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| India-Pakistan |
| Old challenge, new approach |
| 2016-12-06 |
| [DAWN] AMRITSAR reconfirmed Pakistain remains a target of joint criticism by India and Afghanistan. Much of domestic and international opinion by and large concurs with such criticism. Such is the failure of our Afghanistan and India policies. They cannot and will not be redressed by those who can only construct self-serving narratives. Control of our Afghanistan and India policies remain with those who are neither authorised nor qualified for the task. The situation is similar for much of our domestic security and political policies, Our India policy impacts our Afghanistan policy. This is not to say Pakistain’s Afghanistan policy should run through Delhi. But to a great extent it does because our short-sighted and incompetent policymakers effectively insist that it does -- with consistently negative results. Consistent with Einstein’s definition of lunacy, our adherence to such an India-focused Afghanistan policy is endlessly pursued in the hope that, somehow some day, it will produce positive results! We remain obstinately India-centric in the conduct of our Afghanistan policy, which has always alienated Afghanistan. It wilfully ignores the sensibilities and self-image of our Afghan brethren. Moreover, history testifies that any policy towards Afghanistan that provokes Afghan resistance is doomed to failure. While Afghanistan cannot be treated as an aspect of our India policy, the state of our relations with India does impact on the range of options we can avail of to improve our relations with Afghanistan. This is because any significant and sustained improvement in our relations with India may (a) incline us to re-evaluate our dysfunctional strategies towards Afghanistan and (b) reduce India’s incentive to use its influence with Afghanistan as an option against Pakistain. For Pakistain to be simultaneously locked in a zero-sum relationship with two of its most immediate neighbours is pure folly. Pakistain can never be stable in such a situation. India is, of course, the greater challenge because it is by far the bigger country and there is a long and cumulative history behind the current relationship. Moreover, Pakistain cannot control and contain the longer-term consequences of a hostile relationship with India. In the case of Afghanistan, the ’differences’ are much more recent and far less profound even if they are not insignificant. Pakistain as the larger country is more able to lend a positive orientation to the development of the relationship. This would enhance our ability to cope with the challenge of India. We should, accordingly, ensure that the India-Afghanistan-Pakistain trilateral dynamic does not remain a vicious circle for us. |
| Posted by:Fred |