‘Hindutva ideology of BJP impediment in Pakistan’s peace overtures towards India

Islamabad : Former Ambassador Asif Durrani has said that there was a need for a greater appreciation in Pakistan about new global realities of an emerging China.

Durrani was speaking at a panel discussion titled on ‘Emerging geopolitical alliances and prospects of regional peace’ organised by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here Wednesday.

Durrani said that Islamabad had no alliance with Beijing because Chinese government as a matter of policy does not enter into alliances with any country.

Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal from Quaid-i-Azam University said that the high ground had already shifted from the US towards China. He said that the majoritarian Hindutva nationalism of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was getting in the way of Pakistan’s peace overtures towards India. He observed that Pakistan still featured high in the domestic political agenda of the BJP, a reason for which it could not pursue peace with Pakistan.

Dr Shabana Fayyaz also from QAU said that Russia was tilting towards Pakistan because it was losing its arms market in India to the US very fast owing to a strategic partnership between New Delhi and the Washington. She said that although China’s Belt and Road Initiative was a win-win economic cooperation model, it was being maligned by the West. She called for improving Pakistan’s internal strengths for improving its position in the region as well as internationally.

Former Ambassador Sohail Khan was of the view that Pak-US relations could at best be described as a technical partnership. He urged the governments of India and Pakistan to explore possibilities of a dialogue on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting. He expressed his apprehensions that India might not be very forthcoming in accepting an invitation for a dialogue.

Summing up, Aarish U Khan from IRS stated that the dilemma of all South Asian nations was to be able to accurately decipher the emergent global reality. He said that while the Indian government might not be receptive to a dialogue with Pakistan if the downward spiral in its relations with China continued, it could find reasons for negotiating with Pakistan on all issues including Kashmir. In this way, he suggested, China would not be a facilitator but a pusher asking India for a dialogue with Pakistan. President of IRS Nadeem Riyaz thanked the panellists in the end.