Prof. M .K. Bhat
Pakistan’s Cancellation of NSA level talks is a big disappointment in the direction of building an amicable environment between the two countries. It ever since Ufa agreement had put a lackluster approach towards its implementation. It deviated from the agreed things from day one. This deviation has once again sabotaged the trust shown by India in Pakistani leadership. The disinclination of Pakistan to take Ufa agreement forward became clear when Sartaj Aziz conducted a press conference after just two days of the agreement and subsequently it resorted to: 91 cross border violations till date, Gurdaspur attack, Udhampur attack and the meeting with Hurriyat leaders was the last blow in this direction. Pakistan insisted on talks with Hurriyat despite knowing that India cancelled secretary level talks on this issue previously. The inclusion of Hurriyat leaders was against the very spirit of Simla agreement signed between the heads of the two states much earlier. It became clear that Pakistan was not keen to discuss things on terrorism due to its direct involvement in such activities and India at present bears concrete evidence to prove the things.
In Ufa (Russia) the meeting between Prime Minister Mr. Narinder Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Mr. Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of Shangai cooperation organization had developed a new ray of hope in the people of the two countries. Both sides for the first time seemed to be away from the obsession of certain traditional anomalies and everyone had thought it as a good beginning for south Asia, but this euphoria did not last long. The cancellation of visit made it clear that Pakistan was not at all serious to talk, so tried to find a way out to deviate from the agreed things at Ufa. It seems that the civilian government of Pakistan has nominal powers while as the actual power is exercised by the military officers of that country. Any agreement with Pakistan to be practical shall include Pakistan army.
The purposeful talk held at Ufa and the subsequent U turn by Pakistan is not an unusual affair. The various steps taken by India for peace and friendship between the two countries lead to the acrimonious rewards from Pakistan side. India gave most favored nations treatment to Pakistan nearly 10 years earlier but the latter has not reciprocated till date, then a forward step for friendship was taken by Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee which resulted in Kargil war, the steps taken by Manmohan Singh Ji too resulted in brutal beheading of Indian soldiers and the list goes on…The post Ufa deviations by Pakistani has once again confirmed the helplessness of Pakistan government in front of those against peace between the two countries.
The two sides after the meeting in Ufa, in the joint statement agreed to remove border tension, expedite proceedings on 26/11 mastermind Zakir Rehman Lakhavi and to end terrorism of all kinds. This was to be formalized through the meeting between: D.G BSF and DG Pakistan Rangers, DGMO’s of the two countries and National security advisor level meet between Mr. Ajit Doval and his Pakistan counterpart Mr. Sartaj Aziz. It was also decided that Pakistan will provide voice samples of Lakhavi to expedite the proceedings in 26/11 case. The subsequent U turn by the government of Pakistan in the press conference conducted by Sartaj Aziz gave birth to a plethora of questions like; has Pakistan succumbed to the pressure of militants supported by Pakistan army? Is it at all interested to find a solution or only addresses its constituency? Does it carry a double face by denouncing militants publicly and trying privately to keep their morale or motivation high for proxy war etc.?
The U turn of Pakistan started with its refusal to submit the voice samples of Lakhavi- the operation commander of lashkar-e- taiba who had trained Ajmal Kasab and other Mumbai attackers. He was not only given bail but exemption from personal appearance by a Pakistani court. It is now being put forward that there is no law in Pakistan which allows obtaining Voice samples of an accused. It in other words means that Pakistan government is not willing to expedite the proceedings on 26/11 Bombay attackers despite the assurance by the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Prime Minister Narender Modi at Ufa. Pakistan has reverted to the usual demand of more evidence of involvement of Lakhavi.
It has become evident that Pakistan, the natural sanctuary of terrorists, is either, in no mood to control them despite the fact that Pakistan has the highest number of terrorism related deaths in the world in the past decade as per Global terrorism data base or lacks courage to confront them with a heavy hand . The death toll due to terrorist activities in Pakistan exceeds the combined terrorism related deaths for Europe and North America. It is worthwhile to mention here that the people of Pakistan have started to feel the urgency to take over militants, but the government of Pakistan at present is acting too meek to come out with any concrete results.
Pakistan agreed in Ufa to take action against all terrorists without categorizing them into good terrorists and bad terrorists. It was held that both India and Pakistan will cooperate with each other to eliminate the menace of terrorism from South Asia. It seemed that Pakistan has started to realize that the monster of terrorism is destined to annihilate the perpetrator itself but practically failed to deliver because terrorism has both official and unofficial patronage in that country. It got some success in hilly areas of Waziristan, but it is far from flushing them out in plains. In the NSA level talks, Pakistan is on a poor wicket in case of terrorism because India has got Naved from Fasilabad to expose Pakistan’s double face on terrorism.
The Pakistan attempt to make Hurriyat a third party in the dialogue is unacceptable to India and is beyond the agenda set for NSA level meeting at Ufa. Separatists in no way represent the people of J&K. This amounts to one more attempt to change the goal post by the inclusion of unacceptable items in the agenda. It may give leverage to more terrorism instead of working for its solution. There is a democratically elected government in J&K and more than 70 percent of the electorate of the state has voted for it.
Terrorism being a big hindrance in the smooth working of the two countries so in Ufa NSA level meeting was thought to take care of this menace to build a conducive environment for further talks, as talks and terror cannot go together. India emphatically believes that all other issues including Kashmir could be dealt in an atmosphere of peace only.
India has shown utmost restraint by not getting carried away by the provocations from the other side of the boundary and firmly wanted to give value to the agreement between the two Prime Ministers. Indian leadership took the pressure and always wants to have good relations with the neighbors, but its Pakistani counterpart succumbs to the pressure and has got today exposed before the whole world.
Let us hope that Pakistan will learn to give value to its own words in future.
(The author Deputy Director (MAIMS) Guru Gobind Indraprastha University Delhi)
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