Hopes of fixing India-Pak ties dashed
NEWDELHI: The disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the political uncertainty in Pakistan has further diminished the possibility of the normal is at ion of the fragile ties with India.
There was no formal statement from New Delhi, but officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and experts said the political crisis in Pakistan will require India to be cautious.
“First of all, we need to see who succeeds Nawaz Sharif and what is immediately in store for Pakistan’s polity. Any change in guard in Islamabad is also set to bring change in the coun- try's Indian policy, a subject where the Pakistan Army has the foremost say,” said an official.
India-Pakistan ties under Sh arif have swung from one end to another. However, he enjoyed a personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two sides also made efforts to re-launch the dialogue process ,but a series of terror strikes from across the border brought the ties to the nadir and mutual distrust to the fore.
“Whatever the rapport Sharif and Mo di developed which could have used for resetting the ties sometimes later is gone,” said strategic affairs expert C Uday Bhaskar.
There is concern over the role the army would play in the next government and on ties with India.
“This judicial coup is a big win for the army-ISI combine. Such are the Pakistani deep state’ s tentacles that the Supreme Court- established JIT... included members of two military intelligence agencies (ISI and Military Intelligence),” argued strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney.