IT is sensible advice at a time when common sense is in short supply in many parts of the region. Three former foreign secretaries and a former national security adviser have jointly framed a foreign policy and national security road map that ought to put this country and the region itself on a path towards stability and security. Their advice, as published in this newspaper yesterday: Pakistan must, for its own sake and for the sake of the region, act to end the international perception that it shields the Afghan Taliban and anti-India militants on its soil. Clearly, there is no panacea to the region’s security troubles, no single action that can cure its ills. Just as clearly, much will depend on sensible policies being adopted by Afghanistan and India, not least their penchant for externalising blame for many problems of their own making. Yet, Pakistan’s distancing itself from all non-state actors and insurgents — a comprehensive, obvious and irreversible distancing — is a sine qua non for domestic and regional stability.
“We must reflect why is it that Pakistan has ended up always siding with the most regressive elements in Afghanistan, some of whom we falsely regarded as assets, why most educated Afghans have become alienated from us and why we allowed our policy to fall in the insidious Afghan ethnic divide,” the former foreign secretaries and national security adviser have written. In recent times, even asking the right question tends to attract criticism from certain nationalistic quarters of seditious intent and aiding the perceived enemy. The US and Afghanistan have erred in many areas and in many of their policies over the last decade and a half and, most egregiously from a Pakistani perspective, have often blamed Pakistan for their own failings in Afghanistan. Yet, what did not make sense in the 1990s cannot be good policy today; policymakers here have helped to craft an environment in Afghanistan where radical Islamists among that country’s Pakhtuns are the only semi-allies that this country has. What future for Afghanistan can that possibly envisage that will redound to Pakistan’s interest?
On India, the equation can appear murky because of a bellicose government in New Delhi. But the terrorism problem between India and Pakistan existed long before Narendra Modi became prime minister. More to the point, Islamabad’s sensible and rightful diplomatic position on the Kashmir dispute has been internationally diminished by the perception that Pakistan nurtures anti-India militants on its soil. Where, after all, is the promised action against those involved in 2008 Mumbai attacks? Contrast also the negligible attention that India’s recent atrocities in held Kashmir have received internationally versus the grim coverage of the Uri attack. If India will not budge and the world will not listen, how does it help Pakistan to give them reason for continuing to do so?http://www.dawn.com/news/1285028/regional-tensions
Flashpoint Kashmir and UN efforts: edit in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2016.
With the atmosphere getting extremely tense following a militant assault on Indian army headquarters in the Kashmiri town of Uri, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made a passionate pitch to world leaders to help extinguish the flames in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The PM, who is in New York to attend the United Nations annual jamboree, has written letters to leaders of the UN’s veto club in the latest push by Islamabad to shine light on the grave human rights violations committed by Indian security forces in the occupied state. More importantly, the missives sent to five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, better known as P-5 countries, underscore the risks to regional peace and security if the festering wounds of Kashmir are left unattended and unaddressed. Even as jingoistic rhetoric from across the eastern border reaches a crescendo, and threatens to despoil an already volatile situation, Pakistan’s response appears calm and calculated.
The PM rightly pointed out that non-resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security. Nawaz, in his speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, is likely to pick up this theme again to expose the uglier side of the Indian face. The UNGA session provides a great opportunity to champion the cause of Kashmiris, who are groaning under a reign of terror unleashed by New Delhi. The PM will likely be seizing that opportunity with both hands, as he has in his meeting with John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, on the fringes of the UN session. During this meet-up, the PM slammed India’s bid to wag accusatory finger at Pakistan over the Uri episode, in which 18 Indian soldiers died. He was at pains to emphasise that Islamabad has always fought terrorism as a moral obligation, and that he has reached out to neighbouring countries for regional peace, stability and prosperity. He was upbeat that the US administration and Secretary Kerry will use their good offices to help resolve issues between the two nuclear-tipped neighbours. When he delivers his speech at UN, he should highlight how the brutal use of pellet guns in IHK by India continues to be ignored by the international community. Also, the indigenous nature of the uprising touched off by the killing of Burhan Wani is a development that has returned the Kashmiri struggle to its roots, i.e. a population completely alienated from India and absolutely refusing all political overtures by New Delhi because they have invariably failed to address the core grievance. His speech will be closely watched for its tone and tenor given his attempts to improve ties with India. The current speech comes at a time when relations have dipped to new lows and therefore whatever Sharif says will have a huge bearing on our civil-military policy towards India in context of latest development in IHK. But away from the hurly-burly of New York, top commanders in Rawalpindi have made it explicit that they are ready to meet any challenge. Chairing a meeting of corps commanders, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif said Pakistan was ready to defeat any design against its integrity and sovereignty. “We are fully cognisant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan,” he said in response to antagonistic statements issued by the Indian leadership after the Uri attack.
Given how things look grim, Islamabad will do well to continue mounting both political and diplomatic offensive to put India in a tight corner, so much so that it feels impelled to repair its frosty relations with Pakistan. As regards the Uri incident, India must furnish actionable intelligence to Pakistan if it wants the latter to cooperate in the probe it is conducting. Hurling of allegations against its neighbour will scarcely yield any positive results.http://tribune.com.pk/story/1185254/flashpoint-kashmir-un-efforts/
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