There was a positive development in India-Pakistan relations when Minister Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad last week. However, every time hope is ignited, horrific terrorist attacks in Kashmir push everything back, justifying India's stance that peace talks and terror cannot go hand in hand. Terrorism is the dealbreaker of the situation.
#IndiaPakistanRelations #AjayBisaria #PeaceAndTerror #KashmirConflict #PakistanUnrest
#IndiaPakistanRelations #AjayBisaria #PeaceAndTerror #KashmirConflict #PakistanUnrest
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00That's true. That has been the story of India-Pakistan relations. It's very cyclical.
00:07Each time there's a forward movement, there's an accident or there is an act of terrorism.
00:14And terrorism is the deal breaker in this relationship. So, there was positivity earlier in the month
00:23when the external affairs minister himself travelled to Islamabad
00:29and India was sending a strong signal that we want to stabilize the relationship.
00:35There were no formal bilateral conversations but at least there was nothing that was very negative that happened.
00:45And the hope was that there would be some forward positive movement but the acts of terrorism
00:55that we see continuing in Srinagar are always a big threat to this relationship.
01:02Yes, I think Pakistan is going through a huge poly-crisis. And Pakistan is
01:07facing a huge security challenge particularly to its western border.
01:13It is also facing a huge economic challenge. It's gone into its 24th IMF program.
01:19And the long-term economic issues have not been settled. It's also going through political churn.
01:26Because the civil-military relationship is also not very good.
01:32Imran Khan, the former prime minister continues to be in jail.
01:36So, Pakistan itself is in a fairly unstable phase at this point of time.
01:42But there is an impulse at least to try to stabilize the relationship with India.
01:51And hopefully that impulse will prevail rather than the impulse to try and change the narrative in Kashmir
02:02and try and demonstrate that there is no normalcy in Kashmir which India is trying to achieve.
02:09The Canada relationship and the turn it took this week comes as a surprise.
02:16This is an irony because it's actually a very strong relationship between India and western power.
02:24Both are democracies. The geopolitical interests are aligned because
02:31Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy considers India a critical partner.
02:37So, I think this is a story of a mishandled and mismanaged security problem that could have been handled much better.
02:47From the Indian side, the security issue has been there for decades.
02:53Of the presence of extremists and anti-India elements who get a lot of space in Canada.
03:00From Canada's point of view, the allegation is about India's role in the killing of one such person.
03:08So, I think this should have been handled at the security level rather than at the political level.
03:14And when it is handled at a political level then the decibels become higher
03:22and these extreme steps like expelling diplomats have taken.
03:28And I hope that better sense prevails and this relationship also stabilizes a bit.