Pakistan is all set to present to the United Nations Secretary General its dossier on Indian interference in Pakistan, particularly Balochistan and Karachi. This dossier is especially important because it contains the confessional statement of captured Indian intelligence officer Kulbhushan Jadhav along with evidence of maritime violation by India in November in which an Indian submarine reportedly attempted to enter Pakistani waters. Needless to say, the lull in Pakistan and India relations is about to give way to heightened tensions once again. The Indian reaction to every accusation by Pakistan, ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister, has been more virulent, and at times grossly disproportionate. Hence, any expectation of it being any less hawkish is akin to indulging in naivety. This is not to say that Pakistan should cower or remain silent, lest it unleashes the wrath of Indian belligerence. But, merely presenting dossiers without having a longterm plan would not do much good to Pakistan, nor would it weaken India by any significant degree.
Hence, the important question is what exactly are Pakistan’s regional objectives and how does India fit into them. The line currently being pursued by the state is that Indian clandestine activities are aimed at creating unrest in Balochistan to sabotage the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). To that end, the perception is that Delhi is using its close ties with Kabul to use Afghan soil for both, patronising terrorist organisations that carry out attacks in Pakistan, and as a means to get its surreptitious agents in Pakistan. And then there is the age-old concern of the Pakistani security establishment in which an antagonistic India and Afghanistan, if they both decide to get engaged in a conventional war with Pakistan, can effectively carry out a pincer movement, separating the northern and the southern half. Of course, security strategies have been devised to prevent such a possibility and with the introduction of small scale tactical nuclear weapons, even the initiation of any such movement has been made extremely unlikely. This leaves the economic side of the picture.
