Cause for complaint

Pakistan has good reason for the complaint it has made to the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan, stationed in the region since 1949, over the continued violations by India at the Working Boundary. Pakistan has said that the use of guns, mortar shells, grenades and other weapons continued across the LoC on Saturday, Eid day in Pakistan, creating panic among civilians notably in the Rawalkot sector of Azad Kashmir. The Indian high commissioner had been summoned after an earlier incident of cross-border firing on Friday and the UNMOGIP brought into the picture. The group, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, has apparently been denied access to sites along the boundary by India but was on Monday able to visit villages in affected sectors of Pakistan. Pakistan, through its ambassador to the UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi is expected to take up the issue with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is likely to receive the UNMOGIP report within a week. The Pakistan FO has also said that the actions by India mimicked those taken by the country last year, also on Eid day, destroying a festive occasion in the country. Islamabad says the aggressive actions by India, with four civilians killed so far in the latest round of firing, is a violation of the agreements reached during talks between the prime ministers of both countries recently in Ufa-Russia. Following complaints from opposition parties that sufficient details had not been provided by Nawaz Sharif about those talks, the prime minister has said he will brief the military and civilian leadership about what transpired during them and what was said. The Indian media is reporting further meeting between the two heads of government could take place, in New York or at other venues. Immediately after the Ufa dialogue, gestures of goodwill were exhibited but quite obviously the skirmishes at the LoC do not show any regard for diplomacy or for pushing forward the peace process.
Pakistan clearly needs to rethink its policy and involving the UN is a good idea – although, as in the past, it is difficult to say how effective this body will be. The Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, at a lecture in Singapore, has also spoken of India’s desire to work with Pakistan to thwart terrorism, but then also of its desire to emerge as a major power. This vision appears to involve policing the neighbourhood. It is not Pakistan alone that is concerned over the open display of Indian hostility. Former Indian external affairs minister Salman Khurshid has said that Modi is seeking individual success in his dealings with Pakistan, has failed to involve the Indian opposition and is using tactics aimed at dividing and then exerting power – something that the experienced Khurshid feels is bound to fail. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has also expressed dismay over the incidents at the LoC and said they did to augur well for the future. He has also said Pakistan’s support for Kashmiris would continue. Last year, a huge acceleration in incidents of firing over the boundary dividing the two countries had created enormous tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi. It seems this scenario is being repeated. Whatever diplomacy takes place appears to be designed simply for cosmetic effect, and such aggression does not come as good news at a time when regional stability is vital for so many different reasons.