Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz could not have chosen a more appropriate time to announce his plans to attend a security conference scheduled to be held in December in India. His decision to visit India as the first senior Pakistani official ever since the September attack on an Indian army base in Uri frayed the Pakistan-India ties displays fine diplomacy and an interest in continuing the peace process.
In the light of the increasingly intensified diplomatic quarrels between Islamabad and New Delhi, Pakistan can be credited as attempting to break the deadlock between the two countries. Although regular clashes in the past two months have exacerbated simmering tension across the border, the latest violation along the Line of Control that killed seven Pakistani soldiers on Monday alone is said to be the deadliest aggression in more than a decade. Amid the incessant drive by Indian establishment to isolate Pakistan as a terrorist state and the hysterical warmongering by media, particularly in India, the conflict does not appear to be resolved anytime soon. The expulsion of diplomats from both Islamabad and New Delhi over accusations of espionage has further severed the diplomatic channels that should have been used to help diffuse tension in the region.
The very fact that Pakistan has, however, not followed India’s previous withdrawal from the SAARC summit, which was scheduled to be held in November in Islamabad, shows its commitment to not let Indian aggression stand in the way of initiating dialogue. Aziz should make use of the conference as an ideal opportunity to mend otherwise strained ties with not just one but two of his counterparts. Since the conference will discourse over the establishment of peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan should focus on clearing all reservations of both Indian and Afghan officials against its facilitation of militant outfits and interference in their internal affairs. Nonetheless, no matter how bright any peace prospect may seem, it cannot be accomplished until reciprocated systematically from both sides. It is hoped that India, too, would realize the crucial need to improve bilateral relations and end the ongoing animosity by re-initiating the detente process.
In the end, political leadership in the two countries should know that concocting frenzied war rhetoric along with calls for “befitting replies” would only appeal to certain local audiences for the moment. Investing in economic prosperity is a much more sustainable route to gain political popularity at home and should be prioritized on an immediate basis. Furthermore, the atrocities carried out by Indian forces against protestors in Kashmir, which had actually boiled the conflict in the first place, have been significantly overshadowed by the current provocations along the frontier. Only diplomatic solutions can help Pakistan truly advocate the Kashmiri’s cause of self-determination. It is high time the two countries sit together to sort out their differences with permanent solutions on the agenda while working out a formula acceptable to Pakistan, India and the people living in Kashmir. Indulging in tough rhetoric and undiplomatic moves would only help appease hawks on both sides of the border, who are ever ready to favour bloodshed at the expense of reason and peace. http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/17-Nov-16/moving-towards-peace
Comments are closed.