The Gurdaspur incident

Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate, with the focus now moving away from the Line of Control to the town of Gurdaspur, 15km from the border in Indian Punjab. Three gunmen reportedly dressed in military fatigues were shot dead after a 12-hour gunbattle with Indian security forces. Ten people died during the incident, three of them civilians. Given the proximity to the border, it is perhaps inevitable that fingers on the Indian side are quickly being pointed in the direction of Pakistan, but it is too early to say who the attackers were, or precisely where they came from.



The incident was unusual in that it was the first in the Sikh-majority state for over a decade. There are several versions of what transpired before the final shootout at a besieged police station, but all sources report that five live bombs were found attached to a nearby railway line and were made safe, a roadside vendor was shot dead, a bus station attacked as was a community health centre. Indian security sources said that the attackers were suspected to belong to either the Lashkar-e-Taiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammad but offered no evidence of membership of either, only saying that the men were not Sikh. Whoever was responsible for the attack, it will have automatically fuelled the trust deficit that already exists, and further bedevil any chance of peace between the two states. This was exemplified by the Indian Punjab’s chief minister calling off a meeting with the Pakistani high commissioner to India, as well as Indian cricket authorities indicating that there is no chance of bilateral cricket ties between the countries resuming any time soon. The recent meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif now appears to have been a little more than cosmetic, and has not translated into a lowering of tension, nor should be seen as an indicator of willingness on the part of India to modify positions held since Partition. Neither India nor Pakistan seem prepared to move an inch on the issue that lies at the heart of the conflict — Kashmir. It is entirely possible that the attackers were part of a homegrown Indian group, and had not come from across the border. Even if that is the case, they have already proved to be another rock in the way of the road to peace.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th,  2015.

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