Daily Times

In a statement that may hint at the possible direction that the army could be heading towards, newly appointed Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa expressed optimism over the early normalisation of the situation across the Line of Control for the reason that India is fully aware of the capabilities of the armed forces. General Bajwa’s tone towards India is noticeably milder than that of his predecessor, General Raheel Sharif, and this can be a good thing for the bilateral relationship of the two nuclear powered neighbours as it can create an environment conducive for de-escalation of tension between them. Moreover, given the jingoistic bombast that has been dominating the exchanges of Pakistan and India, such a signal coming from the Chief of Army Staff can play a substantial part in re-defining the terms of engagement and moving towards addressing the actual bilateral issues of the two countries. After General Bajwa’s selection as chief of army staff, he was even praised by former Indian army chief, General Bikram Singh who, speaking of his experience when General Bajwa worked under him in a United Nations assignment in Congo, said that his performance was “professional and outstanding.” This indicates that General Bajwa comes with a perception of professional respect even with the Indian military and this can help in improving relations with India.

Moreover, all of this perfectly complements the present policy of the civilian government vis-a-vis India. The political leadership of Pakistan has already indicated a desire for the resumption of dialogue as Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz will be attending the Heart of Asia conference scheduled to be held in Amritsar next week, despite domestic pressure to not do so. Pakistan’ High Commissioner in New Delhi, Abdul Basit has also straightly stated that Aziz would, if offered, accept Indian invitation for talks on the sidelines of the conference. Pakistani willingness for talks cannot be any clearer and it would be wise for the Indian leadership to not let this opportunity go to waste and initiate a dialogue process during Aziz’s visit to India.

Unfortunately, where the Pakistani government has tried to extend itself towards India for dialogue, the Indian government has chosen to score propaganda points against Pakistan for myopic political gains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to transcend his electoral concerns for the sake of better relations with Pakistan, a behaviour that hardly befits a prime minister who claims to be leading his country towards attaining the status of an important world power. In addition to vitriolic pronouncements and bellicose posturing, the recent surge in ceasefire violations by India has led to the loss of lives of both soldiers and civilians in Pakistan and this has made the path to peace all the more difficult. Furthermore, Modi’s post-Uri attack virulence has given militant extremists the power to hold peace process between Pakistan and India hostage, and unless Modi changes this policy, no matter how much Pakistan tries for the initiation of a dialogue process, things would not improve. The new army chief of Pakistan has indicated his desire for normalisation of tension along the LoC and the civilian government is pressing for dialogue. The ball is now in Modi’s court and it would heed him well to remember that constituency successes are transient while achievement of peace between two hostile neighbours would land him a place in history. *