In his much awaited United Nations speech Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spent a better part of the time on highlighting the current troubled situation in Kashmir. His speech was along the expected lines. He reiterated the familiar line that there will be no peace in the region unless the issue of Kashmir is settled. Significantly, Sharif also mentioned the name of the slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani, terming him a leader whose killing had triggered the current Kashmir upsurge. The Pakistan PM also demanded a UN enquiry into the human rights violations in the state.
India also responded along predictable lines. There have been a series of responses from the minister of state for foreign affairs M J Akbar, foreign office spokesman Vikas Swarup, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Eenam Gambhir and Syed Akbaruddin who termed Pakistan as “the Ivy League of Terrorism”. M J Akber rejected the dialogue offer from Sharif saying “talks and guns don’t go together”. Now the biggest response to the Sharif’s speech will come from the foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who will deliver her speech in the coming days.
What has come across once more through this better exchange is India’s conspicuous lack of interest in engaging Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since he took over the office, has chosen to be more economy-centric and globally-focussed. Though, in past two years he has made several overtures to Pakistan he has let it be known that the dialogue will be only on India’s terms, something that was reiterated by Akber today. New Delhi has drawn new red lines which bars Pakistan from discussing Kashmir unless it satisfactorily addresses India’s concerns on terror. Besides, India also doesn’t want Pakistan to hold talks with Hurriyat leaders prior to any bilateral engagement or after that.
Pakistan has refused to play along which has led to the last minute cancellations of the scheduled talks. But given the fraught nature of their current relations, the two countries, sooner or later, will have little option but to resume talks. Uri attack has brought the situation to a head. The two countries seem poised on the brink of a major confrontation. The neighbours need some basic relations to institute some crisis tools to resolve an extraordinary situation arising out of the killing of 18 soldiers in Uri. There is thus a need for a fundamental shift in the approach where both countries find a pragmatic way out.
But this seems unlikely to happen any time soon. More so, when both the countries seem to have dug in their heels for a long spell of hostility. As it is, after a promising start, Modi’s hardline policy on Pakistan and Kashmir has hit a dead-end. All prospects of a political engagement have dried up, narrowing India’s choices with the two places to the use of force. Is this what the Doval doctrine is all about? Bringing the people around through the disproportionate use of the force? As things stand, it has only hardened the positions in Pakistan and Kashmir. The fresh effort at reconciliation, if and when it is undertaken, would greatly benefit if it is pursued for its intended political goal and as far as reasonably possible kept un-distracted by the efforts to derail it.
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