The Illusion of Peace by Archit Gupta

Prime Minister Singh and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session and concluded what can be called a “zero-outcome” meeting. This was pretty much expected as both sides have been pretty firm in their stance on various issues regarding cross border terrorism and it’s impact. While both the PMs say they strive to bring an end to the menace, I believe the intent and desire is one sided. In a reply to one of my tweets Sherry Rehman, former Pakistan federal minister, said that it is wrong to say there is no desire for peace from Pakistan’s end. “Pak has pushed for peace with India across two govt terms, you cant say its one sided” she said. While this might be true, we must understand that actions speak louder than words and that their actions don’t complement their words. Shashi Tharoor in his book Pax Indica says “India is a state that has an Army, while Pakistan is an Army that has a state” and this is quite clear considering the wide gap between the intentions and actions of their government.

Increasing incidents of militants making last-ditch efforts to cross over from Pakistan into India before the winter sets in show the real intent of the Pakistani establishment. To believe these militants cross over without the backing of Pakistani troops is absurd. Very often the Pakistan troops also give cover fire to these terrorists thus helping them cross over. In a recent incident in Samba, Jammu and Kashmir, three militants managed to infiltrate, high jack a truck and drive into Jammu to attack a police and Army unit thus killing 10 brave men. This “coincidentally” happened as PM Singh was on his way to Washington DC and then New York City to meet PM Sharif. This, to my understanding is no coincidence! It is a clear sign from the Pakistani side that they do not want any kind of peace, rather all they want is to make sure there is no normalization of the situation in Kashmir.ManMohan Singh with Nawaz Sharif

“Such incidents will not hamper our peace process” says Dr Singh. However, I fail to understand what peace process is he talking about? The same one-sided “aman ki aasha” which will never be achieved under the current circumstances? The aman ki aasha which sounds very noble on paper but is practically impossible given the Pakistani intent? Not just this, to make matters worse a Pakistani journalist claimed that the Pakistan PM referred to Dr Singh as a “Dehati aurat” with the aim of essentially upsetting relations just before their meet. This was later rejected by Barkha Dutt who was also present at the meeting and the statement was retracted by Hamid Gul saying that it was a mere example from a story.

Despite knowing that Pakistan army and ISI are a breeding ground for terrorist outfits and promote terrorism to destabilize the situation in India, we still go ahead with bilateral talks with the political higher-ups in Pakistan who, unlike in India, have no control over the situation. I do not deny what Sherry Rehman says but unfortunately the intent of the people of Pakistan is not echoed by their Military leadership. PM Sharif wishes to continue from where we left off in the peace process but with the kind of activities they are engaging in, i don’t think that would be possible.

 About the Author: Archit Gupta is a 5th semester Electronics & Communication engineering student at Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal. He is a cricket aficionado, defence enthusiast with a keen interest in diplomacy and foreign relations. You can reach him at his twitter handle : @archit2811 or email him at [email protected].

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