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Indo-Pak ties - The question of Indian sincerity

Afia Ambreen

Recently, India has lifted the ban on foreign investment showcasing goodwill to achieve ultimate goal of establishing good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. The ban was imposed under India’s 1999 Foreign Exchange Management Act, which now requires amendment for the announced intention to be implemented.

Current bilateral trade is only US$2.7 billion per year, mainly in the base metals, chemicals, electronics and machinery sectors. The sides have engaged to double this figure in the next two years. According to one study, it could more than triple by 2015 if all non-tariff barriers were removed along with tariff barriers.

It is pertinent to mention here that the new development in Indo-Pak relations is also accompanied by doubts whether the latest effort would set relations on a more normal course. In this regard, the fact of the matter is that India has been using delaying tactics on many issues and is only fulfilling formalities as part of its shrewd diplomacy by playing a double game with Islamabad.

It is of particular attention that on the one hand, India has been emphasizing that it wants to promote friendship with Pakistan by continuing the new phase of talks, trade etc, while on the other, it has intensified anti-Pakistan activities and a deliberate propaganda campaign against Islamabad.

In 2008, New Delhi suspended the process of ‘composite dialogue’ under the pretext of Mumbai terror attacks which were in fact, arranged by the RAW. Meanwhile, Indian rulers blackmailed Islamabad that they would not resume the talks unless Islamabad takes actions against the culprits of Mumbai catastrophe.

In 2002, under the pretext of terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, New Delhi again postponed the process of dialogue. In this context, Indian diplomats have always tried to make the longstanding issues difficult, intricate and complex, challenging Pakistani stand so that no settlement could be made regarding any issue, especially the Indian-held Kashmir.

As a matter of fact, history of Pak- India dialogue clearly shows that India is not serious and sincere in resolving any issue, including the key dispute of Kashmir. Hence, New Delhi has always used one or the other justification to delay the peace process. In this regard, slow peace process in the Sub-continent is because of Indian obduracy.

Despite various crises which were availed by New Delhi in order to suspend the process of negotiations, previous Pak-Indian dialogue could not produce any result due to Indian delaying tactics. It is notable that Indian adamant stand in relation to Pak-Indian parleys are not without some sinister designs. In this connection, India is determined to keep its hold on Kashmir which is considered by it as integrated part of the Indian union. India wants to continue state terrorism on the innocent Kashmiris who are waging a ‘war of liberation’ for their legitimate rights.

New Delhi also wants to blackmail Pakistan by stopping the flow of rivers’ water towards Pakistan as major rivers of our country take origin from the occupied Kashmir. In this regard, India has constructed various dams to starve Pakistan owing to severe consequences of shortage of water. However, by controlling the Kashmiri territories, New Delhi intends to get leverage over Islamabad by resolving the dispute in accordance with its own will.

Particularly, India also desires to destabilise Pakistan. Notably, for the last seven years, Pakistan’s various regions have been facing suicide attacks and targeted killings by the militants who entered the country from Afghanistan where tentacles of terrorism exist. For this purpose, India has set up secret training centers in Afghanistan where its military personnel in collaboration with RAW, Mossad and CIA have been imparting training to the youngsters to weaken Pakistan because it is the only nuclear country in the Islamic world.

These secret agencies are also supporting insurgency in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and separatism in Balochistan. Regarding various terror-events, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik repeatedly indicated foreign involvement behind the attacks - saying that terrorists “are the enemies of the state” and “are mercenaries who receive arms from Afghanistan to destabilise the country.”

It is important to mention here that Indian leaders forgot that there is no chance for the success of Pak-Indian talks in the wake of a threatening policy, coercive diplomacy and arms-twisting tactics.

This is a lesson, especially for New Delhi, to learn from its experience of dealing with Islamabad during the last six decades.

Relations between Pakistan and India remained fractured from the date back to 1947 when both the countries gained independence. Both have fought four wars.

In all these years, peace remained the biggest loser and the vested interests the winners. Now both are nuclear powers and cannot afford any war because of risks that it could turn into a nuclear war. What is needed is to bolster ties between both the countries for progress and prosperity of their people.