India on vigil in Pakistan crisis

INDIA is keeping a close watch on the developments in Pakistan where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned after he was disqualified by the country’s Supreme Court from holding office.

While there was no official reaction from New Delhi, a source said the events in Islamabad were being closely monitored by the government and security agencies in the country.

It was becoming quite clear to India for quite some time that Sharif was not in control of the situation and his position was weakening by the day ever since his family members were named in the infamous Panama papers.

The source said Sharif’s exit from power would have virtually no impact on India-Pakistan equations since he had very little say in matters concerning India. It is common knowledge that Pakistan’s policy on India is formulated by the all-powerful Pakistan army.

For all his shortcomings, even Indian officials acknowledge Sharif was keen to strengthen trade and economic ties with India but the army would not allow him to go ahead with various proposals. He had also established a good equation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two leaders sprang a surprise on the whole world when Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan on his way back home from Afghanistan in December 2015 to attend a function in Sharif’s family. People in both India and Pakistan were very hopeful that Modi’s visit would open a new chapter in ties between the nations.

However, Pakistan-based terrorists yet again succeeded in their design of stalling attempts by the two leaders to revive the bilateral dialogue by carrying out a deadly attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Since then, the accidentprone ties between the two neighbours have gone from bad to worse with Pakistani troops violating the ceasefire on the border on more than 200 occasions. Sharif was apparently kept out of the loop by the army.

Many say he had no prior information on the Pakistan Military Court’s decision to award a death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, holding him guilty of espionage and undertaking terror activities.

Despite being aware of the domineering role of the Pakistan army, India has repeatedly ruled out opening channels of communication with the Pakistan’s army. “We know the ground situation in Pakistan where the army calls the shots and even controls various anti-India terror outfits, but we remain committed to strengthening democratic forces,’’ the source added.