Daily Times

Continuous firing on the Line of Control (LoC) by India, resulting in the death of several civilians, has finally caught the attention of the international community. There is speculation in Pakistan that the US National Security Adviser (NSA) Susan Rice’s visit to Pakistan was aimed specifically to defuse India-Pakistan tensions, whereas contrary to this, according to Washington Times, she did not make an emergency visit to Pakistan in response to the rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Evidently Rice’s visit had been planned for weeks as part of her trip to Asia, and was unrelated to the recent rise in tensions. Nevertheless, issues related to arresting the mounting tensions, highlighted by the cancellation of the NSA talks in New Delhi, fear of high scale military clashes, postponement of the Kabul-Taliban talks, attacks on Pakistani posts from the Afghan side and rising blame game were discussed on both sides.
The US State Department’s spokesperson John Kirby said to an Indian journalist that there is no threat of using nuclear weapons as no such statement was seen from Pakistan. These speculations about the possibility of using nuclear weapons would not help in lessening tensions. He stressed that solutions to longstanding disputes between India and Pakistan are only possible through talks. Kirby emphasised that what really needs to happen is for both sides to sit down, dialogue, cooperate, talk through these things, and try to work through some meaningful solutions.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Federal Minister for Defence, Water and Power, has said Pakistan will respond against India strongly if it does not stop its hostilities along the Sialkot Working Boundary. He stressed that Pakistan will counter this situation at all levels. If war is forced on us, he said, we will take good care of them and that Pakistan has the right to retaliate, and retaliate in kind, retaliate in full force. He threatened that if India crosses the international border and aggression is committed again, we will defend our homeland and inflict much more damage than 1965. In addition, President Mamnoon Hussain said although Pakistan desires peaceful coexistence with India and all other neighbouring countries, any threat to its security will be thwarted.
Analytically, Pakistan’s growing strategic and economic cooperation with China could be one among the reasons for India’s aggressive posture. Or, the success gained in Operation Zarb-e-Azb could be causing anxiety for India. India cannot abide an internally stable Pakistan.
India is wrong if it still considers that under the nuclear overhang (Cold Start Doctrine), India can carry out some pre-emptive strikes. Given that India is playing with fire on the eastern borders, Pakistan should disengage from bilateral talks. As a matter of fact bilateralisms has been exposed enough by now. It is time for the international community to play a constructive role in this regard.
I wonder if the talks would have been carried on, whether the outcome would have been positive, whereas the cancellation of the talks resulted in at least some sort of gain. First, it increased the Pakistani people’s support for their country. The entire nation is with the Pakistani government and considers the calling off of the talks a good and consequential move. It depicts that Kashmir is an important subject for Pakistan and nothing could proceed unless the long standing issue of Kashmir is resolved. Second, Kashmir has been effectively internationalized by this move.
Now Pakistan should respond effectively against ceasefire violations by India. It should play the role of an observer now by reporting such transgressions to the UN and formally protesting to the UN about the matter. It is pertinent to seek an answer to the question whether Pakistan should continue to act with restraint and rely just on reacting with words or is it time to take an initiative, show itself as more aggressive? Unfortunately, Pakistan has no action policy. It is time to reformulate such a policy. Pakistan needs a paradigm shift and a proactive policy. Consequently the opportunities that we consider our hurdle in taking some proactive steps will present themselves. It is time to convert our South Asian strategy from reactive to proactive.

The writer is associated with the Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad and can be reached at beenishaltaf7@gmail.com