NAWAZ NOT NICE

The Indian euphoria of better bilateral relations with Pakistan after the induction of a democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif has proved to be very short-lived. We believed that in his earlier stint, he was duped by his army chief, Parwez Musharraf and thus after having burnt his fingers as a gullible PM, he would try really wise options to befriend India. Even after his electoral victory, he had explicitly declared that he would give utmost priority to put an end to the unfortunately persisting bitter Indo-Pak relations. He further admitted that the Kargil skirmishes were mischief , perpetrated by Musharraf without taking him into confidence.He left all indications that he was innocent and this time would set things right. But his recent activities indicate that Nawaz is not ‘Sharif’

Despite the operational ceasefire of last some years with only occasional violations, they just multiplied immediately after his return to power. A couple of months back, the Pak intruders brutally killed our two soldiers and took away their heads. It was against the known international military norms. Strangely enough, Pak authorities denied it to be their handiwork. The family members of the martyred Indian soldiers cried for the heads but of no avail. The situation was so pathetic that it looked that the humanity itself was crying. Things did not stop there. After several intermittent ceasefire violations, the Pak army sent trained militants of 40-50 in number, supported by the Pak army itself, who crossed into Keran sector of Kashmir, exactly in Kargil style. The Indian defence forces had to carry out a prolonged campaign to force them to flee. Some eight of them were killed and once again like in Kargil, this time too, Pakistan refused to take the dead bodies. Cruelty appears to have crossed all limits. This incident had  been engineered despite Sharif’s assurance to Manmohan Singh in Washington to work for mutual peace.

The latest US visit of Nawaz Sharif has further vindicated that Pakistan has not changed its old tune of internationalizing the Kashmir problem.This tone continues exactly since 1947 where with the support of its NATO patronaze, Pakistan hamstrung the UN from solving the knot impartially. On the other hand, India continues to stick to its known stand of solving the problem through bilateral talks only. Since Pakistan, for being a terrorist hub is emerging as a rogue state, Sharif raised once again this beaten bogey to divert the attention of the West. In support of his contention, he expressed in America that both India and Pakistan being nuclear states with lethal missile technology, the future of peace in the sub-continent appeared utterly bleak. He argued that even 10% of the US attention given to West Asia, if directed to Indo-Pak problems, he was sure peace woudl return.

India is taking these apparently innocent looking statements with a pinch of salt. Le Pakistan understand that its Prime Ministe, this timer has lost credibility in India.