate the efforts of I.K. Gujral , Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Perkash Singh Badal , or Atal Behari Vajpayee in the same endeavour. After all, it was the Jhelum-born and Karachi-educated Indian statesman I.K. Gujral who, during his tenure as prime minister of India, persuaded his Pakistani opposite Mian Nawaz Sharif at several SAARC and Commonwealth conferences that 'trade diplomacy' will pave the way for hammering out political difference. The Gujral-Nawaz rapport was a turning point in relations between the two countries.

The absence of an index is unfortunate but a good bibliography has been included. In the final analysis, the book should be read by anybody interested in Punjab studies, South Asian cooperation, and the politics of routes.
 

South Asian Cooperation and the Role of the Punjabs
By Tridivesh Singh Maini
Siddharth Publications, India
ISBN 81-7220-186-9
180pp. Indian Rs275