The line of control, where at places, it is just a barbed fence separating the two armies pointing guns at each other eyeball to eyeball, at times it takes either a small exchange of fire — sometimes resulting from misunderstanding — or a completely unexpected spoiler to trigger wider clashes. With the outbreak of hostilities, it is before some time that they are patched up and worse, sometimes they can take their own course.
The phenomenon should be worrying because first it shows how fragile the atmosphere is and secondly how easily it can flare up into a conflagration so overpowering that diplomats from both the countries find themselves at their wits’ end to help defuse it.
Accusations, counter-accusations, rejections and counter-rejections of unprovoked firing and killings go on. The Pakistan Army mourns the death of one more soldier who it maintains was deliberately killed, while India is saying that is also under attack leaving the troops no other option but to retaliate with equal force.
Hotline and backdoor channels set up to defuse the tension have, at least as of now, yet to yield anything substantial. Each day more reports of clashes and violations work against the turning over of a new leaf prescribed by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, who has been sticking to his stance that he intends to stand for peace and peace only. In his recent interview with a foreign newspaper, he stressed that this policy of burying the hatchet goes back to his efforts the last time he was in power, something that is quite significant because it shows he is determined to brush off any domestic pressure.
But in order to prove that Pak-India peace albatross is not only a puppet in anyone’s hand, the leaders from either side would have to discipline their troops not to be so trigger-happy as they seem at the moment. And not just that they would have to go ahead with the dialogue process so as to see to it that the conflicts that perpetuate hatred and hostility are no more there to allow anyone to manoeuvre them to their purpose.
It surely is a test for the Congress government as well that has to confront criticism for “not teaching Pakistan a lesson”. A dispensation — barely months old — has taken office in Islamabad, and surely it does not intend to merely run round in circles and deceive its neighbour as some recalcitrant quarters believe the case to be. Would the government in Islamabad find ways to make space for the success of the dialogue process — as it is tirelessly scrambling for now — and then itself ruin all that is gained?
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/editorials/26-Aug-2013/increased-tension-at-the-loc
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