Talking to India

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that, while he is “absolutely willing and ready” to engage with India, the “onus remains on India to take a necessary step to engage towards result-oriented solutions”. Addressing the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Kazakhstan, PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan wants peaceful relations with all its neighbours, including India -- in particular highlighting the need for both countries to engage in order to fight poverty, unemployment and meagre resources. PM Shehbaz Sharif’s statement is a welcome one but not something that Pakistan has not previously said. For decades now, and even after Modi came to power, Pakistan has been trying to build bridges between the two sides. From the Kartarpur Corridor initiative to returning Indian pilot Abhinandan as a goodwill gesture during the peak of conflict in recent times, Pakistan has taken several peace initiatives and invited India for talks. Every time Pakistan makes a peace overture, India responds in a brazenly hawkish manner. We have seen how India under Modi has not just become an overzealously oppressive state but has also ruined its diplomatic relations in the region. It was India that took the August 5, 2019 step unilaterally in Occupied Kashmir and closed the doors for talks with Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also rightly pointed out how India under Modi has become a threat to its minorities, neighbours and the entire region. India started a war with Pakistan over a false flag operation in Pulwama. Pakistan offered cooperation when the Pulwama attack took place but India falsely blamed Pakistan because Modi wanted to win the Indian general elections back then on the wave of his jingoism. A war between two nuclear states almost broke out because India irresponsibly carried out airstrikes in Pakistani territory. Despite Indian aggression against Pakistan, we returned a captured Indian pilot as a goodwill gesture and asked for restraint and peace. But when Modi won his second term with a thumping majority, he went on to revoke Occupied Kashmir’s special status.

After three years, Indian-Occupied Kashmir remains under darkness and oppression. Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani’s dead body was taken away from his family by the Indian security forces; his son-in-law Altaf Shah recently passed away in custody after being treated inhumanely by the Indian authorities despite being terminally ill; Yasin Malik has been convicted on false charges, so on and so forth. This is what India has done to Kashmiri leadership and this is why Pakistan has been internationally highlighting Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir. The recent statement by the German foreign minister in a joint press conference with Bilawal Bhutto -- that Berlin had a “role and responsibility” over Kashmir -- did not go down well in India but the truth cannot be hidden: that India has been an oppressive state over the decades. However, talks with India should never be off the table for the simple fact that the issue of Kashmir will also be raised once such negotiations begin. If India and Pakistan increase bilateral trade and open trade routes for each other, it would economically benefit both countries. Even at the height of war, countries like China and India do not stop their trade. Thus, trade can take place but without any compromise on Kashmir.