***The dreams of Gandhi, Jinnah and the Sheikh have gone awry. The subcontinent has never settled to conditions of accommodation and amity. Not religion but religiosity has been its bane. Even India, which was at the apex of secularism, has slid down many notches.

Twenty seven years ago. India and Pakistan signed • declaration al Tashkent to normalise relations. A short war between the two had snapped the contact. The late Zulfikar All Bhutto, foreign minister, warned at the time that "you cannot clear the decks of history In one sweep; there can be no sweep tn the subcontinent.'

The declaration was by means a one-go effort. It mas a small step towards reconciliation. Even that did not succeed. Within six years of the declaration, the two countries fought yet another war The hostility has not lessened since. They have been embroiled tn such endless disputes that the word peace' Is not found in the history of India-Pakistan relations.

The division of the subcontinent, the Muslim-majority areas seceding from India, was considered a way out of the never-ending tension between the Hindus and the Muslims. It was expected that the two communities, without giving up their separate identities, would work together for the common good. But the Hindu-Muslim riots In the bazars before partition became a Hindu-Muslim war across the borders after It. The glory of the morning of Independence faded In the light of the common day. And soon It was twilight, presaging the long night.

Yet Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed All Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, said in his first address to the constituent assembly of his country "You arc free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in the state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothIng to do with the business of the state "

Mahatma Gandhi, who sacrificed his life at the altar of Hindu-Muslim unity, said: It would spell the ruin of both the Hindu religion and the majority community If the latter, In the Intoxication of power, entertains the belief that ft can crush the minority community and establish a purely Hindu Rashtra.' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said that hts country would lose Its raison d' etre If ft ever turned against the minority community or the weak

The exhortations have proved futile. The dreams of Gandhi. Jinnah and the Sheikh have gone awry The subcontinent has never settled to con dltions of accommodation and amity. Not religion but rellgios ity has been Its banc Even India, which was at the apex of secularism, has slid down many notches.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid structure has destroyed even the pretence of civilised behaviour that the neighbouring countries are supposed to adopt towards one another. In fact, they have spared no effort — or Invective — to incite the peoples wreaking vengeance on hapless minorities and their religious places.

Those in power have passed the buck to the "forces beyond their control" to escape responsibility. The forces are Indeed the Frankenstein of btgo-tism resurrected by the rulingelite The sadhus In India have demanded the scrapping of the Constitution and th? maulvts on the other side have raised the old cry of Jehad.

Prime Minister Naraslmha Rao says he Is not to blame. Probably not legally but what about his moral responsibility? Begum Khaleda Zia. the Bangladesh Prime Minister seems dependent on MPs of fundamentalist parties for her survival and perhaps has allowed them to play their role In the scenario. The be-leagured Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Prime Minister. Is trying to cover up his culpability by arraying Muslim nations against the Hindu India,' which has more Muslim population than all those countries put together. He is only giving credence to the Bhartlya Janata Party s thesis that the Hindus are surrounded by the Muslims, the siege psychosis from which the majority in India suffers. How docs the vandalism by some Hindu fundamentalists — condemned by the rest — become an Islamic issue?

New Delhi's foreign office has acted no better. It invited the envoys of 27 Islamic countries but left out Pakistan and Bangladesh It was a credible case that R L Bhatia, minister of state for foreign affairs, put before the envoys. Ills argu ment that two million Muslims left Bosnia in the wake of disturbances tn Yugoslavia while none from India after the Ayodhya Incidents impressed many envoys The presence of high commissioners of Pakistan and Bangladesh would not have lessened the force of arguments. Nawaz Sharifs unilateral move to cut the size of India's consulate in Karachi would have looked still more odd. Now ft Is tit for tat. 1 believe that New Delhi's statement that Pakistan has no right to force the cut has annoyed Islamabad further; the objection was seen as a challenge to Pakistan's sovereignty

The reaction of India's foreign office, said to be unauthorised, may have come in handy to Islamabad. But ft has been imposing several restrictions on the visas for some time now. Blocking the entry is not only a physical process; it also indicates a determined effort by Islamabad to be distant.

Already the contact between the two countries is minimal. There is very little trade and even newspapers and books of Pakistan arc not available in India and vice versa. As they snap one Ue after another, their relations are plummeting to new depths They are taking a posture which may further endanger uneasy peace between the two countries. No wonder, leading citizens in Lahore asked me early last month whether India was preparing to attack Pakistan. Back in Delhi. I was asked whether Pakistan was preparing an attack on India

Yet, the Pakistan! leaders, as the ones In India, want a rapprochement between the two countries Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan opposition leader, told me that politicians from both sides might not come together but "the people to people contact" should never be abandoned. The people on both sides are basically sound I found the Pakistanis friendly, effusive and hospitable as usual. They, tn turn, recalled with affection even the mere acquaintances they had struck during their visits to India. Maybe, left to themselves, the people would have found a way to bury the hatchet.

There is a feeling, more of wishful thinking, in certain Pakistani quarters that they should look towards the north. Instead of the subcontinent. The meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation

(ECO) of Islamic countries, held at Islamabad when I was In Pakistan, was viewed with enthusiasm. There was an eu phoria over the attendance of the central Asian Republics of Azerbaijan. KyrghistaB, Tajikistan. Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan

I recall discussing the possibility of a confederation of Pakistan. Iran and Afghanistan with Zulflkar. All Bhutto He said that If ever the question of a confederation were to aris<. the compulsions of history, geography and other factors would make us look south! wards for It rather than northwards . ' India could have made the southwards contact more attractive If she had made at least the visa facil Ities easier.

New Delhi allows Americans. Europeans and others to travel throughout the country But when It comes to Pakistanis, its attitude changes. Even their movement is restricted to two to three cities True. Pakistan also does the same But India's strong point is her open society Till I was tn Lahore. New Delhi had not given a visa to the youngest daughter of Saadat Hasan Manto, the famous Urdu short story writer, to attend a func tion in her father's memory

The SAARC summit would have little meaning If the people contact Is to stay restricted. Cut off from one another, they will grow up as strangers and even enemies as has been the case so far. It is time to reflect on such dangers and to refrain from politicising the situation, which may give electoral advantage to some but undo the countries.