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 normalisation of the fragile ties with India in the near future.
There was no formal statement from the Indian government, but officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and experts said the political crisis in Pakistan and the way it would possibly pan out 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 country's Indian policy, a subject where the Pakistan Army has the foremost say,” said an official.
India-Pakistan ties under Sharif have swung from one end to another.
However, he had enjoyed a personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sharif attended Modi’s swearing-in and hosted the Indian leader at his Lahore residence on an unannounced visit.
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.
“Prime Minister Modi was very clear that India would engage with civilian leadership with Pakistan and nothing should undermine the centrality of the civilian leadership,” said another official.
“With Sharif stepping down... whatever the rapport Sharif and Modi developed which could have used for resetting the ties sometimes later is gone,” said strategic affairs expert C Uday Bhaskar.
There is an overweening concern over the role the Pakistan 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 Joint Investigation Team, whose report led to Sharif’s ouster, included members of two military intelligence agencies (ISI and Military Intelligence),” argued strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney.