Pakistan’s peace gesture has failed to defuse the conflict
There is no sign of de-escalation in the conflict between India and Pakistan yet, despite Islamabad’s decision to release a captured Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot.
The Indian government may have welcomed the decision, but there is no step back from the brink. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has yet to respond to the “peace gesture” extended by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, even as Indian artillery guns continue to blaze along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the IAF returned home on Friday, two days after his MIG-21 aircraft was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani jets over the LoC. His fate had become a vital peg in the efforts to defuse the tension. India demanded his immediate release, accusing Pakistan of violating the Geneva Accord when the detained pilot was paraded before the Pakistani media. There was also growing international pressure on Pakistan to return the captured officer.
While announcing the decision to release the pilot at a joint session of the Parliament on Thursday, Imran Khan once again called for dialogue with India to end the stand-off which has threatened to turn into a major conflagration. “In our desire for peace we are releasing the Indian pilot”, he declared in a speech akin to that of a true statesman in the face of aggression.
He added that he also tried to contact Modi to address the rising tension, but the Indian leader did not respond to the call. “Pakistan is trying to divide us. We need to be alert like soldiers,” Modi told a campaign rally rejecting Imran Khan’s offer for talks.
Imran Khan’s persistent call for restraint and dialogue has certainly put him on a high moral ground, but it has not worked in cutting through the ice block with Modi who remains adamant on teaching Pakistan a lesson for a suicide attack on an India military convoy in the Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir which resulted in the deaths of 42 soldiers. Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM), an outlawed Pakistan-based militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Indian government may have welcomed the decision, but there is no step back from the brink. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has yet to respond to the “peace gesture” extended by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, even as Indian artillery guns continue to blaze along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.
Zahid Hussain
The situation escalated when Indian warplanes crossed into Pakistani territory this week in the cover of darkness and claimed to have destroyed an alleged terrorist camp in the Balakot district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It was the first time since the 1971 war that Indian jets had intruded into Pakistani territory. Modi’s government declared it as a pre-emptive strike against alleged militant camps and not a military action. For Pakistan, however, it was a brazen act of aggression.
India’s claim of destroying terrorist camps and killing hundreds of militants in the strike was indeed preposterous. There was no trace of the destroyed camp or dead bodies when mediapersons visited the Jabba village which was the target of the airstrike.
This is not the first time that the Modi government has made exaggerated claims of conducting preventive strikes across the LoC. However, the latest incursion by India has led to dangerous escalation and an attempt by the Modi government to strike deep inside Pakistan.
The Indian offensive raised the stakes for Pakistan and 24 hours later, Islamabad struck back, shooting down two IAF jets after engaging them on its side of the LoC but not before capturing Abhinandan Varthaman who had bailed out after his plane was hit.
Although Pakistan has shown prudence and restraint in the latest crisis, the incidents of the past few days have put Islamabad under intense international pressure to take action against the militant groups operating on its soil.
Additionally, JeM claiming responsibility for the Pulwama attack further exacerbated Pakistan’s predicament. Modi’s government has tried to justify its incursion as an act of counter terrorism — one reason for the international community to ignore India’s acts of aggression.
A resolution is now being moved in the UN Security Council to blacklist Masood Azhar, the chief of JeM, as a global terrorist. If adopted, the resolution would bind Pakistan to put him on trial. Last week, the government reportedly launched a crackdown on madrassahs run by the JeM — a decision taken too late to satisfy the international community.
A pertinent question that Pakistan needs to now answer is how the group — which was outlawed in 2002 and was allegedly involved in high-profile attempted terrorist attacks in Pakistan — was not reined in earlier and dealt with with snow iron hand? There is no room now for any expediency. Imran Khan needs to implement on his pledge to extend zero tolerance toward militancy and religious extremism.
— Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist and author. He is a former scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, and a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and at the Stimson Center in Washington DC.
Twitter: @hidhussain
