India-Pak tension

D.K Kotwal
Writers including Georage  Perkovich and Toby Dalton (Not war, Not peace ) have argued that that a  military counter attack by India could escalate to ‘destruction beyond imagination’ but that has not happened so far but it is not  denying the fact that a fresh set of crises has caused India-Pak relations in doldrum  to even lower depths and the theatre of conflict is currently confined to Jammu and Kashmir along  the 120 mile -long International Border and the 450 mile stretch of the line of control. Since Sept 19,India and Pak have been measuring distance between war and peace by the sizes of  their bombs. Along IB and LOC  the guns are tottering and motar shells are indiscriminately hitting even the civilian areas on both sides.BSF is reported to have killed 150 Rangers and decimated several security posts.  three Indian jawans are said to have been martyred and civilians have sustained injuries. This process of chain reaction is underway unabated. Pak army is occupied in the violation of cease fire. The civil society says that inspite of our all various collective insanities, we are not yet,  so mad to want another war with Pakistan or any other country. We both nations need to win a war against poverty which can only be won by winning the war against illiteracy and the absence of education. It is our state responsibility to provide every member of the society five fundamental necessities of life i.e. food, shelter, clothes, medicines, and education but there is a different narrative to tell that our  sizeable population is  below the poverty line and for them these essentials of life are elusive. Wars are criminally expensive, almost never justified and lead to a chain of recurring mass deaths, both civilians and military. I say chain and recurring because no war ends neatly and cleanly, the seeds are sown for the future wars. We two nations fought four wars , but what did we get? No peace, no prosperity but only miseries and environment of non-terminating tension and conflict. Pakistan has to understand that the Kashmir problem has already been resolved and settled down. The contentious issue of Kashmir is a stumbling bloc between India and Pakistan and it is to be understood that Kashmir is an integral part of India and it cant be separated from India. For this I would like to refer to the book “Kashmir The Vajpayee Years ” by A.S. Dulat that reads,” One of the telling episodes about the Mirwaiz took place in early 2007. He and the other Hurriyat members met Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who told them a few fundamental truths: that no one could remove India; that India would not compromise on its sovereignty and that boundaries cannot be changed; and that he had found a formula for Kashmiries. Then, it is said, Musharraf told the Hurriyat leaders to go back to Kashmir and prepare for elections. This diktat to the Hurriyat by Pakistan to get out of its comfort zone was a shock to the Hurriyat.” Kashmiries have to understand the language of Pakistan and not to act upon their directions. Pakistan has got certain domestic compulsions; they have to divert the public attention towards Kashmir so that the survival of Pakistan rulers is maintained and ensured. The four months long unrest that has engulfed Kashmir is the result of the extension of the services that Pakistani Army General wants as he is to retire this month itself. Pak P.M  wants his chair to be intact as the opposition party led by Imran Khan a cricketer turned politician is hell bent to de-throne him.
India’s relations with U.S  these days are  amicable, Barack Obama celebrates Diwali, lights first ever Diya in Oval office. Now India is looking forward to  Donald Trump, the Republican candidate who won US presidential elections. The Republican Presidential candidate in America -Trump has made two undisputedly true statements ; one is that as per his observation the  airports in America are like that of a third world country and the second one is that the relations between India and Pak are like’ a very very hot tenderbox’ . He further offered to mediate between India and Pak if came to power and this made the two neighbours nervousely giggling.
Considering the atmosphere currently prevailing in the subcontinent, both Islamabad and Delhi must handle the crises with care and sagacity. On the diplomatic front ,incident concerning the Pakistani diplomat in Delhi should not have been allowed to escalate into a nasty exchange of rhetoric or in tit- for- tat moves. Whatever concerns either side has should be communicated through diplomatic channels and resolved. On the military front, there should be an immediate de-escalation and stoppage of cross border firing . After the tragic loss of life, normal routines in the affected areas are severly disrupted due to the hostilities.As reported on both sides, the residents of border areas have had to move to safer places.The decapitation of a young Indian  soldier marks a grim turn that symbolizes the current state of Indo-Pak relations :no war, no peace. The incident takes India and Pak back to Jan. 2013 when two Indian soldiers were mutilated by Border Action Team of Pak army. Such a savagery has no place in a civil society.Such barbaric acts are to be stopped forthwith for an improvement of the relations between the two countries. Without any procrastination the two nations have to come to the negotiating table and start the composite dialogue amicably resolving the issues. Both countries need to remain alert and handle growing tensions with statemanship and resolve. Normalization and peace between Pakistan and India may appear to be a distant dream at this juncture; however, the least both the nations can do is  not to ratchet up levels of animosity. This can be done by keeping the diplomatic and military channels of communication open between both sides and avoiding aggressive public posturing and statements.
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