Proof of the pudding

Show will to crack down on the jehadis, General

Weeks before his summit with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pakistan’s dictator General Pervez Musharraf has attempted to put the jehadis in his country in touch with reality: admonishing them about their dreams of waving the Pakistani flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi and rightly pointing out that it is such pipedreams and the actions that accompany them that have earned Pakistan the reputation of a country that exports terrorism and made it a failed state in the world’s eyes. There is no rush to credit the General with abrupt sagacity, but in scolding the more extreme Islamist elements he has taken the very first step towards the barest minimum he must do if he is to have any success at all in talking to India. Underline “very first step”. To have the least credibility, Gen Musharraf must establish that he will deal with a heavy hand with the jehadis. As it happens, even that would hardly convince many that he could deal effectively with them: this is a Frankenstein which is now probably beyond the Pakistani government’s powers to fully control.

No matter: it cannot be made the pretext for a failure to try in right earnest. Gen Musharraf does not escape the obligation to persuade that he intends to do that. Indeed, his address to the clerics where he delivered this stern talk is proof that the General is well aware of what is required and is likely addressing his interlocutors elsewhere in the world, who carry rather more influence with him than does the Indian government. The international community is in little doubt by now that General Musharraf plans to stay on at the helm in Pakistan rather beyond his October promise, as President if not as CEO. If he is to begin to address the domestic agenda that will be his pretext for not relinquishing power, he needs to make the right noises. For India, that is satisfying but hardly cause for smugness, as indeed the Indian government and people are well aware.