Like most of his predecessors, the new Pakistani Minister Shehbaz Sharif seems to be playing a broken record—Kashmir. Replying to Indian Prime Narendra Modi’s congratulatory note on Tuesday, Sharif wrote on Twitter that, “Thank you Premier Narendra Modi for felicitations. Pakistan desires peaceful & cooperative ties with India. Peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes including Jammu & Kashmir is indispensable. Pakistan's sacrifices in fighting terrorism are well-known. Let's secure peace and focus on the socio-economic development of our people.”
PM Modi was among the first heads of the government to congratulate Sharif just after his taking oath on Monday night.
.. focus on socio-economic development of our people.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) April 12, 2022
“Congratulations to H. E. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on his election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. India desires peace and stability in a region free of terror, so that we can focus on our development challenges and ensure the well-being and prosperity of our people,” Modi wrote making it clear India’s stand for the revival of dialogue process between the two countries.
The Indian Defence minister Rajnath Singh told ANI that, “I just want to convey to him to curb terrorism…best wishes with him."
On new Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who's in Washington DC told ANI, " I just want to convey to him to curb terrorism…best wishes with him." pic.twitter.com/72pZi7yI6t
— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2022
The fact is, everytime the Pakistani government reboots, one small window appears for the revival of talks between India and Pakistan. It may be recalled that in 2018, PM Modi had written a letter to the then newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, had spoken to him over the phone but within few months in 2019, the Pulwama terror attack happened and since then talks are stalled as Imran Khan failed to take any action against Jaish-e-Mohammed terror king-pin Masood Azhar for orchestrating the attack.
“The centrality of terrorism in Af-Pak region affecting Indo-Pak ties was raised by PM Modi with Shehbaz as also Imran Khan in 2018. But Pakistani politicians are stuck on Kashmir and will remain so as he or she believes that this will fetch legitimacy plus votes. There is no Naya or Purana Pakistan when it comes to Kashmir even after the abrogation of article 370 and article 35A by the Modi government,” writes veteran journalist Shishir Gupta in Hindustan Times.
According to Gupta, the powerful Pakistani military establishment has tremendous clout over the country and its politics and it was evident the way the Pakistani Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and his ISI chief remained in the shadows before the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan Niazi but made sure that the ex-Prime Minister left his post.
“It is to the credit to General Bajwa that artillery duels across the Line of Control have stopped and that Pakistan has not become an Islamic Emirate like Afghanistan under the Taliban Islamists,” wrote Gupta.
It may be recalled, on April 2, General Bajwa had said that all disputes with India should be settled peacefully through dialogue, saying Islamabad continues to believe in using diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmir to keep the “flames of fire away from our region”.
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