India, Pakistan should talk to each other
24 Dec 2017
The initial Indian reaction to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement expressing a wish to normalize relations with New Delhi is anything but positive. Speaking at a meeting with parliamentarians on Tuesday, Bajwa said the army was ready to back political leadership’s initiative for normalization of relations with India. This was not an earth-shaking statement. Still it merited serious consideration by New Delhi for two reasons.
For one thing, Indo-Pak relations are passing through one of their worst phases and even small gestures that would help reduce the tension should be welcome. A wish to put an end to the present unhappy state of affairs comes from the chief of an institution that supposedly torpedoes all efforts by the civilian leadership to engage with India, though very often, the political leadership may be using the military as an excuse for their unwillingness to take painful decisions.
Of course, Bajwa is not known for his dovish views on India. Only last week, he said that Pakistan would continue supporting separatist elements in Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, it was not long ago that Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Nasser Khan Janjua warned of a possible “nuclear war” due to the delicate security situation in the region. South Asia, he said, is a “mistake away” from a major catastrophe.
Is Pakistan ready to avoid such a mistake? India’s effort should have been to find out whether Bajwa’s statement indicated a welcome change of thinking in the top echelons of the Pakistani Army.
Instead, India harped on the usual theme of terrorism. Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said on Friday that peace talks with Pakistan could only be held if the latter stopped giving support to “terrorism” in Jammu and Kashmir. This, he said, is India’s core concern. Pakistan has its own core concern: Kashmir. And all efforts to bring peace to South Asia flounder on these core concerns.
Whoever is responsible, the Indo-Pak peace process has always been a hostage to a terrorist attack in Kashmir or elsewhere in India, lack of proper arrangements to monitor ceasefire and reduce tension and occasional firing across the Line of Control dividing the two parts of Kashmir and irresponsible statements by political and military leaders on both sides of the border. India says the Pakistani military has a vested interest in keeping tensions high. But India’s ruling BJP has always indulged in Pakistani-bashing to win votes and embellish its nationalist credentials. During the campaign in the recent Gujarat poll, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistan of working for the defeat of his party’s candidates and the success of those of the Congress party that the BJP says is soft on Pakistan.
History, ideology and domestic politics dictate each country’s core issue. But the real core issue should be peace. A war-like situation on the border is in neither country’s interest, especially that of Pakistan which is economically weak.
In the long run, having cordial relations with Pakistan is in India’s national interest. Peace is a must if India is to fully develop its economic potential. According to the chambers of commerce, in spite of a turbulent bilateral relationship, India-Pakistan annual trade is estimated at $2 billion; the unofficial figures put this figure at $4.5 billion.
The two countries also have to think of the thousands of families whose relatives live across the border. They look forward to the easing of tensions between the two countries, as it would make connecting with their family on the other side of the border hassle-free.
So there is no escaping from engagement. Both countries are nuclear-armed and have fought four wars since independence in 1947, and there is constant firing across the disputed frontier. Leaders should stop shouting at each other, lest a shooting war begins by mistake.