PM N.Sharif addressing the Dawn daily in his brief address to the budget session of the ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council’ had said that ‘“Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at any time,”
“I have a heartfelt attachment with Kashmir… It’s as much important for me as other parts of the country and that’s why I consider its development and prosperity my national duty.” He said.
Tribute and dua were offered to the martyrs of the Kashmir freedom movement and for the sacrifices and struggle of the Kashmiri people to achieve their right of self-determination. “Please convey my message to every Kashmiri that the government and people of Pakistan are with them in their just cause.”
Newsrooms even quoted him saying that he had a dream of seeing the held-Kashmir free from the Indian occupation and desired that this dream could turn into reality during his lifetime.
PM Manmohan Singh response on the very next day was, “there is no scope of Pakistan winning a war in my lifetime.”
Indian papers have henceforth reported: ‘Sharif’s office, however, called the report “baseless, incorrect and based on malafide intentions” and said the PM wanted any conflict between the two countries to be resolved through peaceful means.’
Apart from the childish nodding’s of love/hate extended towards India by the PM, who had shown extraordinary inclination towards India since even before his inception as the PM, vowing to knot friendly ties with India in spite of extreme rudeness and a threatening posture from the Indians, giving the notion that perhaps a weak disposition towards India is the policy of the PMLN, one should consider the graver aspects of international diplomacy too. Are the exchanges of fire on the LoC and on the diplomatic front just skirmishes between two naughty neighbors or is there more to it?
If one gazes over the international front, one finds a dynamic flow of events going towards unpredictable results. It is difficult to say which event led to which and which will lead to a following event; all that can be certainly done is to measure the present. Nevertheless speculation is a tool vital for any nation to assimilate its future in the very complex political framework of world affairs. The question is who can catch the butterfly-effect that could result in utter chaos for one’s nation and who can find the right way to re-direct it.
Contemplation tells us that the sudden change in the PM’s stance may not have been an unintended gesture of casual manner, but might have come under grave stress in the circumstances that surround the country. The very recent Geneva deal between Iran and the Sextet cannot be ignored in this regard. Although the deal still seems to be raw, but anyhow a deal has certainly been made and how this deal will impact the regional and global geopolitical scenario is yet to be analyzed by all the different possible angles. But one angle must be very clear on Pakistan, which is it’s has severe implications on regional stability, especially when the Indian intelligentsia is cheering this deal so much.
The very next day, Indian official were announcing that India is sending a team to Iran to speed up work on (Chabahar) port that will provide (it) access to resource-rich Central Asia and Afghanistan. They want to take advantage of this dwindling opportunity created by these negotiations between two, decades’ old adversaries.
After Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan has seen what its “brotherly” neighbour has done to it. The country literally went to dogs with complete anarchy under the Pakistan supported Taliban regime. Afghanistan is a land locked sovereign country that would like to have all options open for its over all development. Why should Pakistan or anyone else should have any problems with Afghanistan trading through Chabahar port. If Pakistan does not like doing business with India that does not mean others wont do either. China and India do lots of business and so all the major economies of the world including muslim nations. The fact is that your imagination about India’s so called “evil designs” in the region is neither bought by Afghanistan nor Iran nor any other country of this region. The article only tries to prove one thing that Pakistan would want to keep a control on Afghanistan by denying it an independent foreign policy and use its land and people for its nefarious designs against India. Also, Afghanistan has historically been India’s neighbour with close cultural ties. On religion front you always forget that there are as many muslims in India as in Pakistan. Let Afghans decide their own future.
If Nawaz Sharief’s assertion of 4th war is not “empty” then what made him deny his statement when Mnmohan Singh gave a strong reply. Or was the statement meant only for domestic audience whose nationalistic feelings depend only on anti india rhetoric?