SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Modi has also taken an important step by forging a coalition in Jammu and Kashmir with the PDP, even though it espouses ‘self-rule’ and ‘soft separatist’ rhetoric. The alliance document, which was mediated by a former RSS spokesperson now with the BJP, says the J&K government will “be empowered to catalyse reconciliation and confidence building within and across the Line of Control”. This will be done through promoting trade and people-to-people contacts, including civil-society exchanges, which means that the Modi government envisages a slow movement towards normalisation.Modi has not talked up the implications of the Kashmir arrangement for India-Pakistan ties. There are reasons for this. First, the chasm between the two sides on the big issues such as terrorism, Siachen and Kashmir remains and there is no point in exuding hope while differences persist. Second, securing the conviction of Mumbai attackers in Pakistan remains a policy goal without which Modi will not be able to soften middle class opinion in India to achieve rapprochement with Islamabad. Third, there are conservative voices in the Delhi establishment that remain suspicious of Pakistan Army’s outlook towards India. And lastly, there’s an inherent tension between Modi the aspiring statesman and his own party which inevitably relies on anti-Muslim rhetoric as means of political and social control – which in turn generates hostile perceptions in Pakistan.
Modi’s Kashmir gamble – if it doesn’t fall apart soon – offers a way around this stalemate. If the PDP and BJP can sort their differences and implement cross-LoC initiatives, they can provide the context for greater India-Pakistan contact. Modi is unlikely to ever move towards a formal arrangement like the 4-point formula that Pervez Musharraf popularised, featuring soft borders, demilitarisation, self-governance and joint management. But he is open to soft borders as the PDP-BJP alliance documents suggest.
Now at this stage if PDP and BJP agree upon certain way forward Pakistan should need to welcome it and control its control border activities along with abolishing the permanent enmity with India because for Pakistan the only bone of contentions with its neighbor is Kashmir.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
