As of today, all is not well with India-Pakistan relations. These are on the downslide because of Pakistan once again behaving waywardly as in the past. Is the civilian regime in Islamabad pushed to a state of uncertainty following indications from the Supreme Court that the logjam between the judiciary and the executive remains unresolved? Or is Pakistan Army/ISI hard pressed by home-grown terrorism which recently conducted an attack on an airbase in Attock district? To divert the attention of frenzied segments of her population, it has accelerated tension along LoC and IB in J&K State. For last two or three months, unprovoked firing along LoC — in Krishna Ghati, Samba sector and elsewhere —, increased bids of infiltration, digging of tunnel in Chachwal, cyber piracy and now refusal to exchanging sweets on Eid festival are indicative of Pakistan’s ill intentions of disrupting normalization of relations with India. One fails to understand whether with this ground situation in place, higher level talks between the two countries, including the impending talks between their foreign ministers, is going to yield any positive result. This is not conducive to restoring normal relations nor can it be considered helpful in CBMs between the two countries. It may be that the civilian regime and the Army in Pakistan are at loggerheads but that does not mean they should make J&K a means of settling their mutual score. New Delhi must take full cognizance of souring relations and handle its affairs with Islamabad accordingly.
Follow our WhatsApp channel