The one step back
Once again a spirited Pak-India advance runs into a needless roadblock. Considering how Pakistan’s JIT is about to wrap up its investigation, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will interact with Indian officials soon enough, and Pakistan has offered Masood Azhar for questioning in case of concrete evidence, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar could at least have timed his outburst before parliament a little better. That he based a very serious accusation – Pathankot attackers had Pak establishment’s support – on more or less his personal opinion – “no non-state actors there (Pakistan) can function smoothly without the state’s support” – only makes his provocation more disruptive and suspicious.
Very recently BJP leaders patted themselves on the back in parliament for ‘unprecedented progress’ with Pakistan and rubbed the Gujranwala FIR in Congress’ face as an achievement that eluded the previous administration after the much worse Mumbai attacks. Prime Minister Modi kept a surprisingly balanced position throughout the Pathankot escalation and there were little, if any, fears of hiccups on the road to the foreign secretaries’ meeting after the SIT. Why, then, would the defence minister so obviously want to put a spanner in the works? Either he’s seriously at odds with the prime minister’s chosen route, and doesn’t mind taking it upon himself to undo the process, or the government is keeping a calm diplomatic front and using the defence minister to create confusion.
Either way the process will be impacted. It took considerable international diplomacy – involving players all the way to Washington – to keep Delhi and Islamabad engaged after the Pathankot attack. At this point, if they fail to keep the ball rolling, it will be very difficult to resurrect the peace process anytime soon. Presently, Islamabad’s position is more practical. Both sides must first concentrate on the investigation, then ensure justice is delivered, and then also make sure that the momentum is carried on into FS level talks and beyond.