Daily Times

Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif visited China at a time when Pak-Inida relations are once again at their lowest ebb. Though, reportedly, PM Sharif was there with the special purpose of seeking China’s help to tackle Pakistan’s energy crisis, much needs to be done on the diplomatic front. Recent aggressive statements by Indian PM Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, and Indian aggression along the Line of Control (LoC) depict something ominous on India’s part. One can assume that, being nuclear powers, it is impossible for both India and Pakistan to go towards the brink of another war but even small skirmishes cannot be ignored.

It is a universal principle that whenever there is an imbalance of power, war starts in the world. In the late 1990s, India, being a nuclear power, had started the same kind of aggression and, finally, the then and now PM, Nawaz Sharif, took a bold decision: testing a Pakistani nuclear bomb. It was a very tough decision at a time when all western countries, including the US, were against the move. However, PM Sharif was aware of the threat Pakistan faced in the shadow of a nuclear-armed neighbour, especially with a huge number of Indian army personnel deployed along the Pak-India border.

Although a decade ago, in February 1987, Kuldip Nayar, a veteran Indian journalist disclosed in the British newspaper The Observer that Pakistan had made a nuclear bomb, Indian hostility remained. Just two months later, in April 1987, this was also confirmed by then army chief General Ziaul Haq, in an interview with Time magazine but the general tried to retrieve the perception when he told the magazine that Pakistan was only a “screwdriver” away from the bomb. Kuldip Nayar also disclosed in his famous book Scoop, which was published in 2006, that on the beautiful occasion of Mushahid Hussain’s wedding ceremony, an interview had been arranged with A Q Khan in a beautiful home on Margalla Hills and during this interview due to his investigative journalistic skills, Nayar was successful in digging out this news from A Q Khan.

Nayar writes in Scoop that “he had heard that he (AQ Khan) was an egoistic Khan”. He goes on to say, “I thought I would provoke him; egoistic that he was, he might fall for the bait. He did. I concocted a story, saying that when I was coming to Pakistan, I ran into Dr H Sethna, the father of India’s bomb, who had asked me why I was wasting my time because Pakistan had neither the men nor the material to make the bomb. Khan hit the roof and began pounding the table: ‘Tell them we have it, we have it.’”

Till the late 1990s, India was of the view that Pakistan did not have a nuclear bomb or even the capability to make it. That is why there was a rise in tensions. However, PM Sharif wisely disapproved of this maniacal attitude by test firing the bomb and soon there was peace in the region due to a restoration of balance of power.

Presently, some security experts are of the view that this recent Indian aggression is due to the Defensive Missile Shield (DMS) agreement between the US and India. It is being said that India is going to protect its major cities with this new technology with the help of the US and that this is the reason why an escalation has been seen in tensions along the LoC.

It is quite clear that Pakistan’s foreign policy has not kept pace with the world. In this era it is one’s economic potential that matters. The Indian economy is much stronger than Pakistan’s and that is why the US has signed pacts with India. Even China, the world’s next potential superpower, also considered a close friend of Pakistan’s, has $ 80 billion in annual trade with India and just $ 11 billion with Pakistan. PM Nawaz Sharif, who also keeps the portfolio of foreign minister, should give a thought to this. The call of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the recent past for bilateral cooperation between Russia and Pakistan in the economic and energy sectors also bears significance and a welcoming transition that needs consideration.

In international politics, sometimes one needs to indulge in brinkmanship. Pakistan can press the US to help settle its issues like Kashmir. Pakistan can promise that it will de-link itself from the Afghan endgame if its issues are resolved. This message can even be given in informal meetings. If we recall Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s time, we will remember that it was an era of brilliant strokes of diplomacy. It will remain a puzzle how he actually managed to bring Indian PM Indira Gandhi to the table for talks and signing of the Simla Agreement. We need to see such statesmanship.

The writer is pursuing an M Phil in International Relations. He tweets @irfanchaudhri and can be reached at irfanchaudhri@gmail.com