As Pakistan seeks peace, trouble abounds

THERE has been much conjecture and innuendo about what were the defining factors in bringing about a ceasefire truce between Pakistan and India.

There is a temporary respite from the constant bombardment of shelling and sporadic enfilades along the almost 800km Line of Control. I wonder who will be the first to breach this act of good faith. History tells me it will be Pakistan.

Think about Pakistan and one might get terrified. Few countries have so much potential to cause trouble. A third of its 16million people live in poverty and only half of them are literate. In 2002, Pakistan warned India that if it was attacked, it would go nuclear. It has been selling its nuclear secrets to Iran , Libya and North Korea.

In the 60 years since their separation from one another in the bloody partition at the time of independence from the British, Pakistan and India have fought three full-scale wars.

The battles were mainly focused on the fact one was a Muslim state and the other a multicultural but predominantly Hindu state.

Pakistan is the sort of place where sparks are likely to fly, a powder keg of sorts. It is unstable and fissiparous. Its army acts as a state within a state and is home to some of the world’s most militant jihadist Muslims. It was where Osama bin Laden, sought refuge.

Former cricket icon Imran Khan inherited a troubled pitch and continues to bat on a sticky wicket while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is destined to make India a superpower by 2025.

However, it is positive that after years of detriment, India and Pakistan are convoking as they seek to conjugate on a range of issues in an effort to restore peace and lost faith, economic prosperity and political stability in the region.