SCO breakthrough

Islamabad sending its military officials to India signifies farsightedness

The officers from the armed forces of Pakistan attending the SCO meeting in New Delhi is a welcome breakthrough. Notwithstanding the tense relations between India and Pakistan, the fact that international diplomacy took a leap forward, and Islamabad sending in its military officials to India signifies farsightedness. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which comprises China, Russia and Central Asian states, is a valuable forum where to this day India and Pakistan had not been on the same wavelength, and this Delhi moot making inroads will go a long way in setting in a détente. One hopes the goodwill generated will graduate into further high-level interactions, wherein the defence and foreign ministers too air-dash to India to further the envelope of strategic cooperation at the multilateral level.

Pakistan has always advocated for a negotiated solution to the bilateral disputes with India. Moreover, it shifted its foreign policy goalpost from geopolitics to geo-economics, and is eager to see India respond to its initiatives. And when it comes to regional cooperation, Islamabad has allowed Delhi to use its territory for transit in providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghans. These puzzles are in need of being put together in an endeavour to rewrite a new policy of interaction. It’s high time for both the countries to shun the baggage of historic animosity and move forward in sorting out their irritants.

The SCO is a formidable forum and can usher in greater cooperation in South Asia, if India and Pakistan do away with their self-centred assumptions. While CPEC, TAPI, CASA-1000 and transit via Afghanistan are big-ticket projects on the table, the SCO under Chinese vibrancy can come to galvanise meaningful bilateral cooperation. Moreover, international lenders sit on the edges in convincing both the nuclear duos to trade, and build up their profile on international development. But the riddle is: will India and Pakistan join hands to look through the same prism or not? Apart from China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia too want to see India and Pakistan reconcile, and this working group get-together can set a precedent.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2023.

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