By Jai Kumar Verma
Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit continued his meetings with irrelevant Kashmiri separatists in defiance of a clear warning from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, that meeting with All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders would imperil the scheduled talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries in Islamabad on Aug 25.
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh herself called Basit after his meeting with Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah on Aug 18 that the meetings with Kashmir separatists are tantamount to his interference in the internal affairs of India and it is “unacceptable”. She also told him that “Either talk to separatists or talk to us.”
The Pakistan High Commissioner remained impervious and met Hurriyat leaders Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik on Aug 19 in utter disregard of the Indian foreign secretary’s request.
The Kashmiri separatist leaders appreciated the stand taken by the Pakistani envoy of talking to Kashmiri leaders, in preference to representative of Government of India. The spokesman of Geelani, who advocates amalgamation of Kashmir with Pakistan, mentioned that both Geelani and Basit met for more than one and a half hours. All Kashmiri separatists’ leaders condemned India and its decision of cancelling secretary level talks. They reiterated that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that their leaders were meeting the Pakistani High Commissioner regularly. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah also criticized the Modi government for cancelling the talks.
Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, stated that by meeting Kashmiri separatists the Pakistani High Commissioner gave a clear indication that Pakistan is not sincere towards the negotiations and also showed its negative approach and interfered in the internal affairs of India.
On Aug 25 the foreign secretaries of both the countries would have discussed about the resumption of dialogue and stoppage of ceasefire violations on the border. Now the talks are postponed for an indefinite period.
The critics say that in the past Pakistani leaders and diplomats were meeting Kashmiri separatists. Not only this, in April 2005 Shyam Saran, the then Indian foreign secretary, stated that India is a democratic country and Pakistani leaders can meet Hurriyat leaders. Kashmiri separatist leaders met several Pakistani visiting dignitaries, including then president Pervez Musharraf, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar etc. They point out that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the strong action because of pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, lack of experience in diplomacy and in view of the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
However this is a wrong allegation. The decision of cancelling the secretary level talks was decided after hectic negotiations between the Prime Minister’s Office and officers of the Ministry of External Affairs. India gave a tough message that constant border violations, meeting with separatists, continuation of low intensity war, fuelling of terrorists will not be tolerated in future. The peace talks should not be a ritual, and some progress in the right direction must be made.
Analysts say that Islamabad is under seige, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Canadian national and a populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have entered the Red Zone in Islamabad with thousands of their supporters and are demanding the resignation of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. No large scale demonstration in Islamabad is feasible unless it has the blessings of the all-powerful Pakistani army. Both Imran Khan and Qadri are proxies of the Pakistan army. Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif wants to weaken Nawaz Sharif as the relationship between both is not cordial.
The agitation has challenged and undermined the position of Nawaz Sharif in particular and of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) in general. In reality not only has the position of Sharif declined but the importance of democratic forces is also diminished. Once the status of democratic forces dwindles the position of Pakistani army enhances as the saviour of the country.
It is further mentioned that the Pakistan army is not getting the desired success against various terrorist groups under Operation “Zarb-e-Azb” in North Waziristan. Hence it wants to detract the attention of the masses against the failure of the army. Not only this. The army is aware that if it is not able to achieve success against terrorists Nawaz Sharif and his government will become stronger at the cost of the army. Hence the army has weakened Sharif before he can point out the failures of army.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan army is also projecting the danger from India. Therefore there is a spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistani security forces from last few weeks. When India has only retorted these violations by firing, the army instructed Basit to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders with a view to provoke India. These separatists have few following and still less credibility among Kashmiris. Here it is important to note that when Nawaz Sharif himself visited India in May 2014 he did not meet any Hurriyat leader.
The nefarious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is infiltrating Pakistan trained terrorists into India. The Pakistan army has increased firing and violations at the border because it is giving cover to infiltrators so that they can enter India. It is reported that about 200 Pakistani-trained terrorists are waiting at the Indo-Pak border to enter India in small groups. Once they enter they would execute terrorist activities so that the relations between India and Pakistan deteriorate. The Pakistan army does not want cordial relations with India because it flourishes on the bogey of animosity and danger from India. It is the reason that any time India and the democratically elected government of Pakistan make efforts to improve relations, the Pakistan army jeopardizes the efforts.
Some analysts rightly commented that in the present circumstances Pakistan should care for Islamabad instead of Kashmir. The Pakistani High Commissioner has acted undiplomatically on the instructions of the Pakistani Army. In this way he caused damage to the democratically elected government of his country as well as jeopardized the forthcoming talks between India and Pakistan.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
INDIA-PAKISTAN: WAS PAKISTANI ENVOY ACTING ON ARMY’S INSTRUCTIONS? – ANALYSIS
By Jai Kumar Verma
Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit continued his meetings with irrelevant Kashmiri separatists in defiance of a clear warning from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, that meeting with All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders would imperil the scheduled talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries in Islamabad on Aug 25.
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh herself called Basit after his meeting with Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah on Aug 18 that the meetings with Kashmir separatists are tantamount to his interference in the internal affairs of India and it is “unacceptable”. She also told him that “Either talk to separatists or talk to us.”
The Pakistan High Commissioner remained impervious and met Hurriyat leaders Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik on Aug 19 in utter disregard of the Indian foreign secretary’s request.
The Kashmiri separatist leaders appreciated the stand taken by the Pakistani envoy of talking to Kashmiri leaders, in preference to representative of Government of India. The spokesman of Geelani, who advocates amalgamation of Kashmir with Pakistan, mentioned that both Geelani and Basit met for more than one and a half hours. All Kashmiri separatists’ leaders condemned India and its decision of cancelling secretary level talks. They reiterated that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that their leaders were meeting the Pakistani High Commissioner regularly. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah also criticized the Modi government for cancelling the talks.
Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, stated that by meeting Kashmiri separatists the Pakistani High Commissioner gave a clear indication that Pakistan is not sincere towards the negotiations and also showed its negative approach and interfered in the internal affairs of India.
On Aug 25 the foreign secretaries of both the countries would have discussed about the resumption of dialogue and stoppage of ceasefire violations on the border. Now the talks are postponed for an indefinite period.
The critics say that in the past Pakistani leaders and diplomats were meeting Kashmiri separatists. Not only this, in April 2005 Shyam Saran, the then Indian foreign secretary, stated that India is a democratic country and Pakistani leaders can meet Hurriyat leaders. Kashmiri separatist leaders met several Pakistani visiting dignitaries, including then president Pervez Musharraf, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar etc. They point out that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the strong action because of pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, lack of experience in diplomacy and in view of the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
However this is a wrong allegation. The decision of cancelling the secretary level talks was decided after hectic negotiations between the Prime Minister’s Office and officers of the Ministry of External Affairs. India gave a tough message that constant border violations, meeting with separatists, continuation of low intensity war, fuelling of terrorists will not be tolerated in future. The peace talks should not be a ritual, and some progress in the right direction must be made.
Analysts say that Islamabad is under seige, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Canadian national and a populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have entered the Red Zone in Islamabad with thousands of their supporters and are demanding the resignation of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. No large scale demonstration in Islamabad is feasible unless it has the blessings of the all-powerful Pakistani army. Both Imran Khan and Qadri are proxies of the Pakistan army. Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif wants to weaken Nawaz Sharif as the relationship between both is not cordial.
The agitation has challenged and undermined the position of Nawaz Sharif in particular and of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) in general. In reality not only has the position of Sharif declined but the importance of democratic forces is also diminished. Once the status of democratic forces dwindles the position of Pakistani army enhances as the saviour of the country.
It is further mentioned that the Pakistan army is not getting the desired success against various terrorist groups under Operation “Zarb-e-Azb” in North Waziristan. Hence it wants to detract the attention of the masses against the failure of the army. Not only this. The army is aware that if it is not able to achieve success against terrorists Nawaz Sharif and his government will become stronger at the cost of the army. Hence the army has weakened Sharif before he can point out the failures of army.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan army is also projecting the danger from India. Therefore there is a spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistani security forces from last few weeks. When India has only retorted these violations by firing, the army instructed Basit to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders with a view to provoke India. These separatists have few following and still less credibility among Kashmiris. Here it is important to note that when Nawaz Sharif himself visited India in May 2014 he did not meet any Hurriyat leader.
The nefarious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is infiltrating Pakistan trained terrorists into India. The Pakistan army has increased firing and violations at the border because it is giving cover to infiltrators so that they can enter India. It is reported that about 200 Pakistani-trained terrorists are waiting at the Indo-Pak border to enter India in small groups. Once they enter they would execute terrorist activities so that the relations between India and Pakistan deteriorate. The Pakistan army does not want cordial relations with India because it flourishes on the bogey of animosity and danger from India. It is the reason that any time India and the democratically elected government of Pakistan make efforts to improve relations, the Pakistan army jeopardizes the efforts.
Some analysts rightly commented that in the present circumstances Pakistan should care for Islamabad instead of Kashmir. The Pakistani High Commissioner has acted undiplomatically on the instructions of the Pakistani Army. In this way he caused damage to the democratically elected government of his country as well as jeopardized the forthcoming talks between India and Pakistan.
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