Pakistan appeared to be making overtures for renewing talks with India after Moeed Yousaf, the prime minister’s adviser on national security and strategic policy planning, laid out Islamabad’s conditions to restart “meaningful dialogue”. The conditions, however, could be problematic, to say the least. Pakistan’s conditions include the release of all political prisoners in Kashmir, an end to the lockdown, rescinding the domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the disputed territory, stopping human rights abuses, and ending support for state terrorism in Pakistan. While the goals may be noble, the practicality is questionable.
India has shown little interest in talking to Pakistan since the Narendra Modi regime came to power in 2014. Even before the current Indian government’s term, Kashmir being put on one side had become an unfortunate necessity for dozens of other issues to be amicably resolved. Meanwhile, the oppressive conditions imposed on Kashmir and its people are part of Modi’s electoral agenda. It is one thing to not keep an election promise, however reprehensible to Kashmiris or Pakistanis. It is quite another to follow through on a promise and then roll it back. The fact of the matter is that the situation in Kashmir can only improve when a non-BJP government comes to power.
As for the condition regarding state-backed terrorism, India has never officially admitted to having a direct role in terrorist activities in Pakistan and has not been indicted for its involvement with terrorists in Balochistan and elsewhere. It is hard to stop doing something you never said you were doing. The burden of proof is on the accuser.
Yousaf is a respected academic. There is no way he thinks these conditions are acceptable to the incumbent Indian government. This leads us to believe that the condition was essentially a bluff. The government knows that direct talks are not going to reopen, let alone be “meaningful”, for as long as the BJP is in power, so they just decided to talk a tough game. The alternative is that policy planners are living in a fantasy world. It is unfortunate, but the only practical approach is to wait and hope that Indian voters wise up to the actions of their leaders.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2020.
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