From sending one of their top diplomats Saad Ahmad Warraich to India, to organising the National Day reception in New Delhi after a gap of four years, Islamabad is not leaving any stone unturned to signal New Delhi that it is ready to normalise the bilateral ties by way of resuming the stalled talks. While India is gearing up for the upcoming general elections, the results of which will be out by June 4, Pakistan is keeping itself prepared to open some channels of communication with India, albeit at the risk of not pushing the agenda too much even as India gets ready to welcome a new administration for another five years. With former Prime Minister Imran Khan becoming a closed chapter and all his policies scrapped, Pakistan seems keen to take ties back to what it was before 2019 when diplomatic ties were at least intact.
Pakistan’s decision to send Warraich, who took over charge as the Chargé d'Affaires at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi in February, is a smart move as he knows the region well, having worked on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry. Previously, Warraich has also served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During the National Day of Pakistan, which is celebrated on March 23, Warraich categorically spoke about Pakistan's “desire for a peaceful relationship” with India.
He said: “Our desire for peace is reflective of the constructive and positive outlook of a strong and self-assured nation.” A diplomat of his calibre has said this knowing fully well that India will be acting tough even after a new government comes to place. However, he did mention the Kashmir dispute also making it amply clear that the issue will remain centrestage in bilateral ties. "The quest for sustainable peace and stability in South Asia could only be achieved through a peaceful settlement of all issues including the core Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” added Warraich.
But Islamabad is also aware of the fact that it has done some mistakes when it came to dealing with India after the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, which has to be now corrected. At that time, tensions between both countries soared to such an extent that the world was dreading both the nuclear-armed neighbours will once again engage in a hot war. Pakistan became so upset with India’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir that it not only severed trade ties with India but also downgraded diplomatic relationship by recalling the high commissioners from each other’s countries. New Delhi, at that time, had vehemently resisted the decision. These two critical decisions were taken by then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who continues to languish in Pakistani jail on several charges.
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For the first time since 2019, Pakistan hosted the National Day Celebrations at its high commission in the capital. At every National Day, they make sure to serve Kashmiri 'wazwan' to the guests, and the tradition continues. While Pakistan will continue to speak on Jammu and Kashmir to play to their own gallery, this shouldn’t stop India from not talking to its neighbour at all and lose the strategic vision of this region. By not having a dialogue at all, India is certainly taking a much riskier stance that New Delhi may not be able to bring under control in the long run. If India is confident that abrogation of Article 370 is now a closed chapter, and Kashmir is limping back to normalcy, it should not shy away from speaking to its neighbour.
Pakistan’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who has previously served as their finance minister, earlier this week said he will “seriously examine” resuming trade ties with India, which they themselves suspended in 2019. But this statement of Dar was quickly played down by their Foreign Ministry later, and they said there is “no formal proposal” as such to restart trade with India because of the Narendra Modi government’s stand on Kashmir. This once again confirms the point that the Pakistan military will not allow normal ties with India. They have been resisting such attempts not just today but since 2011 when the then Manmohan Singh government took massive strides to open trade between both countries.
Nevertheless, Pakistan of late has resorted to small gestures to give a message to India that it is willing to talk. Earlier this month, the Pakistan High Commission here issued 112 visas at one go to Hindu pilgrims who wanted to visit the Katas Raj Temples, also known as Qila Katas, in Chakwal district of Punjab in March.
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Pakistan is more keen on opening bilateral trade with India as that will help ramp up its ailing economy. Before two-way trade came to a standstill two-way trade stood at around $2 billion, while a major chunk took place through the UAE route. Pakistan has a massive business community that wants to do business with India and pressure from their lobby groups on Pakistani politicians is tremendous. Doing trade through third countries becomes counterproductive for them. No wonder why Minister Dar had that deliberate slip of tongue while the statement was later brushed under the carpet under the military's sharp eyes.
As the first move to normalise ties, Pakistan is planning to broach the idea to the upcoming government in India to reinstall High Commissioners and then get the trade status of ‘most favoured nation’ (MFN) which was taken away by India in the aftermath of the Pulwama attacks that took place in February 2019. Scrapping Pakistan of MFN status instantly put a 200 percent tariff on their imports. This move had hit Pakistani traders the most. Pakistan’s debt crisis is surging and so is their inflation.
Also, Pakistan is well aware of the growing ties, albeit slowly, between India and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan even as it faces a monumental crisis with its western neighbour due to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which is now getting lot of support from the Afghan Taliban that is empowering them to create internal disturbances there. Tensions over the Durand Line is one factor that will keep problems burning between Kabul and Islamabad.
Keeping all these factors in mind, the new government in India should start talking to Pakistan and allow the resumption of diplomatic ties so that it can also assess where the state of play lies when it comes to Rawalpindi. The new government of India will have to hold elections in Kashmir after coming to power, therefore, it is of utmost importance that these two neighbours speak.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
Pakistan Vehement On Normalising India Ties. Why New Delhi Should Resume Talks
4
1
28.03.2024
From sending one of their top diplomats Saad Ahmad Warraich to India, to organising the National Day reception in New Delhi after a gap of four years, Islamabad is not leaving any stone unturned to signal New Delhi that it is ready to normalise the bilateral ties by way of resuming the stalled talks. While India is gearing up for the upcoming general elections, the results of which will be out by June 4, Pakistan is keeping itself prepared to open some channels of communication with India, albeit at the risk of not pushing the agenda too much even as India gets ready to welcome a new administration for another five years. With former Prime Minister Imran Khan becoming a closed chapter and all his policies scrapped, Pakistan seems keen to take ties back to what it was before 2019 when diplomatic ties were at least intact.
Pakistan’s decision to send Warraich, who took over charge as the Chargé d'Affaires at the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi in February, is a smart move as he knows the region well, having worked on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry. Previously, Warraich has also served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During the National Day of Pakistan, which is celebrated on March 23, Warraich categorically spoke about Pakistan's “desire for a peaceful relationship” with India.
He said: “Our desire for peace is reflective of the constructive and positive outlook of a strong and self-assured nation.” A diplomat of his calibre has said this knowing fully well that India will be acting tough even after a new government comes to place. However, he did mention the Kashmir dispute also making it amply clear that the issue will remain centrestage in........
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