US support of Indian concerns of cross-border terrorism and its reiteration to Pakistan to “do more” with regard to terrorists using Pakistani soil to perpetrate attacks abroad raised quite a few alarm bells in Islamabad. All of this was said during the meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday as the two countries move closer together and extend cooperation on a number of things including support for India’s civil nuclear programme, and increasing defence ties to check China’s expanding role in the region. While Pakistan has cause for concern at the growing cosiness between India and US, there is very little that Pakistan can do to actually stop this. India is a much bigger country than Pakistan with an immensely large market and a growing economy, which makes it far better placed to serve US interests in the region than Pakistan. However, the problem in Pakistan is to view this changing regional dynamic through the lens of a zero sum game. Not only does this engender unlikely conspiracy theories of India and US scheming together to destabilise Pakistan, but it has also led to falsely believing that hard alliances would serve to counter this, an approach that risks plunging Pakistan into international isolation.
In essence, all that was said between Kerry and Swaraj is nothing new for Pakistan. The US has long been asking Pakistan to do more and India has always alleged Pakistani involvement in cross-border terrorism. Unfortunately, India has taken advantage of its image of being a liberal democracy to constantly demonise Pakistan at the international stage. Its politics have been petty to say the least, and the tit-for-tat approach of India has effectively ruled out meaningful dialogue to take place between the two countries. Pakistan’s raising of the Kashmir issue at the international level has irked India, and it is now using its diplomatic muscle to isolate Pakistan. It is very unfortunate that Swaraj has ruled out talks with Pakistan until Pakistan “takes steps on the Patankhot terror attacks.” It seems lost on the Indian external affairs minister that only dialogue can break the present atmosphere of mutual hostilities and misgivings between Pakistan and India, and create the conditions necessary for the initiation of such measures.
However, Pakistan needs to engage in introspection and ponder the reasons behind its stigmatisation at the international level. It is very unfortunate that when India talks about cross-border terrorism, it can talk about the freedom with which Hafiz Saeed can issue statements from within Pakistan and use that as proof of Pakistani state’s reluctance to act against non-state actors who perpetrate terrorism beyond its border. Pakistan is in dire need of rebranding itself, and for this to happen it cannot neglect the work that needs to be done within its borders. Terrorism has become a transnational phenomenon, and Pakistan knows that those terrorists who perpetrate attacks within it have linkages to groups outside it. Hence, without regional cooperation, it would be very difficult to effectively eliminate this menace. And for this very reason, it is essential that all terrorists must be targeted without regard for whether they perpetrate terrorism within Pakistan or outside it. In order to win this diplomatic battle against India, Pakistan must deprive India of the moral high ground through which it issues its sanctimonious statements, and the only way to do this is if Pakistan shows the world it is sincere in eliminating all terrorists without any kind of distinction. *