KARACHI:
As both India and Pakistan agree to tone down skirmishes and violence along the LoC, the complexity of the relationship between the two countries and their bloody history cannot merely be ignored. With regional factors along with US-Indo nexus forming the cornerstone of South Asian power dynamics, peace between the two regional arch-rivals may not be a walk in the park. Moreover, with the ascendency of the BJP-led Indian government, the surge in sensitive incidents such as the Balakot airstrike, and the revocation of IIOJK’s semi-autonomous status, the two states had found themselves on the brink of heightened conflict and nuclear war. Nonetheless, for the time being, at the backdrop of cooled temperatures, the two countries are apparently in for long-lasting peace which holds prospects of peaceful co-existence.
However, what remains a major impediment is the beleaguered Kashmir issue that has not seen the light of the day for more than 70 years. Thus, for lasting peace to be established, the resolution of the Kashmir conflict in accordance with the UN resolutions and sovereign will of the Kashmiri people should be given utmost priority. Even policymakers and experts envision that the issue can be solved if there is a political will between two capitals to solve it. In this respect, backdoor and deft diplomacy along with the reiteration of firm narrative on the inherent repression of Kashmiris should be the best way forward.
Hadia Mukhtar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2021.
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