Najm us Saqib<\/p>\n
The latest? To ease tensions be\u00adtween the two nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan has once again advocated for the normalization of relations with India but not be\u00adfore outlining its oft-repeated conditions including \u2018a just and peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute\u2019. Seeking \u2018good-neigh\u00adborly relations with India on the basis of mutual respect and sover\u00adeign equality\u2019 is nothing more than a formality or perhaps a \u2018diplomatic need\u2019 Pakistan feels obliged to meet. To point\u00adlessly expect India to take a \u2018collective action to address pressing challenges rather than perpetuating a cycle of hos\u00adtility\u2019 is indeed an exercise in futility \u2013 and Islamabad knows it.
\nFirst, the basics. How is India relevant to Pakistan? Can India assist in address\u00ading Pakistan\u2019s grave economic issues in any possible way? Can India help in im\u00adproving Pakistan\u2019s human development indices, unemployment, and illiteracy? Can India help Pakistan in getting rid of IPPs? Can India assist in attracting FDIs for the SIFC? Will there be a joint India-Pakistan Commission to eradicate pover\u00adty, extremism, and terrorism from the re\u00adgion? Will India convince the US to let the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project succeed?
\nBy any stretch of the imagination, will India accept that in 1947, the other in\u00addependent and sovereign country that came into being was Pakistan? Can In\u00addia exclude Pakistan from its philosoph\u00adically inspired dream of Akhand Bharat? Can India accept Sino-Pak strategic rela\u00adtions as a fact? Will India support Pak\u00adistan in establishing EPZs for CPEC? More importantly, can India reverse its decisions of Aug 2019 and request the UN Security Council to hold a free and fair plebiscite for the people of Kash\u00admir to decide their future? Will India help Pakistan in becoming a member of BRICS + so that travelling between Paki\u00adstan and India could be visa-free?
\nThe quest continues. Will India ever agree to a nuclear-free South Asia? Will India help Pakistan in signing a nuclear deal with the US to enjoy what it is en\u00adjoying through the Indo-US nuclear deal? Does Pakistan expect any scientific and technological support from India? Will India ever wish to see a technologically advanced Pakistan? Will India and Pak\u00adistan ever hold joint military exercises to \u2018deter\u2019 a common enemy? Can India assist Pakistan in brokering a favorable deal with TTP? Can India strictly and perpetually abide by the Indus Waters Treaty? In short, can India stop consid\u00adering Pakistan an enemy?
\nIf the answer to all these questions is a flat no, why and how is India relevant to Pakistan?
\nThinking outside the box, let us see the other side of the midnight as well. Let us dig deeper. Is it the \u2018core\u2019 issue that must be addressed and India\u2019s co\u00adoperation is needed? Is it the past that keeps haunting Pakistan? Is there a psy\u00adchological hangover upsetting Pakistan? Why co-existing peacefully is not impor\u00adtant for India? Why can\u2019t both countries follow the \u2018live and let live\u2019 approach? Does Pakistan fear an all-out onslaught from India that it must look in a perpet\u00adual appeasement mode? Why learning from history is so difficult for Pakistan? In short, what exactly it is that keeps In\u00addia \u2018relevant\u2019 for Pakistan?
\nCalling terrorism an \u2018industry\u2019, FM Jais\u00adhankar would warn that \u2018tolerance for any cross-border terrorism activity in India is very low\u2019 adding that \u2018if Paki\u00adstan winds down this industry that it has created, then people will treat them as a normal neighbor\u2019. Never mind which kind of \u2018industry\u2019 is producing EU-Disin\u00adfoLab or Kulbhushan Yadav or creating an official apparatus to eliminate Hard\u00adeep Singh Nijjar and Gurpatwant Singh PannuN or causing grave concerns for Canada and the Five-Eyes while making bold headlines for sponsoring terrorism overseas. The fact remains: two wrongs do not make a right.
\nLetting both New Delhi and Islamabad to respond to each other\u2019s \u2018manufactur\u00ading\u2019 abilities in one of the most abhor\u00adring fields, let us keep our focus on the subject and keep digging: What will the politicians of both countries sell during election campaigns if Pakistan and In\u00addia became \u2018normal\u2019 neighbors? Who will be blamed if anything goes wrong at home? On the other hand, imagine a mil\u00aditary syllabus without Sun Tzu, Clause\u00adwitz, Morgenthau and Chanakya? If the K and T words are eliminated from the South Asian strategic calculus, wouldn\u2019t a classic chess game be transformed into a harmless game of ludo?
\nIndia is a smart enemy. It has done its homework properly and reached a prag\u00admatic decision in principle at least for the foreseeable future – leave Pakistan to its own devices and let it suffer; ignore it openly, decisively and with contempt; and safeguard its own interests without ex\u00adpecting any good from its Western neigh\u00adbor. This is what FM Jayshankar means when he says – Pakistan is irrelevant. In\u00addeed, India has manifestly and unequiv\u00adocally made its official position known to Pakistan. <\/p>\n
The writer is a former Ambassador of Pakistan and author of eight books in three languages. He can be reached at najmussaqib1960@msn.com
\nCourtesy
\nMaria Callas was not refer\u00adring to Pak-India rigmarole when she ob\u00adserved – \u2018When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I am slipping\u2019. However, the American opera singer had a point.
\nWay forward: Pakistan must analyze why it has been labelled as \u2018irrelevant\u2019 by its Eastern neighbor. Simultaneously, there is a need to reflect on India\u2019s rele\u00advance to Pakistan particularly when the latter is in the process of putting its own house in order. Pakistan has spelled out its conditions for \u2018normalization\u2019. So has India. The buck may stop here. Mean\u00adwhile, Islamabad may try to come out of its apparent appeasing mode and adopt a \u2018wait and see\u2019 policy instead \u2013 at least till the time its Foreign Office is able to think beyond its pre-Aug 2019 brief on Pak-India relations. By denying a dia\u00adlogue to Pakistan or refusing to normal\u00adize relations, India is making a strategic mistake it might regret later. By rebuff\u00ading Pakistan blatantly, India is commit\u00adting a tactical error which might have ramifications in the long run. In this re\u00adgard, for Islamabad, there is no harm in taking Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s wisdom – \u2018Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Najm us Saqib The latest? To ease tensions be\u00adtween the two nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan has once again advocated for the normalization of relations with India but not be\u00adfore outlining its oft-repeated conditions including \u2018a just and peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute\u2019. Seeking \u2018good-neigh\u00adborly relations with India on the basis of mutual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[12978],"class_list":{"0":"post-415850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-najm-us-saqib"},"yoast_head":"\n