Indo-Pak relations: Who’s at fault?

Will the relations get better anytime soon?

The 2008 Mumbai attacks sparked further tensions between the two neighbours. At least ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic militant organisation based in Pakistan, carried out multiple target attacks at the Taj Mahal Hotel, lasting four days, killing 183 people, including 22 foreign nationals while some 327 people were injured

Ever since partition, there have been tensions in relations with the neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan. It is this divide which marked the beginning of Kashmir’s conflict. There were allegations and counter allegations, war after war. Even after the formation of Line of Control (LoC) – a military control line between India and Pakistan – tensions between both the countries rose as millions of troops lined up at the LoC. It was only later in early 2000s that they agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC.

In 2007, the bombing of Samjhauta Express in India, a train service between India and Pakistan, killed 68 people, consisting largely of Pakistanis. The initial allegations accused Pakistan of instigating the terror attack.

Former Indian Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav condemned the incident and said the attack was “an attempt to derail the improving relationship between India and Pakistan”.

It later emerged in 2008 that Hindu radicals were allegedly behind the attack.

Mumbai Attack

The 2008 Mumbai attacks sparked further tensions between the two neighbours. At least ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic militant organisation based in Pakistan, carried out multiple target attacks at the Taj Mahal Hotel, lasting four days, killing 183 people, including 22 foreign nationals while some 327 people were injured.

India’s National Security Guards (NSG) carried out an operation (Black Tornado) to eliminate the remaining attackers which resulted in the deaths of the attackers, thus ending the series of attacks.

In December 2008, Indian foreign ministry made a formal complaint to the Pakistani ambassador that the attacks were carried out by Pakistanis to which the government admitted that the attack might have been partly planned on their soil while denying accusations that the attackers were aided by Pakistan’s intelligence.

Later Ajmal Kasab, the surviving gunman disclosed that the attackers were part of the militant group LeT. Following that, under immense UN and US pressure in October 2009, two suspects were arrested in the US for links to the Mumbai attacks.

One of the suspects, David Headley, a Pakistani-American, was found to have made several trips to India before the attacks and gathered all the required information needed by the plotters.

In November 2009, Pakistani authorities charged seven men who were arrested earlier, for planning and executing the assault.

However, then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed that Pakistan has “not done enough to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice”.

Furthermore, an Indian report released in October, 2010 alleged that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI had funded reconnaissance missions in Mumbai.

According to recent development, the Indian government wrote a letter to Islamabad suggesting ways to speed up the 26/11 trials in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Earlier Indian ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “The trial in the Mumbai terror attack and Pakistan has not moved expeditiously, although it will soon be eight years since that dastardly attack took place.”

“In order to bring the guilty to book, our foreign secretary has recently written to his Pakistani counterpart, suggesting ways in which the trial could be expedited through cooperation through the legal channel,” he added.

The letter came a day after India raised Pakistan’s human rights violations in Balochistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. It is significant in the light of India’s repeated assertions that the ongoing unrest in Kashmir is being orchestrated from Pakistan.

Pathankot attack

In January 2016, Pathankot Air Force Station in India was attacked by a heavily armed group which killed six attackers, one civilian and seven security personnels. Five days after the attack, the anti-terrorist operation ended. Investigations, however, continued.

The attack occurred just days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a ‘surprise visit’ to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday on December 25, 2015 which was a step taken to improve relations between the two countries. The Pathankot attack received international condemnation and the attackers were allegedly linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), an Islamist militant group designated as a terrorist organisation by India, the US, the UK and UN. This attack was seen as an attempt to destabilise India-Pakistan relations as both the sides defended their sides.

Following the attack, diplomatic dialogue between the two countries was postponed.

In March this year, a five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was formed in Pakistan in order to carry out investigations on the attack in India. Before the team reached the investigation site, the Indian defence minister claimed that the “militants could not have carried out the attack without Islamabad’s assistance”. While the Pakistani investigators unofficially acknowledged the terrorists had attacked from Pakistan, in their official report, they stated the attack had been a false-flag attack staged by the Indian government to malign Pakistan.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General Sharad Kumar said, “Investigation so far does not point to any inside hand.”

Later in June, it was reported that Pakistan would ‘consider’ allowing an Indian Investigation team to visit Pakistan in order to assist with investigations. So far, Pakistan has not responded to the request further.

This raises a question on the reasons behind escalated tensions among the two countries?

India and Pakistan have fought at least four wars over Kashmir and the recent killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani of the Hizbul Mujahideen on 8 July has further sparked violence in the Valley.

Since then, a curfew had been imposed in parts of Indian held Kashmir, sparking violent protests and taking the death toll to 102, whereas over 12,000 civilians have been injured by the use of pellets, bullets and tear gas shells by Indian police and troops on.

The issue was recently raised at United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) claiming that India has presented wrong figures regarding the clashes in Kashmir. Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations (UN) Maleeha Lodhi urged the international community to intervene in Indian atrocities in Kashmir. However, according to The Hindu Newspaper, India countered Maleeha Lodhi’s statement as India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the UN in Geneva Ajit Kumar alleged that “Pakistan systematically abused and violated the human rights of its own citizens, including in Balochistan, as well as of the people of Azad Jammu Kashmir”.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had dedicated Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14 to “the freedom of Kashmir and those Kashmiris who bravely faced the state oppression and kept the spirit of freedom alive”.

In further developments, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed a 22-envoy special team to highlight and discuss the Kashmir conflict at international level, including the United Nations (UN) general assembly later in September. Following that, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar stated that the Kashmir issue should not be ‘internationalised’

Similarly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at what he called supporters of ‘terrorism’ in his Independence Day speech on August 15, ratcheting up the criticism of Pakistan. He said, “People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) have thanked me a lot in the past few days, I am grateful to them.” This was seen as an attempt to distract the international community’s attention from the atrocities in Kashmir and the long-standing Balochistan issue.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in response to Modi’s speech said, “A country which unleashes such brute force against innocent citizens to suppress their right to protest or uses pellet guns to rob the eyesight is not a great country.”

He also stated that Balochistan is an integral part of Pakistan and that his comments only proves Pakistan’s argument that India, through its intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), has been fomenting terrorism in Balochistan.

Furthermore, the arrest and confession of Indian agent Kulbhushan Yadav from Balochistan that he had been training under-privileged people and turning them against Balochistan and Pakistan provides evidence that India has been putting efforts to destabilise Pakistan.

In further developments, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed a 22-envoy special team to highlight and discuss the Kashmir conflict at international level, including the United Nations (UN) general assembly later in September. Following that, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar stated that the Kashmir issue should not be ‘internationalised’.

“As far as the Kashmir issue is concerned, Pakistan must not internationalise it; it is a bilateral issue,” he said.

Lastly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as per his announcement, will address the Kashmir issue in UN General Assembly’s session later this month. The address will highlight the conflict and is expected to be a step forward in resolving the issue and improving the relations between New Delhi and Islamabad, despite MJ Akbar’s statements to not to internationalise the issue. Moreover, the SAARC summit is also around the corner. Indian Prime Minister Modi’s not-so-expected arrival might ease the tensions between the two countries. Only time can tell whether our relations with Delhi will get better anytime soon or they will continue to see a downward trajectory.