APRIL 15 Indo-Pak Detente

force for about seventeen months.) But at that point in time, Quds was under the dominion of an idolatrous Persian King. The Prophet solved this seemingly insoluble problem by simply separating the spiritual from the temporal in this instance. Only then was it possible for him to make Quds the Qibla for worship. Had the Prophet not adopted this policy, such a decision would never have been possible. Over the last fifty years, relations between India and Pakistan have been vitiated by political controversy. During this very long period each side has given its full attention to settling matters to its own advantage. But the result has been quite the reverse. And without there being any signs of these political controversies ever being resolved, precious resources have been, and are still being wasted in senseless confrontation. Now, the wisest policy, from the respective standpoints of reason and religion, would be for both countries to base their foreign policy on the delinking of political and economic issues. As far as the issue of political conflict is concerned, they would be well advised to adopt a wait-and-see policy, and to avoid taking any practical step save that of peaceful negotiation. This is what will ultimately open all doors to activity in non-political arenas. Once Vinoba Bhave visited Kashmir, and when he arrived near the border, he was met by a number of army officers. Pointing to the geographical division, one of them said, “up to this point we have our pickets. After that the pickets are those of our enemies.” Vinobaji replied: “Don’t say ‘enemies’: say ‘neighbours.’” If the de-linking policy could only be adopted by both countries, they would start looking at each other not as enemies but as neighbours. Then destructive policies would soon yield to constructive activities on both sides of the border. Once this became a reality, it would only be a matter of a few years before both countries were transformed into flourishing areas of development, just like other countries of the same region, such as Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Japan. As a consequence of de-linking—despite the continuing existence of conflicts—people’s two-way movement across the border would greatly increase, resulting in interaction between Indians and Pakistanis on an everincreasing scale. As we all know, interaction in itself—especially on a person-toperson basis—is an effective means of removing misunderstanding between