THE last week witnessed the bitterest diplomatic exchange ever between India and Pakistan at the United Nations. It overshadowed all the earlier angry diplomatic duels between the two neighbours at the world body. First Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari raised the issue of Kashmir during a debate over the reformed multilateralism. In response, foreign minister S Jaishankar reminded the world of Pakistan hosting Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and carrying out an attack on India’s parliament. Subsequently, Bilawal launched a personal attack on prime minister Narendra whose language was unparliamentary. India, in response, once again highlighted Islamabad’s role in fomenting terrorism in the region. India also drew attention to Pakistan’s FM’s language, saying it was “a new low for Pakistan itself.”
If anything, the exchange has once again underlined the extent to which the relations between the two countries have deteriorated. And from hereon it seems hardly possible that the neighbours could reach out to each other let alone institute a dialogue. The decline in their relationship began after New Delhi revoked Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir a semi-autonomous status within Indian Union. But surprisingly enough, even during this period, the neighbours did engage reportedly on the back-channel and went back to observing ceasefire along the Line of Control which has since been holding. According to the latest defence ministry figures, only three minor incidents of “violations” were recorded along the LoC. In comparison, 4,645 ceasefire violations were recorded during its peak in 2020. The ministry said the situation along the international boundary in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab largely remained peaceful.
At the same time, the ministry made it clear that Pakistan continued to retain the “proxy war infrastructure” and “functionality” of militant training camps as well as the presence of terrorists in militant “launch pads.” It also said that Pakistan exploits the “narco-terror nexus” to radicalise and motivate youth to target vulnerable civilians.
The takeaway from this is that the situation remains very uneasy and uncertain. And making it more fraught is that the deeply estranged neighbours are left with no diplomatic tools to handle a crisis. We can only hope that the current climate of distrust and antagonism doesn’t lead to further escalation of tensions. More so, when due to suspended talks, the two countries lack the means to manage the fallout. It is therefore important that the two countries get back to some form of engagement and work towards the resolution of their longstanding issues for durable peace in the region.
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