Daily Times

The attack on the Indian air base in Pathankot over the weekend that left several dead and many injured has still not been officially declared over as the military continues search operations to ensure that control is fully established in the area. It has been reported that all six attackers from the Kashmiri alliance the United Jihad Council (UJC), which has claimed responsibility for the attack, have been killed in an operation that lasted four days. It is not only the delayed response and inadequate measures that led to otherwise avoidable additional harm, but also the inaction despite receiving prior intelligence on the attack that has prompted the Indian Defence Minister to admit that there were some “blind spots” that enabled the attack. It should also be kept in mind that the base is located in a vast densely-wooded area in which the attackers proved difficult to pin down. Nevertheless this attack seems to have caught the Indian forces napping and glaringly revealed the gaps in their security architecture. Following this, in keeping with the recently growing friendliness between the two premiers, Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif contacted his Indian counterpart to express his grief and discuss the incident, which is widely suspected to be an attempt to derail the efforts for the establishment of diplomatic harmony between India and Pakistan. These efforts are manifested in recently announced plans to hold foreign secretary-level talks, which are only likely to advance if it is demonstrated to India that Pakistan is fully ready to cooperate in the investigations. While it is suspected that Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed was principally involved, India has until now refrained from pointing any accusatory fingers. Instead PM Narendra Modi has signalled that India expects an expeditious response from Pakistan in taking action against the organisations and individuals involved in the attack, having provided ‘specific and actionable information’. In response to India, perhaps for the first time in the history of Pakistan-India bilateral relations, PM Nawaz Sharif has responded positively, offering full support by investigating all the leads given by India and in doing so has reiterated his commitment to the peace process. While a bold and correct step, this in itself cannot placate the critics for long. The government needs to follow through on its own words with concrete actions, as also suggested in a statement by the US Department of State.

However, it is also important to consider the context of the interaction between PMs Nawaz and Modi, with the former communicating from Sri Lanka where certain agreements between Pakistan and Sri Lanka have irked the Indian government. While most of the agreements are unobjectionable, pledging for example, cooperation in trade, dealing with terror financing and money laundering, the ones pertaining to arms deals, specifically the selling of JF-17 Thunder aircraft to Sri Lanka, has led the Indian government to demonstrate the loss of its diplomatic composure. Rather than compete for influence or diplomatic clout, it instead opted to threaten Sri Lanka with terminating its bilateral cooperation if this deal went through. This highly undignified conduct depicts precisely the magnitude that India-Pakistan issues assume, where seemingly bilateral issues often harbour a dormant capacity for becoming greater regional conflicts. While a friendly rivalry can be managed, one that can become a cause for further tensions within South Asia, as has previously been the case when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) faced hindrances due to the two countries’ disputes, should not be allowed. With a plethora already of labyrinthine bilateral issues still left to be resolved, there is no room for an outpouring of related antagonism within the larger region. The Pakistan government on its part needs to terminate the proxy groups operating with their own pernicious agendas from our soil if it hopes to avoid another breakdown and vitalize and further augment the current efforts for peace and diplomatic advancement with India.