‘Simmering Balochistan’ again
Now Dhaka ‘backs Modi on Balochistan’, according to Bangladesh’s information minister, Hasanul Haq Inu, while in Delhi. It seems Indian State Foreign Minister MJ Akbar’s “simmering Balochistan” comment provoked similar sentiments in Bangladesh, which is going through a freeze of its own as far as relations with Pakistan are concerned. This forms a disturbing trend. It was not too long ago, after all, that Modi went to Dhaka and brought back memories, needlessly, of ’71. Also, the Indian press is reporting of a Delhi-Dhaka “MoU on data exchange”, which features phrases like ‘preemptive intervention’, ‘targetting terrorists’, etc.
Unfortunately, our two neighbours have found the perfect ‘my enemy’s enemy’ moment in regional diplomacy just when Pakistan is the most isolated in decades. Ties with Kabul are about just as cold as with Delhi and Dhaka. The equation with Tehran also worsened before it improved a little. And Washington, always present in the region, has been growing steadily unhappy as the Obama administration draws to a close. As regards India there hasn’t been much to write home about since the BJP came back to power. But things with Bangladesh have worsened incrementally since Ch Nisar’s outburst at Dhaka’s controversial hangings. Then there were allegations of spying, etc. Then ambassadors were withdrawn and normalcy hasn’t yet been restored.
The tendency of replying in kind, however diplomatically, is understandable, especially in the present regional setting. Pakistani-Indian exchanges, for example, are often riddled with diplomatic aggression, especially when Kashmir is included. But the kind of mudslinging India and Bangladesh are indulging in now is going a step too far. It will not benefit Pakistan to do the same. Pakistan should, instead, raise this issue – of outsiders leveraging Balochistan for their political purposes, and more – at the international level. Meanwhile, prospects of a smooth, successful SAARC Summit appear slimmer by the day.