Congress veteran and maverick Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ill-considered remarks on “respecting” Pakistan, because it has an atomic arsenal, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s counter-attack, generate more heat than light.
A general election offers an opportunity for a serious debate on Pakistan, India’s most challenging neighbour, and on the broader orientation of the nation’s foreign policy in a moment of profound change in the international system. Given the NDA’s decade-long tenure in power, there is a sound basis for such a debate between the two main national parties — the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress. But evidently, it is not to be.
Congress veteran and maverick Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ill-considered remarks on “respecting” Pakistan, because it has an atomic arsenal, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s counter-attack, generate more heat than light.
Aiyar has a view of Pakistan that has never been in sync with Congress policies or the foreign policy establishment that the party directed for most of the decades since Independence. Aiyar’s remarks have always complicated Congress campaigns, but in this case he is also inaccurate in describing India’s nuclear dilemmas and characterising the Modi government’s record on Pakistan.
After it acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1980s, the Pakistan army began to support cross-border terrorism under the shadow of nuclear escalation, and mounted pressure on India to negotiate the Kashmir dispute on its terms. All governments in Delhi, irrespective of political hue, have struggled to find answers. The question here is not about “respecting” Pakistan, but “deterring” Rawalpindi’s threat of escalation, and countering its nuclear blackmail.
The PM has a good story to tell on Pakistan and he can claim credit for major gains in the policy towards the western neighbour. Aiyar’s claim that the BJP government has not engaged Pakistan does not stand scrutiny. On his first day in office in May 2014, Modi spent time with the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, who had come to Delhi along with other South Asian leaders to attend the swearing-in of the BJP government. Unlike Manmohan Singh, who was not allowed by the Congress to visit Pakistan even once during his decade-long stint as India’s PM, Modi traveled at short notice to Lahore on Christmas day of 2015 to call on Sharif at his family home.
The Pakistan army was quick to quash the hopes generated by Modi’s visit. It launched a major terror attack on Pathankot a week later. Modi broke from custom and invited Pakistan’s ISI to conduct a joint investigation with Indian agencies but Rawalpindi had little interest.
The Modi years have also seen the establishment of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor to Pakistan for Sikh pilgrims in 2019 and the negotiation of a ceasefire accord in 2021. Above all, the Modi government made a serious effort to deter Pakistan by ordering a vigorous cross-border military response to terror attacks. It also changed the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and blocked Pakistan’s efforts to take the issue to the United Nations Security Council. Put simply, Modi has successfully changed the terms of engagement with Pakistan. It is unfortunate that the PM chose to combine his response to Aiyar with heaping contempt on Pakistan by pointing to its current economic crisis. This comes at a time when Islamabad is sending important signals on improving ties with India, and Modi himself stands tall on the world stage. The heat of electoral battle cannot justify disdain towards a neighbour India can’t just wish away.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 13-05-2024 at 07:33 IST
