More foreign policy concerns
India continues to attach conditions to talks with Pakistan. It maintains that the talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries could not be held because of the Pathankot attack. The Indian High Commissioner insists on first creating an atmosphere which ensures the continuation of the dialogue over a longer period. In simple words Pakistan has to guarantee that there will be no terrorist attack anywhere in India or in occupied Kashmir. At a time when the terrorists are targeting Pakistan’s own security personnel, it would be unrealistic to seek assurances of the sort from Islamabad. There is however a need on the part of Pakistan’s establishment also not to differentiate between the ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’.
Last week Narendra Modi said he was not sure whether India was to decide the red lines with the elected government or with other actors in Pakistan. The FO spokesman says the army fully supports the democratic process. There would have been no sense in Narendra Modi’s comment if the army was not taking a too visible a part in formulating the foreign policy. When the PM makes friendly overtures to India and the ISPR does the opposite, a perception is bound to be created of a dichotomy in the approach of the civilian and military leadership. The best way for the army would be to provide its inputs to the government allowing the latter to take final decisions.
State department spokesman Mark Toner has meanwhile urged Pakistan to coordinate with the US, India and Afghanistan to choke off the terrorist groups. Terrorists coming from havens in Afghanistan continue to enter Pakistan to launch horrible attacks like the one on APS Peshawar. The Afghan government lacks the capacity to act against them while the US has displayed little keenness to take them out despite demands from Pakistan. Before proposing a new arrangement the US needs to ensure the success of the old ones like the Quadrilateral talks.
