Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A senior foreign ministry official on Tuesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s abiding commitment to peaceful relations with India and called on Delhi to agree to a “sincere dialogue” for resolution of outstanding disputes with its neighbour. “Unfortunately, in a bilateral context Pakistan and India seem to be moving backwards, which is not a good sign,” Additional Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms Tasneem Aslam said while warning that India was upping the ante through dangerous rhetoric and risky claims of surgical strikes, besides attempting to violate Pakistani maritime boundary.

Ms Aslam was delivering a keynote speech at a daylong workshop on ‘Defense, Deterrence and Stability in South Asia’, which had been jointly hosted by Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS) Islamabad and International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) London. The proceedings were divided into three themes for an in-depth analysis of regional problems – tensions with India; doctrine and deterrence; and politics of cartels in nuclear diplomacy.

The workshop, which was the fifth of the series of CISS-IISS workshops, brought together professionals and experts as well as representatives of policy making institutions and academia specialising in geopolitical and strategic issues. The FO official reminded that while unresolved disputes in the region continued to undermine peace and stability, US ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy had created new tensions and alignments here. She cautioned that pronouncement of offensive military doctrines, massive acquisition of conventional weapons, expansion of strategic assets, nuclearization of Indian Ocean and introduction of Anti-Ballistic Ballistic Missile Systems were upsetting strategic balance in South Asia.

“When seen in conjunction with irresponsible rhetoric from Indian leadership, aggression on the Line of Control and Working Boundary, and violation of Exclusive Economic Zone by Indian submarine, these developments are highly worrisome and have to be factored in our security calculus,” she observed. Ms Aslam stressed the importance of sustained dialogue for resolution of disputes and normalisation of relations. She, however, regretted that the world turned a blind eye to the dangerous escalation in South Asia, which encouraged India’s belligerence. This, she warned, would not only have consequences for peace and stability in the region, but beyond.

There was a consensus among the speakers during the session on ‘Tensions with India’ that there was dangerous escalation in the region and political leadership on both sides of the border needed to show political resolve and vision for de-escalation. They noted that absence of official dialogue made the situation particularly perilous as chances of misunderstanding increase.

Senior Fellow for South Asia at IISS Mr Rahul Roy Chaudhury said that relations between India and Pakistan were at the lowest point since 2008 Mumbai attack. But he noted that “nuclear rhetoric and nuclear signaling” occured. He saw little chance of progress towards ending the stalemate unless both Delhi and Islamabad made compromises.

Mr Chaudhury suggested an eight point proposal for rebuilding confidence that could eventually lead to the resumption of dialogue. The suggestion included lowering of rhetoric, effective implementation of ceasefire, observance of restraint by media, expeditious completion of trials of Mumbai and Pathankot suspects, India preventing excesses by security forces in Kashmir, Pakistan extending the scope of its counter-terrorism operations, reiteration by Delhi of its interest in seeking peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue, and start of a back-channel dialogue especially a conversation between intelligence agencies.

IISS Senior Fellow for Land Warfare Brig (retd) Ben Barry talked about the influence of non-state actors on dispute. “Further or more serious attack by non-state actors in Kashmir or (mainland) India could produce a dynamic change of military escalation on both sides,” he warned.

Analyst and scholar Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi stressed flexibility for forward movement in ties. He said the importance of political resolve for resolving such a stalemate cannot be under-estimated, but the problem was that Indian leadership was not willing to talk. As the global nuclear order grapples with its challenges and contradictions, there is an emerging scholarly debate regarding the issue of de facto nuclear weapons’ states and their relationship within the nuclear order.