Pakistan-India Relations and the Way Forward

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  • Former FM says war between India, Pakistan not an option

LAHORE: Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Friday said that both India and Pakistan are incapable of engaging in conventional, let alone a nuclear war, and that the saner elements in both nations must not break the continuity of dialogue between the two countries.

Hosting a roundtable discussion, titled ‘Pakistan – India Relations and the Way Forward, in his capacity as the chairman of the Pakistan Forum, Kasuri welcomed Indian peace activist OP Shah, who is the chairman of the Centre for Peace and Progress, India.

The discussion was hosted at a local hotel in Lahore drew an impactful crowd, including journalists, former military men, civil servants, politicians, ambassadors, high commissioners and other foreign service bigwigs.

A slight unseemly incident occurred at the beginning of roundtable when politician Hafeezullah Niazi seemingly stormed out after an altercation with some members of the media; however, the remainder of the event continued without incident.

Kicking things off, Kasuri started with the recent spat between India and Pakistan over the harassment of Pakistani diplomats in India and the implications of such seemingly minuscule and juvenile actions.

“Pakistan and India cannot fight a conventional war, so they are resorting to destabilisation efforts,” he said.

“India has chosen to attack Pakistan along its fault lines, and this will only breed an atmosphere where Pakistan will do the same” he added.

Speaking on the military’s role in rising Pakistan-India tensions and ever-escalating posturing on the Line of Control (LoC) which has resulted in the loss of so many lives, Kasuri asserted that the Pakistan Army would not stand in the way of peace with India.

“There is consensus on this answer both here and across the border. War is simply not an option for the subcontinent and Indian commentators agree with me on this” he said.

He went on to comment on the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India, saying that he foresees either a change in the policy of the BJP, or a wipeout in the next election with their current rhetoric.

Kasuri eventually handed the floor over to OP Shah, whom he introduced as a peace activist and advocate for the rights of the Kashmiri people.

Taking a swing at the right-wing Indian government, Shah began by saying that India is a “secular socialist republic” as envisioned by its founding fathers, adding that the unity of the country lay in these values.

“No matter who I go to in Kashmir, all of them say the same thing, that there should be an end to cross-border violations from both sides,” he told the audience as he shared his experiences with them.

He went on to say that the needs of the hour were that Pakistani and Indian people introspect more on current realities, and that the first step towards peace would be to appreciate each other’s compulsions, limitations and concerns.

“As long as both sides show concern for existing situations and empathy for the other’s realities, I think the peace dialogue will stay alive and eventually be successful,” he remarked.

O P Shah’s remarks were followed by some poignant dialogue between different journalists, ambassadors and foreign policy experts.

Begum Mehnaz Rafi also spoke on the occasion, saying that while people from both countries desired peace, it was political leaders that saw opportunities to use the Kashmir issue and thus do not wish to see the matter resolved. PTI leader Walid Iqbal also spoke to the gathering and the question-answer session turned quite lively near the end.

However, O P Shah ended on a strong note, saying that while the Indo-Pak dynamic relied greatly on Kashmir, this was a very complex subject and that there should be some dialogue outside of this framework too.

He ended by saying that while organisations and civil society was doing an admirable job, it was up to the governments on both sides to take steps to break the impasse.