A day after the Pakistan Navy expelled an Indian submarine from Pakistan’s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, an unmanned Indian drone, which violated Pakistani airspace near the Line of Control (LoC), was shot down by Pakistan army according to a statement by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). Reportedly, the drone was one that is used for reconnaissance missions and its purpose in this case was to gather intelligence by taking pictures of Pakistani posts along the LoC. Meanwhile, heavy Indian shelling of villages in Azad Jammu and Kashmir led to the deaths of three young girls, all under the age of 13, and one teenage boy. Among the killed is a five year old child, and that alone speaks volumes of the utmost disregard of even the most basic human rights by India in its latest round of ceasefire violations. Whether it was by accident or by design, blindly throwing shells in Kashmiri villages is both morally repugnant and unquestionably criminal, and it stands at stark odds to the image of a modern progressive democracy that India puts forward to the world. Of course, all of this is strictly condemnable in the strongest of words, and it adds more blood on the hands of the Indian security apparatus of the lives of innocent Kashmiris.
What India wishes to achieve by this hostile posturing is hard to ascertain, but upping the ante of belligerence through such flagrant attacks and brazen attempts at clandestine operations would only push Pakistan-India relations to a very precarious position. While the nuclear weapons of both states militate against open warfare, India, it seems, has taken a great deal of liberty with that to engage in belligerence. And rooted in the Indian approach are, apparently, myopic objectives of the Modi government to score propaganda points against Pakistan and show his constituency in India that he, unlike Congress, was not ‘soft’ on Pakistan. Unfortunately, Modi has shown himself to be incapable of transcending this for something far more grander: peace and stability in South Asia. But, for that objective, Pakistan and India would have to cede some space to each other, let go of their intransigence, and start a process of sustained dialogue. All of that could hardly happen in the virulence of the present environment, in which innocents are being regularly killed in ceasefire violations across the LoC.
Amidst all of this, the way forward for Pakistan is not very straightforward, but the direction is clear: defusing tensions and creating an environment conducive to dialogue. This position can be seen in the actions of the Pakistani government as recently, Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz said that he would attend the Heart of Asia conference planned to be held in India during the first week of December. While current Indian acts of hostility are clearly also jeopardising Pakistani participation in this conference, but Pakistan should not be sidelined from its objective of bringing India to the negotiating table. Through this, Pakistan would, at the very least, be able to win the game of perceptions by showing the international community that it is going the extra mile to diplomatically engage with India. It is of course the responsibility of Pakistani government to highlight Indian acts of aggression at international forums, but that should be done while keeping open the doors of dialogue. Tit-for-tat actions and the tragically all-too-familiar churlish belligerence has dominated Pakistan-India relations for far too long, and led to a great loss lives — let alone many lost opportunities. This has to change, and for that to happen, Pakistan should work towards doing it, regardless of the challenges that it entails.http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/21-Nov-16/indian-drone
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