By Rima Saini

For India, the discovery of Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil seemed to vindicate a long-standing conviction that its estranged neighbour is fostering rather than fighting the threat of Islamic extremism. Rima Saini gives her views on India's present political status and explains why she finds it so difficult to retain optimism for the future prospects of this troubled relationship.

The news of Osama's death last week came to me as secondary information; my mother, who remains perpetually glued to her Indian soap operas managed to pry herself away from the television screen and come and tell me as the story was, and still is, making the rounds on the NDTV news bulletins. And my reaction was most probably no different to everyone else's in the West, with a few notable exceptions by virtue of my cultural background. I did experience some initial disbelief, but the screen-to-screen media coverage confirmed the news that, whilst met with sombre satisfaction, did elicit a sense of trepidation that is still with me as the political aftermath of the event unfolds.

It did not surprise me that India seized on the fact that Bin Laden had been hiding in such close proximity to Islamabad as proof that Pakistan has been in close collaboration with outlawed militants. Judging by the media coverage, India has seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that Pakistan has been harbouring Al-Qaeda members for years. L. K. Advani, leader of right-wing Hindu party the BJP, declared with all conviction that Osama’s hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad was constructed when former President Pervez Musharraf was “in total command of the situation” in Pakistan. Above the smug satisfaction of the nationalists, however, one can little deny that Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's statements in Parliament positing his nation as a "victim of terror" will elicit little sympathy from those who believe, as I do, that the country still at the mercy of its military elements has proven to the world it is also a sanctuary of terror.

One can empathise with India's fears, therefore. Pakistan has always been crucial to the interests of the US in Afghanistan, whereas the majority of the global attention India has attracted in recent years has centred on its economic growth trajectory rather than its strategic military importance. US-Pakistan ties may be more strained than ever but analysts say India's leverage will remain limited as long as the US priority in South Asia stays fixed to the conflict in Afghanistan - in other words, for a considerably long time to come. The perceived threat from Pakistani and fears of militants crossing into Indian territory are far out of their capabilities to handle alone, especially when you consider the type of unfamiliar threat Al Qaeda pose in the modern world: a fluid, elusive network of individuals who display an irrationally strong commitment to their cause the rest of us can barely comprehend. Furthermore, we have yet to see what kind of stance the US will take on Pakistan.

India should not be too quick to judge its neighbour, however. One cannot gloss over the constant battle the Indian state is engaged in against home-grown terrorism fuelled by the kind of festering prejudices and socio- political subordination many minority groups still face in the country. Simmering Hindu-Muslim animosity flaring so often into vicious rioting casts a pall on prospects for inter-faith harmony in India, as well as a frank but unbiased debate about relations with its Muslim-majority neighbour. Despite Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent efforts to normalise relations with Pakistan through the forging of economic ties, there is a clear reticence to even engage with pro-democratic elements in Pakistan and choose a path that does not mirror the heavy-handedness that the US has shown in Iraq, Afghanistan, and again last week in the sting operation in Abbottabad. 

On all my trips to India I have met some extraordinary individuals – aspirational, progressive and far more socialist in sentiment than I have ever been, even in my University days. But the nationalistic fervour of the country encompassing an enmity and enduring suspicion towards Pakistan will always be an irredeemable feature of the Indian people in my eyes. There is no doubt the decades-long hostility is far more entrenched than I can understand but I would hope that the country I have unending faith in will not use these recent events to vindicate the view that Pakistan, ultimately, cannot be trusted.