Ties with India

Pakistan’s cooperation with India over the investigation into the Pathankot attacks in January was meant to show that we are now serious about working together to eliminate the militancy scourge. We sent a Joint Investigation Team to Pathankot to show our sincerity in working with India but, thanks to an unverified media leak, all that good work has been undone. A news report in Pakistan said that the JIT had concluded that Jaish-e-Mohammed had nothing to do with the attack and that it was a ‘drama’ staged by India. Since this news report was published, the JIT has come back to Pakistan on April 1 and is now being dismissed by the Indians. The Foreign Office issued a statement saying that Pakistan is committed to cooperation, but did not dismiss the news report and also added that witnesses to the attack were not produced before the JIT, as was originally promised. This snub to India is a step we feel confident in taking after a RAW agent was captured in Balochistan. Despite that undeniable provocation from India and the fresh questions it raised about its involvement in our domestic politics, we would be better served by keeping those issues apart from Pathankot.

The reason for isolating Pathankot from the larger Pakistan-India peace overtures is simple: both countries need to work towards better relations without forgetting the fundamental difference we have. It was disheartening to hear the Pakistan Ambassador to India, Abdul Basit, say that peace talks have been suspended and there is no scheduled meetings between the respective foreign secretaries. Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, speaking at the opening of a textile exhibition, also confirmed that any chance of trade liberalisation had all but vanished. But at the same time we might be seeing encouraging developments. Speaking at the Nuclear Security Summit last week, President Obama had suggested Pakistan and India cut down the size of their nuclear arsenals. A Pakistan FO spokesman has said this could be considered alongside a nuclear restraint accord. Islamabad has also spoken of the need to put people first. This is a line of thinking that needs to be promoted and driven on. If the dangerous regional arms race could be halted we would gain a great deal in terms of stability. We could also move beyond the parrying and posturing we have been seeing in the aftermath of the Pathankot JIT with the danger of the cauldron bubbling over as a result of a skirmish.