Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan

India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar is a career diplomat. He is aware of the nuances of his visit to Pakistan to attend the SCO summit. And when he said that he is going to Pakistan as a “good member of SCO, and not to discuss India-Pakistan relations,” he set a redline for himself, his hosts, and all those who are keenly watching his journey to Islamabad.

In diplomacy especially in the sensitive setting like Indo-Pak relations, these red lines tend to work, and there also exists a wider possibility that these may further deteriorate or get reversed. Everything is possible. The students of diplomacy know that how things change in a matter of hours. Nothing can be predicted beforehand. At the moment, Jaishankar has to go by widespread nation’s mood and that of the ruling BJP, in which Pakistan is viewed as an enemy. Why such a perception has gained roots across the majority community in the country is because of the role of the neoghbouring country in Jammu and Kashmir over the decades, particularly since 1980s.

There also is a question; can this standoff continue like that? Whether or not the Indian Foreign Minister discusses Indo-Pak relations during his mid-October visit to Islamabad for the SCO moot, the possibility of which he has ruled out, the fact remains the relations are already under discussion. The visit in itself is a source of these discussions revolving around the relations between Delhi and Islamabad.

The critical point at the moment is abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 and bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally administered union territories of Ladakh. There is an aggressive divergence of views on the issue. India believes that it has been able to achieve a final solution to the Kashmir issue, and the only thing remaining is for Pakistan to vacate the illegally occupied territories since 1947-48. Pakistan, however, terms it as a unilateral act and a severe violation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Pakistan is free to hold to its opinion. It has not agreed with the Indian view point. It has continued in drum beat calming that Kashmir issue is pending and it needed to be resolved through the UN resolutions. And India looks at these resolutions with a lot of contempt, though nowadays it is alleged that it was due to Nehru’s blunder that Kashmir issue got internationalised. Nehru had moved the UN on the advice of Lord Mountbatten, terming Pakistan as an “aggressor” as the neighbouring country had invaded the princely state of India. “The invasion of the state against the backdrop of Maharaja Hari Singh’s standstill agreement with Pakistan was a clear violation of the international law,” Dr. Karan Singh who has seen it all happening, had told this columnist in April 2019.

This is beyond comprehension why should Pakistan agitate over the removal of Article 370 when it never accepted it as a valid connection between Jammu and Kashmir and the Union of India. Yes, it has snatched many arguments that it had in its armour that Kashmir is an unsettled issue because of the “disputed nature” of the territory ever since UN passed resolutions envisaging plebiscite.

The importance of Jaishankar’s visit is being viewed through different prisms – one, it is first such visit of Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 2015 when late Sushma Swaraj had visited for heart of Asia meet, and many tend to forget that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had visited Pakistan in December 2015, and first that of a minister since the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit in August 2016. It is natural that this is seen as first visit of firsts.

Jaishankar made certain things clear: (a) I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month (October) to attend the SCO meeting, ( b) normally Prime Minister goes to these higher level meetings but it keeps on changing, sometimes PM goes or one of the ministers, that is in line with that tradition, (c) I am going there for the SCO meet, it just so happens that meeting is taking place in Pakistan, (d) Of course I am planning for it, in my business we plan for everything, which you could do and a lot many things which might happen, (e) I expect lot of media interest given the nature of relationship with us ( India-Pakistan ties), we will deal with it, (f) I am going for SCO and not to discuss India-Pakistan relations, (g) since I am a civil and courteous person, I will behave accordingly.

He has set his agenda as a member of the SCO. That is what is expected of him. But the question remains, does the foreign minister attend multilateral events elsewhere with the similar agendas, not to hold bilateral meetings. Perhaps not. He is seeking to tell Pakistan that you are different because you have not behaved as a good neighbour, and the bilateral talks must have some meaning and purposefulness, and since Pakistan has not halted its export of violence to India in various forms and manifestations, it doesn’t qualify for bilateral talks at this stage.

But perhaps, Jaishankar could have been more pragmatic about his all-important visit of his career to Pakistan as foreign minister of India. Diplomacy is not a straightjacket thing. He also knows that the relations with Pakistan will not stay in the current state of affairs for all the times to come. There always is a scope for many things happening for which no prior planning can be done nor any red lines drawn.

The foreign minister, when he goes to Pakistan, also becomes face of the normalcy that Kashmir has gained in the past five years, and that of the successful elections in an atmosphere free of fear and coercion. That has negated many things all at once that Pakistan used to say about the electoral processes in Kashmir. This achievement should be seen in the context of diplomats’ visit to Kashmir during the second of the three-phased J&K polls on September 25. This message must travel to Pakistan in person.

This is because, there is a lot of hope in Pakistan that Jaishankar’s visit breaks the ice. It is a rare opportunity in a decade’s time for him to take a magical step forward. Pakistan cannot be wished away. Yes, it has not behaved as a good neighbour. Thousands of lives have been lost in J&K, and it is no secret that Pakistan is behind all this. Of course it got support from some of the radical elements from within the state. It needs to reform itself. It claims that it is victim of cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan, so it should know how disastrous it is. India is victim of Pakistan sponsored terrorism. It must put a full stop to it.

Kashmir is of course watching this visit very closely and they expect good outcome. It may not be in terms of face to face talks but through body languages and the words spoken even if those happen to be at the main event of SCO.

National Conference president and five-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah while welcoming Foreign Minister’s visit to Pakistan emphasised the importance of “initiating a positive shift in relations between the two countries. I remain hopeful. The outcome of the meeting is uncertain, but I pray that any existing animosities will dissipate, leading to a more harmonious relationship between India and Pakistan.”

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chief cleric of Kashmir and chairman of Hurriyat Conference had an emotional message on the visit. He said: “Generations of Kashmiris have been consumed by the uncertainty. We want an end to it, a fair closure. India and Pakistan have a real opportunity at the upcoming SCO Summit to break the ice and engage constrictively. Hope they heed to it”.

These above mentioned views of Kashmiri leaders are not footnotes but a plea for peace and harmony, which the people of the land deserve.