India’s hysteric sabre-rattling

Guns blazing on LoC

In the latest amongst the many conflagrations on the Line of Control initiated by the Indian forces in recent weeks, Pakistan Army’s Captain Sarfraz has been killed while another soldier was injured by the Indian forces in the Batal, Nakyal sector near Skardu. According to the Pakistan Army, this was unprovoked firing. The Indian army and its top brass has in the last few days following the killing of five Indian soldiers (blaming they were killed by a Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT), supposedly a mix of Pakistani Special Forces and terrorists) adopted an extremely aggressive and threatening posture. As a consequence, the Indian side has put a stop to all talks with the Pakistani authorities till at least the end of September, making the situation gravely tense.

Fortunately though things haven’t entirely been left unattended and some measure of sanity has prevailed. The meeting between prime ministers of the two nuclear-armed neighbours in New York on the sidelines of the UN session in September is still on. One should hope that both the leaders shall agree to bring the tension on the LoC down and remove the frost of the last five years and recommence the peace process. Since that meeting is almost two weeks away, both New Delhi and Islamabad should meanwhile take a step back and bring the hostile environment a notch down by diffusing tension along the border. Both sides, especially the Indian brass, need to act responsibly and stop issuing statements that do nothing but further inflame the situation. It needs to be realised that peace in this part of the world where distrust has reigned for so long needs to be cultivated painstakingly. India, the economic giant along with China, and Pakistan with its struggling economy can benefit from the opportunities afforded by peace. Mutual trade and economic opportunities aside, people to people contacts and cordial government level relations can turn this region into a power bloc, one on the lines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. But for that to become a reality, the ceasefire violations on the LoC have to stop.

And more than anything else, the blame game creating an atmosphere of war hysteria must be brought to an end without any delay. And that’s precisely why India needs to stop the sabre-rattling and blaming every incident that happens on its side of the LoC on Pakistan Army or the Pakistani intelligence agencies without any proof or investigation. If the purpose is to browbeat the Pakistan Army when it is perceived to be weak owing to internal challenges and engagement on the Western front, this is a flawed concept and has the potential to lead to further hostilities which is in nobody’s favour.