Time of reckoning: Intelligent enemy is better than foolsh friend!

I really admired Musharraf ji for the way he tried to strike a balance in his much-publicized Saturday night speech, between the various forces that pull him in different directions! No wonder that the international community applauded him. Unfortunate that support from quarters that really matter should still elude him!

I guess, it is one of those cases of 'reap as you sow'! For years the country has been nurtured and bred on hate for India. The general's approach has been no different. He tried to ride the popular anti-India sentiment to gain acceptance of a people who did not bring him to power. Had September 11 not happened, he would have continued in the same vein without hindrance. It was therefore amusing to see him mouth such concern about the image of his country, the Muslim community, and the virtues of Islamic values. He would certainly be very naïve to assume that people at large would accept whatever he had to say at face value!

I am not suggesting for a moment that people wishing to turn a new leaf should not be given a chance to make things better. But credibility doesn't get built overnight. And in Shri Musharraf's case it would take a long time before he can prove that he can be relied upon! You only need to look at his track record to see why - the groups he promoted and then dumped or is trying to dump now! To these people, he would appear to be a wolf that is trying to don a sheep's clothing!

At this time I am really not concerned about the stance that he adopts towards India. He has his compulsions. But if he can convert his own people and lead them towards development, he would probably bring about a change that he had not bargained for, or ever thought possible.

For all the talk about generating positive energies, when it comes to the crunch, few people get down to practicing this approach. In all these fifty years, what has Pakistan achieved by harping on Kashmir and brewing hatred towards India? You could see a perceptible change in Musharraf's body language when it came to espousing the Kashmir cause. It took no great effort for him to sound passionate about it. If only he and rulers before him had been so passionate about the development of their own country and its people!

The sad part of this whole story is that Musharraf sahib isn't really the man he has tried to project himself to be on Saturday. If he genuinely believed in what he said, he would not have needed international pressures to make him say the things that he did. We would have heard all this when he assumed power! What he will do about matters on which he carries little conviction is anybody's guess. But if pressure is what will make him take up a good cause, then I think it is for the international community to give it to him in ample measure.

A well-developed and strong Pakistan devoid of fundamentalism and fanaticism is in India's greater interest. The people of a nation must have much to be proud of. That is the only way of engaging them in positive thoughts and deeds and making them strive to work towards further enhancement of the country's image as well as their own quality of life. So far, Pakistan's rulers have only whipped up hatred towards India as an easy way of securing power. You cannot blame the people of Pakistan for what they feel so strongly about because they have been fed on nothing else for all these years. The country's energies have been wasted on an unproductive and fruitless passion!

There comes a time when life presents an opportunity of a lifetime. The tragedy is that most of us do not realize it to be so. Those who cease it stand to gain. I think the people of Pakistan have that opportunity today. I know that many of them will find it hard to accept what their President has said. They will have doubts in their minds about whether the general himself believes in what he has said. They will accuse him of changing track and acting as an opportunist. They will talk of selling out to America.

The question, however, is not what the motives and reasons are for their President's 'change of heart'. The question is whether what he has proposed will help rejuvenate Pakistan and help to improve the quality of life of its people! Should they reject the changes simply because these have been espoused by someone who talked a different language earlier, or should they accept these reforms because it is in their own interest to do so?

As I have said many times earlier, most people are not unhappy because of what they do not have, but because of what others posses! This here is an analogous situation. The people of Pakistan need to cease the opportunity because it is in their own best interest. They cannot afford to reject it just because it may seem like helping someone else too. The international focus is on them. Their President has been smart enough to wangle all kinds of concessions from the powers that be. I am sure these countries will not mind providing further help to boost Pakistan.

From an Indian standpoint, it would be beneficial to see the people of Pakistan take pride in their own development rather than engaging in the only past time that they currently have. That is the only way that its focus can shift from India bashing to something more productive. The adage that it is better to have an intelligent enemy than a foolish friend couldn't be better exemplified. Only in this case we seem to have an enemy that doesn't understand what is in its own best interest in the long run. May god give them the wisdom to do so. Even if it has to be through an agent like Parvez
Musharraf!

Sumit Sharma is an IT industry veteran of over 20 years and author of the book titled 'The Corporate Circus'.