Asem Mohiuddin
On Monday, the international news agency Bloomberg threw the world into surprise after reporting that two arch rivals India – Pakistan are resuming the back channel talks on all issues including the contentious Kashmir problem with United Arab Emirates serving as mediator. The news report further claimed that the ceasefire pact signed between the two DGsMOs from India and Pakistan on February 25 to reinforce ceasefire on Line of Control was the first step in the direction.
“Yet behind closed doors, the India-Pakistan cease-fire marked a milestone in secret talks brokered by the UAE that began months earlier, according to officials aware of the situation who asked not to be identified. The cease-fire, one said, is only the beginning of a larger roadmap to forge a lasting peace between the neighbors, both of which have nuclear weapons and spar regularly over a decades-old territory dispute,” the Bloomberg reported.
The report further said that the next step in the process, involves both sides reinstating envoys in New Delhi and Islamabad, who were pulled in 2019 after Pakistan protested India’s move to revoke seven decades of autonomy for the disputed Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. Then comes the hard part: Talks on resuming trade and a lasting resolution on Kashmir, the subject of three wars since India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in 1947.
With no country confirming the developments, the media report further claim that with substantial shift in the rhetoric by both the countries, the India and Pakistan over the last few months are working back channel diplomacy involving Chief of Army staff from Pakistan, General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Ajit Doval, National Security advisor to Prime Minister of India.
The report is connecting the dots of several developments in the last few months between the two countries that includes India allowing Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to use the air space for his Sri Lanka visit, approving the request to supply COVID 19 vaccines followed by the good wishes of Narender Modi to his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan who was recently tested COVID positive. Later this week, the two foreign ministers of India S. Jai Shanker and his Pakistani counterpart SM Querashi are also expected to meet on the sidelines of “Heart of Asia” conference scheduled at Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
At the same time, the Pakistan based columnist and senior journalist Ershad Mehmud wrote an article in Pakistan based Daily The News said that both the countries are steadily moving out of its rhetoric and choosing the new path to usher peace in the sub continent.
“The dramatic announcement of the ceasefire has set the ball rolling for further tangible progress on all major disputes including Jammu and Kashmir which has marred the last seven decades for both nations. So far, the ceasefire announcement appears to be merely a tactical move by both governments,” he writes.
Mehmud, however, further writes that with Pakistan making a remarkable shift from being the geo strategic to geo economic, the two countries are yet to draw the roadmap because neither back channel nor diplomatic conversation between Islamabad and New Delhi has resumed yet.
Even though there has been no formal announcement from either side regarding the significant developments unfolding in India and Pakistan, some reports presume that both the countries have agreed to revisit the Musharaf’s four point formula with certain fresh radars.
“Given to the position of New Delhi after Narendra Modi government took over in 2014, it is unlikely any major breakthrough is achieved. But there seems some joy in the air with fresh developments in both the countries,” said Inayat Ul Allah, a political observer.
“In these, politically adverse times, if Modi decides, he can take the call in India without facing any resistance. We hope this opportunity is grabbed and the just lasting solution is found to this intractable Kashmir problem.”
Kashmiri will be the biggest votary to any peace pact between India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the leadership in both the countries have also softened their positions. Recently the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Kashmir is the only issue that is holding the two countries back. He assured that his country will offer India direct access to central Asia through the economic corridor if Kashmir is resolved.
“India will also benefit with more trade and connectivity to Central Asia. This [Kashmir] is the one issue that holds us back. We will try our full efforts but it is for India to make a move. Until they do that, we cannot move forward,” he said on March 18 to experts and academics at the Islamabad Security Dialogue.
The call of Khan was reiterated by the Army Chief Qamar Jawed Bajwa and said that both the countries must bury the past and usher in a new dawn for peace and prosperity in the region.
“We feel that it is time to bury the past and move forward. But for resumption of peace process or meaningful dialogue, our neighbour will have to create conducive environment, particularly in [Jammu and Kashmir],”
A month earlier, Bajwa had extended his hand of friendship in all directions and signaled the significant move in resumption of dialogue between the two countries.
Back in Kashmir, the ripple effects of the developments seems evident over the security situation. The Police Chief Dilbagh Singh last week claimed that the situation in Kashmir remained relatively peaceful. He assured all local militants who surrendered will be properly rehabilitated. His call was reiterated by IGP Vijay Singh in yet another press conference flanked by the army commander who insisted parents not to allow their wards to fall for insurgency.
“We urge all the parents not allow their wards to join militant ranks. All the militants who surrender will be taken care of,” Singh said while addressing a press conference after four militants got killed in Shopain encounter.
He said they will make efforts till the last minute to ensure the militants surrender even if it proves costly for them.
