Islamabad: When Pakistan And as India agreed to restore peace along the highly volatile Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021, it appeared they were ready to take a turn on the bumpy road of hostility and mistrust again. However, the ensuing months showed that this was another mirage.
The story of Pakistan-India relations is the story of the proverb ‘One step forward, two steps back’. So far, almost every positive development in the context of bilateral relations has been overtaken by the innate hostility that is often fueled by popular sentiment.
In a surprise announcement on 25 February, India and Pakistan said that they have agreed to strictly abide by all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control. India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003, but over the years it has not been followed in letter and spirit, with more violations than adherence to the agreement.
The resumption of the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control was no exception. Soon thereafter there were reports, which said that both sides were engaged in a secret diplomacy in some shadowy hideout in the Arabian desert (the so-called talks were reportedly being held in the United Arab Emirates). No official statement was issued about the status of the talks but relations remain frozen.
Weeks later in March, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move on”.
Addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue for the first time by the ‘Who’s Who’ of Pakistan’s security establishment, General Bajwa said that “Stable Indo-Pak ties are the key to unlocking the untapped potential of South and Central Asia by ensuring connectivity between the East and West Asia” but also noted that Kashmir was the main obstacle to the normalization of bilateral relations.
Earlier, Pakistan had put a condition on resuming talks with India if it reversed the August, 2019 moves in Kashmir, but General Bajwa lowered the bar by saying that India should create a conducive environment.
The mighty military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its more than 70 years of existence, has so far wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has taken a tough stand since India abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, also downplayed his rhetoric by saying that good relations with neighbors are paramount to national security.
“Unless we have regional peace, we will not be able to take full advantage of our geo-strategic position,” he said while addressing the same event.
On March 31, Pakistan almost stunned India when its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), an apex decision-making body, lifted restrictions on the import of sugar and cotton from India. Finance Minister Hammad Azhar had given a big decision.
Obviously, imports were allowed without involving all stakeholders, including the Ministry of External Affairs. Ministry sources said that the External Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Was unhappy with the decision. As a result, it was withdrawn as soon as it was announced.
Months later in November, Pakistan quietly allowed India to use its airspace for direct flights between Kashmir and the United Arab Emirates, but its fate was no different from previous positive moves. The move was put on hold when Islamabad withdrew the permission a week later. No reason was given as to why the flights were allowed and why they were closed.
The incident in Afghanistan served as a major turning point as the Taliban captured Kabul in August, giving Pakistan a major boost to India’s stakes in Afghanistan.
In the wake of regime change in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s focus is on Kabul and it is pulling all strings to give the Taliban time to adjust to the new situation in order to earn the global recognition of its interim government, which includes At least 14 cabinet members were blacklisted by the United Nations.
The Afghan situation sparked a positive development in the context of Pak-India relations. In December, Pakistan allowed India to send a humanitarian shipment of 50,000 tonnes of wheat and life-saving drugs to Afghanistan wagaho border crossing.
Contrary to short-term optimism after direct flights were allowed between Srinagar and Sharjah and imports of sugar and cotton from India were allowed, the decision to send wheat to India on condition of using only Afghan trucks for transit has not been reversed. But it is difficult to interpret this as a breakthrough in bilateral relations.
In November, India reopened the Kartarpur Corridor, which connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak Temple in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along with around 30 people, including his cabinet ministers, visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, using the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor, on the second day of the reopening of the route, which is estimated to be around 20 km away. was suspended for a month. After the outbreak of COVID-19.
Towards the end of the year, Prime Minister Khan, while addressing a seminar in Islamabad on 9 December, said that peace with India was not possible until the Kashmir dispute was resolved. But he also added another obstacle this time: the ideology of the RSS.
For relations between India and Pakistan, as another year comes to an end, things are back to normal.
Both sides also did not agree on how the Indian prisoners Kulbhushan Jadhav He should be represented in a review appeal in the Islamabad High Court against his sentence by a Pakistani military court on death penalty in Pakistan.
In October, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, a global money-laundering watchdog, decided to retain Pakistan on its ‘grey list’ unless it demonstrated that Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish Action is being taken against A. -Mohammed Founder Masood Azhari Listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations.
The FATF placed Pakistan on the gray list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement an action plan to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019, but with a later deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic. was extended.
On the domestic front, Prime Minister Khan faced a serious challenge from the banned radical outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which marched towards Islamabad in October after the government met their demands to release the party chief. failed to do. saad rizwick And drove the envoy of France.
Following deadly clashes between TLP supporters and security personnel, the government led by Prime Minister Khan reached a ‘secret pact’ with the radical Islamist party and released its chief Saad Rizvi, who has been in custody since his arrest on 12 April. Lakhpat was in jail. Terrorism charges.
During the year, Pakistan saw a series of deadly explosions in various cities and massive protests by local residents in Gwadar, which shook the government and prompted the authorities to deploy thousands of additional police personnel to the area. Forced, where China is building major projects related to it. Multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The protests in Balochistan are part of growing discontent with China’s presence in Gwadar, whose port is an integral part of the US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC), a flagship project of the BRI.
The story of Pakistan-India relations is the story of the proverb ‘One step forward, two steps back’. So far, almost every positive development in the context of bilateral relations has been overtaken by the innate hostility that is often fueled by popular sentiment.
In a surprise announcement on 25 February, India and Pakistan said that they have agreed to strictly abide by all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control. India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003, but over the years it has not been followed in letter and spirit, with more violations than adherence to the agreement.
The resumption of the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control was no exception. Soon thereafter there were reports, which said that both sides were engaged in a secret diplomacy in some shadowy hideout in the Arabian desert (the so-called talks were reportedly being held in the United Arab Emirates). No official statement was issued about the status of the talks but relations remain frozen.
Weeks later in March, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move on”.
Addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue for the first time by the ‘Who’s Who’ of Pakistan’s security establishment, General Bajwa said that “Stable Indo-Pak ties are the key to unlocking the untapped potential of South and Central Asia by ensuring connectivity between the East and West Asia” but also noted that Kashmir was the main obstacle to the normalization of bilateral relations.
Earlier, Pakistan had put a condition on resuming talks with India if it reversed the August, 2019 moves in Kashmir, but General Bajwa lowered the bar by saying that India should create a conducive environment.
The mighty military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its more than 70 years of existence, has so far wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has taken a tough stand since India abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, also downplayed his rhetoric by saying that good relations with neighbors are paramount to national security.
“Unless we have regional peace, we will not be able to take full advantage of our geo-strategic position,” he said while addressing the same event.
On March 31, Pakistan almost stunned India when its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), an apex decision-making body, lifted restrictions on the import of sugar and cotton from India. Finance Minister Hammad Azhar had given a big decision.
Obviously, imports were allowed without involving all stakeholders, including the Ministry of External Affairs. Ministry sources said that the External Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Was unhappy with the decision. As a result, it was withdrawn as soon as it was announced.
Months later in November, Pakistan quietly allowed India to use its airspace for direct flights between Kashmir and the United Arab Emirates, but its fate was no different from previous positive moves. The move was put on hold when Islamabad withdrew the permission a week later. No reason was given as to why the flights were allowed and why they were closed.
The incident in Afghanistan served as a major turning point as the Taliban captured Kabul in August, giving Pakistan a major boost to India’s stakes in Afghanistan.
In the wake of regime change in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s focus is on Kabul and it is pulling all strings to give the Taliban time to adjust to the new situation in order to earn the global recognition of its interim government, which includes At least 14 cabinet members were blacklisted by the United Nations.
The Afghan situation sparked a positive development in the context of Pak-India relations. In December, Pakistan allowed India to send a humanitarian shipment of 50,000 tonnes of wheat and life-saving drugs to Afghanistan wagaho border crossing.
Contrary to short-term optimism after direct flights were allowed between Srinagar and Sharjah and imports of sugar and cotton from India were allowed, the decision to send wheat to India on condition of using only Afghan trucks for transit has not been reversed. But it is difficult to interpret this as a breakthrough in bilateral relations.
In November, India reopened the Kartarpur Corridor, which connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak Temple in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along with around 30 people, including his cabinet ministers, visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, using the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor, on the second day of the reopening of the route, which is estimated to be around 20 km away. was suspended for a month. After the outbreak of COVID-19.
Towards the end of the year, Prime Minister Khan, while addressing a seminar in Islamabad on 9 December, said that peace with India was not possible until the Kashmir dispute was resolved. But he also added another obstacle this time: the ideology of the RSS.
For relations between India and Pakistan, as another year comes to an end, things are back to normal.
Both sides also did not agree on how the Indian prisoners Kulbhushan Jadhav He should be represented in a review appeal in the Islamabad High Court against his sentence by a Pakistani military court on death penalty in Pakistan.
In October, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, a global money-laundering watchdog, decided to retain Pakistan on its ‘grey list’ unless it demonstrated that Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish Action is being taken against A. -Mohammed Founder Masood Azhari Listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations.
The FATF placed Pakistan on the gray list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement an action plan to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019, but with a later deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic. was extended.
On the domestic front, Prime Minister Khan faced a serious challenge from the banned radical outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which marched towards Islamabad in October after the government met their demands to release the party chief. failed to do. saad rizwick And drove the envoy of France.
Following deadly clashes between TLP supporters and security personnel, the government led by Prime Minister Khan reached a ‘secret pact’ with the radical Islamist party and released its chief Saad Rizvi, who has been in custody since his arrest on 12 April. Lakhpat was in jail. Terrorism charges.
During the year, Pakistan saw a series of deadly explosions in various cities and massive protests by local residents in Gwadar, which shook the government and prompted the authorities to deploy thousands of additional police personnel to the area. Forced, where China is building major projects related to it. Multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The protests in Balochistan are part of growing discontent with China’s presence in Gwadar, whose port is an integral part of the US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC), a flagship project of the BRI.
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