Pakistan tries to align US with it against India; mentioning Kashmir, LoC violations in the joint statement a positive outcome; US selling F-16 jets to Pakistan, supporting construction of dams about which India has ‘reservations’
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s bid to expose India’s involvement in destabilizing Pakistan by supporting terrorism during his meetings with the Obama Administration officials has been reasonably successful as Narendra Modi government and the Indian media, already struggling with proliferating religious and social extremism, scrambled for a counter-narrative.
During the four-day official visit to the United States, the prime minister and his team effectively raised the issue of Indian intervention in Pakistan’s Balochistan and tribal areas by supporting extremist elements to disrupt the country’s peace and stability. Pakistan handed over a set of three dossiers to the US Secretary of State John Kerry containing evidenced of Indian involvement in Pakistan’s territory.
This exposure of hostile and illegal actions by the state actors of India particularly by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the premier Indian intelligence agency, has dealt a blow to India’s hopes of getting United Nations Security Council membership.
The recent wave of violence in India by an extremist outfit Shiv Sena in India targeting Pakistani artists, authors and sportsmen, upper caste Hindus killing those belonging to lower castes and desecration of sacred books have exposed the claims of ‘secular India’ as hollow.
Mentioning Kashmir in the joint declaration after the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and President Barack Obama, while not game changing, is still significant. Also, for the first time in over a decade, the US called for dialogue between the two countries aimed at resolving all outstanding disputes. The two leaders expressing concern over the Line of Control violations is another welcome development for Pakistan.
India has always tried to talk away Kashmir as a non-dispute and has shown reluctance in putting the issue on agenda of bilateral talks.
Even recently, despite having agreed on the sidelines of Ufa summit to discuss all outstanding issues, India backtracked from its stance and demanded to limit the National Security Advisors’ talks to issue of terrorism.
Pakistan has also expressed the desire for the role of a third party to help settle the disputes between the two countries.
In his reaction, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup downplayed mention of Kashmir in the Pak-US joint statement, saying India had always desired resolution of all issues with Pakistan bilaterally through dialogue.
Adopting the Modi narrative, Swarup even said India was opposed to the development activities going on in Azad Kashmir. Meanwhile, Indian forces have amped up attempts to control the rising separatist sentiment in the region.
According to The Hindu, India has also expressed reservations about the support President Barack Obama has extended to securing finances for the Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu dams in Gilgit Baltistan which India believes cannot be built because it is in a disputed area.
The dynamic foreign policy and clear stance on the issues by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team have negated talk in international media before his visit that the US would force Pakistan to limit its nuclear programme.
“Pakistan will never allow limits to be placed on its crown jewel, and particularly those imposed by the United States. As expected, the issue didn’t come up during the visit; the joint statement made only vague references to Pakistan’s participation in a US-hosted nuclear security summit next year. We can assume that in the coming weeks, all this talk will fade away,” an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Four Takeaways from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Washington Visit” said on Saturday.
What might have hurt India’s Modi government even more was New York Times’ report of the US Administration selling eight F-16 jets to Pakistan.
Vikas Swarup said, “Our reservations about providing such platforms [F-16] to Pakistan are well known and all countries are aware of India’s position in such cases,” according to the Hindu.
Prime minister’s visit has also dispelled the Indian propaganda of Pakistan supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani Network with Nawaz Sharif committing that indiscriminate action would be taken against all groups involved in terrorism.
The bilateral commitment between Pakistan and the United States to jointly work for peace and stability in Afghanistan and US’ endorsement of Pakistan’s role in facilitating talks between Taliban and Kabul is also a positive outcome.
