A different broom

Operation Zarb-e-Azb is in India’s interests as well, given the expansionist statements of both al Qaeda and IS

‘Anew broom sweeps cleanest’ goes the saying, and whilst Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif is hardly new, he is a very different broom to his predecessor. He is coming to the end of a seven-day visit to the US and appears to have hit the right note with his American hosts. He has met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Armed Services Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence and made clear that the Pakistan Army is going to fight all terrorist groups — including the Haqqani network. To this end, he had some hard words for India saying that the ceasefire violations that have persisted since October 2 were negatively affecting the Pakistan Army operations against terrorist groups in North Waziristan and elsewhere. With 140,000 men deployed in Operation Zarb-e-Azb, there was a reasonable expectation that India would cap both the rhetoric and the cross-border tensions. Eradicating terrorists is, after all, in India’s interests as well, given the expansionist statements of both al Qaeda and the Islamic State in recent months. That has not happened.



It is unlikely that the US will intervene or comment on the record regarding the cross-border firing, preferring a hands-off approach to bilateral relations between India and Pakistan. What is more likely is that the US will continue to provide military assistance given the evidence coming out of Operation Zarb-e-Azb — 1,200 militants dead and as many as 200 of their facilities destroyed. Layer this with a reset of relations with Afghanistan and the security sandwich becomes a more palatable item for the US — with which Pakistan has of late had a somewhat fractious relationship. Selling a robust and broad-spectrum counterterror offensive that ticks the boxes for America, as well as for Pakistan, should be something that India can see the wisdom of and buy into in the interest of regional stability generally. There are considerable shared, but poorly-exploited interests in play as well, mutual benefits that lie on the table untouched. A different broom is not going to re-write history but may at least clear the decks of some ancient luggage.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.

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