Indo-Pak Talks: Modi Govt’s Clear Stand

Pakistan is clearly on the brink of collapse. There are reports that it has not paid embassy staff in overseas missions for months now. Its foreign exchange reserves stand at a paltry US$4 billion. Food and fuel shortages are plaguing Pakistan which was ravaged by floods last year resulting in huge economic losses. Recently, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif called for honest talks with India. He said that his country had learned its lessons from three wars with India. At the same time, he wanted discussions on Kashmir and the scrapping of Article 370. Perhaps he did not realise that his country, now a failed state, was in no position to impose such unrealistic conditions. His Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar added that her country does not see a partner in Modi in the way it did in Manmohan Singh or Atal Bihari Vajpayee and therefore, appeared to rule out talks. This inconsistency on the part of Pakistan is not surprising. Over the years, it has actively patronised cross-border terrorism and has sheltered some of the most notorious and dreaded terrorists in the world, including Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the horrific 1993 Mumbai blasts. The ISI has proactively partnered with terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and has trained terrorists at their training camps. While carrying out all these hostile activities, in the same breath, Pakistan has also often spoken of peace and dialogue with India. The Modi government, on its part, has been consistent in stating that until Pakistan gives up the use of terror as a state policy, India will not hold peace talks. It has made this position very clear repeatedly reiterating that terror and dialogue for peace cannot go together. Meanwhile, the National Conference leader, Farooq Abdullah has called upon the Narendra Modi government to hold talks with Pakistan to end terror. Farooq Abdullah seems to have forgotten that this NDA dispensation is not like earlier governments which got carried away by promises and declarations. How can any civilised government hold “talks to end terror”? Has Pakistan walked the talk when it comes to turning over the masterminds behind the deadly 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai? Would the surgical strikes on Uri or Balakot have been necessary at all if Pakistan had been sincere in its desire for peace? The Karmic element in the sequence of events playing out in Pakistan is surreal. Right now, Pakistan is under siege, politically and economically, as a state. Its future stands imperiled. The threat from the terrorist network, Tehrik-e-Taliban which has some local political backing and also has ties with Afghanistan, is serious. The Afghan Taliban itself is pressing on its neighbor to settle the dispute regarding the Durand line, which it does not accept as its border with Pakistan, causing a fresh headache to the Shehbaz Sharif government. Pakistan’s economy is in tatters and it is going around from country to country with a begging bowl. Its all-weather ally, China, is not exactly in the best of situations to help Pakistan out. Therefore, it is hardly a surprise that Pakistan, in some way has attempted to reach out to India, though it knows that any posturing or pre-conditions will not help it move forward in any way.